Jagannath Temple, Puri – Ratha Yatra

Jagannath Temple, Puri – Ratha Yatra

Ratha Jatra is a Hindu festival associated with Lord Jagannath held at Puri in the state of Odisha, India. It is the oldest Ratha Jatra taking place in India and the world, whose descriptions can be found in Brahma Purana, Padma Purana, and Skanda Purana and Kapila Samhita. Ratha Yatra is most significant of all festivals of Jagannath. The huge chariots of Jagannath pulled during Rath Yatra is the etymological origin of the English word Juggernaut. 

The Jagannath triad are usually worshiped in the sanctum of the temple, but once during the month of Asadha (Rainy Season of Odisha, usually falling in month of June or July), they are brought out onto the Bada Danda (The main high street of Puri) and travel (3 Kms) to the Shri Gundicha Temple, in huge chariots (Rath), allowing the public to have darshan. This festival is known as Ratha Yatra, meaning the festival (Yatra) of the chariots (Ratha). Ratha-Yatra is also termed as the Shri Gundicha yatra.

History:

The observance of the Rath Yatra of Jagannath dates back to the period of the Puranas. Vivid descriptions of this festival are found in Brahma Purana, Padma Purana, and Skanda Purana. Kapila Samhita also refers to Rath Yatra. In Moghul period also, King Ramsingh of Jaipur, Rajasthan has been described as organizing the Rath Yatra in the 18^th Century. In Orissa, Kings of Mayurbhanj and Paralakhemundi were organizing the Rath Yatra, though the most grand festival in terms of scale and popularity takes place at Puri.

The Ganga dynasty instituted the Rath Yatra at the completion of the great temple around 1150 AD. This festival was one of those Hindu festivals that was reported to the Western world very early. Friar Odoric of Pordenone visited India in 1316-1318, some 20 years after Marco Polo had dictated the account of his travels while in a Genoese prison. In his own account of 1321, Odoric reported how the people put the idols on chariots, and the King and Queen and all the people drew them from the "church" with song and music.

Chera Pahara:

The most significant ritual associated with the Ratha-Yatra is the Chera Pahara. During the festival, the Gajapati King wears the outfit of a sweeper and sweeps all around the deities and chariots in the Chera Pahara (sweeping with water) ritual. The Gajapati King cleanses the road before the chariots with a gold-handled broom and sprinkles sandalwood water and powder with utmost devotion.

As per the custom, although the Gajapati King has been considered the most exalted person in the Kalingan kingdom, he still renders the menial service to Jagannath. This ritual signified that under the lordship of Jagannath, there is no distinction between the powerful sovereign Gajapati King and the humblest devotee. Chera Pahara is held on two days, on the first day of the Ratha Yatra, when the deities are taken to garden house at Mausi Maa Temple and again on the last day of the festival, when the deities are ceremoniously brought back to the Shri Mandir.

Ratha Yatra:

This annual festival is celebrated on Ashadha Shukla Paksha Dwitiya (second day in bright fortnight of Ashadha month). The festival commemorates Jagannath's annual visit to Gundicha Temple via Mausi Maa Temple (aunt's home) near Balagandi Chaka, Puri. The Jagannath triad are usually worshiped in the sanctum of the temple, but once during the month of Asadha (Rainy Season of Odisha, usually falling in month of June or July), they are brought out onto the Bada Danda (The main high street of Puri) and travel (3 Kms) to the Shri Gundicha Temple, in huge chariots (Rath), allowing the public to have darshan. This festival is known as Ratha Yatra, meaning the festival (Yatra) of the chariots (Ratha).

Ratha-Yatra is also termed as the Shri Gundicha yatra. On the way the chariot of Lord Jagannatha, Nandighosa waits near the crematorium of Bhakta Salabega, a Muslim devout to pay him tribute. The Triads stay in Gundicha temple for nine days. They are also accompanied by Sudarsana chakra. Thereafter, the deities again ride the chariots back to Shri Mandir in Bahuda Yatra. On the way back, the three chariots halt at the Mausi Maa Temple and the deities are offered Poda Pitha, a kind of baked cake which are generally consumed by the Odisha people only.

This is the only day when devotees who are not allowed in the temple premises, such as non-Hindus and foreigners, can get their glimpse of the deities. During the festival, devotees from all over the world go to Puri with an earnest desire to help pulling the Lords' chariots with the help of other priests pulling the chariots with ropes. They consider this auspicious deed. The huge processions accompanying the chariots play devotional songs with drums, tambourines, trumpets etc.

Children line the streets through which the chariot will pass and add to the mass chorus. The Ratha carts themselves are approximately 45 feet (14 m) high and are pulled by the thousands of pilgrims who turn up for the event; the chariots are built anew each year only from a particular type of tree. Millions of devotees congregate at Puri for this annual event from all over the country and abroad. It is also broadcast live on many Indian, foreign television channels as well as many of the websites telecast Jagannath Ratha Jatra live.

The Chariots:

The Rathas are huge wheeled wooden structures, which are built anew every year and are pulled by the devotees. The three chariots of Balabhadra, Subhadra and Jagannatha are newly constructed every year with wood of specified trees like phassi, dhausa, etc.  They are customarily brought from the ex-princely state of Dasapalla by a specialist team of carpenters who have hereditary rights and privileges for the same. The logs are traditionally set afloat as rafts in the river Mahanadi. These are collected near Puri and then transported by road.

The three chariots are decorated as per the unique scheme prescribed and followed for centuries stand on the Bada Danda, the Grand Avenue. Covered with bright canopies made of stripes of red cloth and combined with those of black, yellow and green colours, the huge chariots are lined across the wide avenue in front of the majestic temple close to its eastern entrance, which is also known as the Sinhadwara or the Lion's Gate.

The chariot of Lord Jagannath is named as Nandighosha or Garuda Dhwaja or Kapiladhwaja. The Lord is accompanied by Madan Mohan. It is forty-five feet high and forty-five feet square at the wheel level. It has sixteen wheels, each of seven-foot diameter, and is decked with a cover made of red and yellow cloth. Lord Jagannatha is identified with Krishna, who is also known as Pitambara, the one attired in golden yellow robes and hence the distinguishing yellow stripes on the canopy of this chariot.

The chariot of Lord Balarama, called the Taladhwaja, is the one with the Palm Tree on its flag. It has fourteen wheels, each of seven-foot diameter and is covered with red and green cloth. Its height is forty-four feet. The chariot of Subhadra, known as Dwarpadalana, literally "trampler of pride," is forty-three feet high with twelve wheels, each of seven-foot diameter. This chariot is decked with a covering of red and black cloth – black being traditionally associated with Shakti and the Mother Goddess.

Around each of the chariots are nine Parsva devatas, painted wooden images representing different deities on the chariots' sides. Each of the chariots is attached to four horses. These are of different colours – dark ones for Balarama, white ones for Jagannatha, and red ones for Subhadra. Each chariot has a charioteer called Sarathy.

The three charioteers attached to the chariots of Jagannatha, Balarama and Subhadra respectively are Daruka, Matali and Arjuna. The artists and painters of Puri decorate the cars and paint flower petals and other designs on the wheels, the wood-carved charioteer and horses, and the inverted lotuses on the wall behind the throne.