Rath Yatra Festival Being Celebrated In Odisha, Gujarat, W Bengal

18 July,Puri

Rath Yatra festival being celebrated in Odisha, Gujarat and West Bengal. Century’s biggest Rath Yatra celebration in Puri began this morning.

Though car festival of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra is an annual ritual , this time it has more spiritual excitement because it is the Nabakalebar Rath Yatra where all the Lords of Puri Jagannath Temple get new avatar after nineteen years. It is Millennium’s First Nabakalebar Rath Yatra.

Pahandi, the ritual procession in which Lord Balabhadra, Maa Subhadra and Lord Jagannath led to the chariots, has been completed before the scheduled time. Servitors brought the idol of the Lords out of the temple in a ceremonial procession and placed in the chariot.

After another set of rituals, Gajapati Maharaj Dibyasingha Deb, the foremost servitor of the Trinity, will perform the Chherapanhra, the ritual, which entails sweeping of chariots with a golden broom, will begin a short while from now.

Thereafter, servitors would disengage the ladders and fix wooden horses to the three chariots. Devotees will begin pulling the chariots. The nine day Yatra, which starts from Lion’s Gate of the Puri temple, will conclude at Shree Gundicha temple, covering nearly 3 Km kms distance.
Though it was expected the chariots will reach at Gundicha Temple before sunset,only the Taladhwaja Rath of Lord Balabhadra could reach near the Gundicha Temple. The Darpadalan Rath of Subhadra and Nandighosh rath of Lord Jagannath halted mid-way due to Sun set.

In Gujarat, Rath Yatra began early this morning from 400 years old historic Lord Jagannath Temple in Jamalpur area of old Ahmedabad city. The Yatra will travel 14 kilometres on its traditional route.