Jagan Nath Puri Rath Yatra

Day 10 -  A to Z challenge of words. Today's topic is Jagan Nath Puri Rath Yatra

This  festival is celebrated in Puri, Odissa every year in the Jagan Nath  Temple. It is also known as the Car Festival or the Yatra. It is  one of the largest attended  festival. People from all over the world throng  together to participate in this Yatra. It is estimated that one million pilgrims assemble here every year, from India and abroad. 

The festival commemorates  the annual visit  of the presiding deity of the temple, Lord Jagan Nath, accompanied by his brother, Balabhadra and sister, Subhadra  to their aunt, Gundicha Mata’s Temple and return via  Mausi Maa Temple. They are taken in a huge procession. They remain in Gundicha temple for nine days.

The chariots, in which they travel a distance of two kilometres, are richly decorated. They are about 45 feet in height. The chariots are pulled by millions  of worshipers who congregate from within the country and all over the world, along with the help of temple priests to the accompaniment of devotional songs ,trumpets drums and other instruments. There are innumerable crowds waiting to pull the chariots. It is considered very auspicious, even  if  one gets a chance to touch the chariot, or any other part of the chariot. 

The Raths(chariots) are built afresh every year with a special type of wood!