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Most of the workers involved in getting the chariots ready on time have had the trade handed to them over generations. Like Rabinarayan Maharana, the 43-year-old blacksmith who nails the wooden pieces to the chariots with the help of spikes. The task is so huge, he says, that one quintal of iron is used up in just making the spikes.
"About 15 blacksmiths work on this over 60 days," he said. Like others working on the chariots, they too undergo certain rituals and stay off-meat.
"Every year the chariots need new spikes and people of our community have been making them for ages," Punia Maharana, 70, said. "I have been doing it since my childhood."
Also see: After Holy Dip
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