Yet for many pilgrims, the first stop is not the chariot route but the food lines, where volunteers serve meals continuously from early morning until late into the night.

Over 40 students were taken ill after a jaundice outbreak at the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) in Odisha’s Khurda district, officials said on Monday.

KP Shankardas, a former member of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), has suffered a setback in the Supreme Court, which refused to expunge remarks made by the Kerala High Court in the Sabarimala gold theft case.