Yes, we would like to call them Subhadras : the ardent women devotees of Goddess Subhadra in the small township of Baripada. When on the holy occasion of Rath Yatra they take upon themselves the responsibility of pulling the grand chariot, they appear to have transformed themselves into personification of the goddess herself.

In Baripada like in previous years, this year also out of the three huge chariots, the one belonging to Goddess Subhadra was pulled only by women, while their male counterparts remained confined to the task of taking care of the other two chariots. We are inclined to mention this here all the more because it serves as a symbolic manifestation of women’s empowerment.

The credit for initiating this unique tradition in Baripada goes to late Nandini Satpathy, the erstwhile dynamic chief minister of Orissa. It was she, who in the year 1975 promptly endorsed a proposal made by the district officials to allow only women to pull Subhadra’s chariot, and extended all help to facilitate the practice. And the tradition continued. So much so that inspired by this, the practice of Goddess Subhadra’s chariot being pulled exclusively by women is today followed in Rath Yatras in some other places as well.

Prior to 1975 also this practice existed in the Rath Yatra of Baripada, though for a brief period. In mid-50s moved by the plight of a woman devotee who was severely injured in her bid to join the huge number of chariot-pullers, the organisers introduced the system of one of the chariots being pulled by only women. However it was discontinued a few years later, until the same was revived in 1975 by late Nandini Satpathy.

If it has successfully been practised in Baripada for the past many years without the slightest problem, why couldn’t it be implemented in the Rath Yatra of Puri as well? This question finds relevance consequent to this year’s tragedy in Puri where six hapless devotees including women lost their lives due to the failure of proper crowd management in the Rath Yatra.

It is quite shocking to note that this is the second such stampede in Puri during a short span of 20 months; for in November 2006 four persons died and many others were injured in a similar incident inside the temple complex. The primary victims were women who had gone there to perform Kartik Brata.

If the authorities are really serious about formulating a strategy to avert any such unfortunate incident in future, they should put the practice of one of the chariots being pulled exclusively by women in their agenda. Because Baripada has shown that this system could function as a befitting solution for ensuring safety of women in such an event of big magnitude.