Sri Jagannath temple is one of the most famous and the sacred temple that is situated in Puri, Odhisha. Rath Yatra is one of the largest Indian festival that is celebrated by cultural activates and devotional activates. You can see the whole crowd with full excitement showing their love towards the festival.
There are millions of people visiting the Puri festival to take the honor to see the deities.
The name
The name Rath Yatra has its own meaning. Here, Ratha means Chariot and Yatras stands for Journey. As the Lords are taken to the temple in the chariot. The festival is called Rath Yatra. It involves a chariot with so many wheels. Each of the Lord’s chariot has different amount of wheels. It is often used to determine which Lord is sitting on the Rath. This is how the name Rath Yatra comes into the existence. It is taken exactly according to which the festival stands for.
There are many interesting things that you will find out about the journey as well as about the Rath. You can check the below given interesting facts and you will be amazed to know some of the best things that you probably didn’t know and will be amazed to hear it.
The celebration
This is the only day where the devotees that are not allowed to visit the temple and see the deities. The festival shows the integration and the equality.
All of the three deities namely Lord Jagannnath, the elder brother of hi Lord Balbhadra and the sister of their Subhadra are taken to the streets of Puri and are worshipped within the temple. This is done because everyone can get a chance to see them and pray. This is how the festival is celebrated and everyone enjoys the festival.
Rituals
There are various rituals and worhsipping performed during this entire festiaval. Below given are some of the important and the amazing rituals that are perfomed duing the festival.
The chariot should reach the Gundicha Ghar. If it isn’t reached on the first day itself. The second is carried on the same. On the 9th day, all the deities are brought back to the Singhadawar area that is in the main Jagannath Temple.
On the 5th day an important ritual is performed, it is called “Hera Panchami”. This is when Goddess Laxmi can see the Lord Jagannat by proceeding to the Gundicha Ghar.
On the 10th day evening, all the deities are worshipped and the gold ornaments are adorned along with the beautiful dresses.
On the 12th Day of the festival, “Hari Sayan Ekadashi” is celebrated. On the same day sweet milk is adorned to the deities for the ceremony called “Adharapana Bhog”.
In this way all the rituals are celebrated and the whole festival is celebrated. There
Amazing facts about Puri
1. This is the only festival in the entire world where deities are taken out from the temple and everyone can see them
2. Jagannath Temple is said to be the caste barrier as many of the worshippers are Hindu and along with this, there are many of other caste who are worshipping.
3. There is rest in high fever time. The doors are kept close for 7 days prior to Rath Yatra festival. This is because of the so many visitor visiting the temple and it may cause high tension. That is the reason the doors are closed and no one is allowed to visit the temple.
4. The journey is done by Lord Jaggnath with all of their siblings (Elder brother Balaram and younger sister Subhadra). They are sent to their aunt’s place that is Gundicha tempe. It is also known as Mausima temple. They stay for 9 days there in the temple. After that they return to their home
5. The festival is celebrated on Ashadh Shukla Dwitiya in Hindu calendar. In the history of the celebration of Rath Yatra, there hasn’t been any one single rath yatra day when you haven’t seen the rain. It always rain during the festival.
6. Rath Yatra is celebrated not only in India but in the entire world. There are some cities such as Dublin, New York, Laos and also Toronto celebrates this holy festival. Thereofore, by this we can say the festival is celebrated internationally and has many of the people in different countries who love this.
7. The Lord Jagannath’s chariot has 16 wheels while the Balabhadra’s chariot and Subhadra’s chariot has 14 and 12 wheels respectively. In this charior, the lords are taken to the temple with a huge crowing that has come to see the Lords.
8. There are more than 208 Kg of gold that is offered to the deitites as well as decorated. This is so much amount of gold that is seen in a single place. All this is done in this festival
9. When there was colonial rule. The British rulers saw a lot of the crowd in this festival and named the festival as “Juggernaut” as there were large and heavy chariots.
10. There are many offerings made to the Lords in this festival such as Gold, sweets, and many other things. Among all, Poda Pitha is one of the main offering that is made during the festival
These were some of the amazing and lesser known facts that you didn’t know about Rath Yatra, Puri. There are various other interesting facts about the festival. You can get to know a lot more about the same when you take a visit to the festival. So, make sure you take leave from your work and be a part of this awesome festival that is celebrated every year. You will surely love the entire festival and also get the best chance to see the Lord along with their siblings in the chariot.
Believe it or not, this is the best thing you will do in your entire life. You will definitely love each and every ritual that are celebrated and will be amazed to see all the things.
Santosh Kumar, the author behind IndiasStuffs.com, is passionate about sharing valuable insights on a variety of topics, including lifestyle, technology, and Indian culture.
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