Rath Yatra

Rath Yatra celebrates Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra leaving the temple sanctum and travelling among devotees in great chariots. The best-known tradition is Puri, where the deities journey to the Gundicha Temple; regional retellings describe it as a visit to a relative’s home and, more broadly, as the Lord coming out to give darshan to everyone without barriers. Gujarat has a major tradition of its own in Ahmedabad, where the Jagannath Temple at Jamalpur has taken out an annual chariot procession since the nineteenth century on Ashadhi Bij. Decorated raths, elephants, akharas, bhajan groups and community service line the route through the old city. The festival’s enduring appeal lies in reversing the usual temple movement: instead of devotees alone going to the deity, the deity symbolically comes into public streets, making darshan and collective participation central to the day.

Rath Yatra is valued for devotion, family tradition and the spiritual or seasonal meaning attached to the day.

Three chariots are pulled by hand along a fixed route. In Ahmedabad the day starts before dawn with the mangla aarti, the pahind vidhi - the road swept with a golden broom - and then the road for the rest of the day. Mung, jambu and cucumber are given out along the way, and the city gives the route over to it.

Puri is the original and the largest, three chariots rebuilt from new wood every year. Ahmedabad has held its own since the eighteenth century and it is the second largest in India, with a route through the old city. ISKCON has carried the form to cities across the world, which is how most people outside India have seen one.