Techie turns artist, makes 108 miniature paintings of Lord Jagannath ahead of Rath Yatra

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], July 11 (ANI): With the world-famous Rath Yatra just a day away, a techie from Odisha has hand-drawn 108 miniature paintings of the Lord Jagannath and his siblings as a form of celebration.
Bengaluru-based software developer Priyanka Sahani showed her artistic side on the occasion by drawing unique miniature paintings with acrylics on different objects.
While speaking to ANI, Priyanka said that she picked up the skill from her late father Bibekananda Sahani. She started the process on June 26 and completed the holy trinity with different fruits and nuts as well-- almonds, seeds, rajma, nutmeg, banana and several other things.
"I started to draw 108 miniature paintings of Jagannath since June 26 and completed the holy trinity on different things like almond, seeds, rajma (Kidney beans) nutmeg, banana, jackfruit, watermelon, cinnamon stick, chewing gum nails and others by July 10. I was working 10-12 hours a day, and it took me three to four hours to finish one painting of deities. It is an offering to the lord before he embarks on the annual sojourn, beginning July 12," she said.

It has always been her dream to do innovation and creative work and planned to do something unique during the Rath Yatra this year.
"I made 108 miniature paintings of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra. I also painted on pulses, leaves, potato, which a lot of people can never imagine," Priyanka said.
"After I lost my father, this was a good way to recover from my depression and preserve his memories. I picked up my brush and canvas and painted the artworks the way he taught me," she added.
The Rath Yatra is a festival associated with Lord Jagannath held at Puri annually in the state of Odisha.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected a batch of petitions seeking direction to conduct Rath Yatra across Odisha and not only in Puri Jagannath temple, as permitted by the Odisha State Government in its order earlier.
The Odisha State Government had allowed and permitted to conduct the Rath Yatra only in Puri Jagannath temple with strict COVID-19 restrictions and protocols.
The Jagannath Temple administration on Friday informed that like the previous year, this year's Ratha Yatra festival would be organised without the participation of devotees and in strict adherence to safety protocols to contain the spread of coronavirus.
According to the administrator of Puri Jagannath Temple, Ajaya Jena, the servitors testing negative for Covid-19 would be allowed to participate in the pulling of the chariots. (ANI)