One of the most important festivals celebrated in summer is the
Rath Yatra. It is celebrated particularly in Puri in Orissa in Eastern India.
Lord Jagannath's Rath yatra has been celebrated for more than 800 years or so and it
occurs just before the monsoons in the Hindu month of Ashada. Lord Jagannath is considered
as the Lord of the Universe and the town of Puri is considered as a holy pilgrim place as
it is the abode of Lord Jagannath.
According to an ancient legend, King Indrayumna wanted to build a temple of Lord Vishnu
and for this purpose he consulted Vishvakarma who was the architect of the Gods.
Vishvakarma agreed to build the temple on the condition that no one would watch him or see
the temple being built until it was completely ready. However King Indrayumna, being
extremely curios went and visited the architect at work. Vishvakarma became very angry and
he left in a hurry, thus leaving the images in the temple incomplete without any hands or
feet. The King begged for forgiveness, however Vishvakarma refused to continue his work.
Lord Brahma then came to the rescue and he breathed life into these limbless images of
Balaram, Subhadra and Lord Jagannath. These images are still worshipped till today.
The word 'rath' means chariot and 'yatra' means journey. On the day of the rath yatra the
deities of Jagannath, his brother Balaram and sister Subhadra are placed in huge chariots.
These three idols are made of neemwood and their faces are beautifully painted. Lord
Jagannath's chariot is the largest and has 16 wheels. Balaram's chariot has 14 wheels
where as Subhadra's chariot has only 12 wheels. Each of these chariots is about 40 to 45
feet high and all the chariots have huge canopies with shimmering silks and satins. The
chariots are decorated with flowers of all colours. These chariots are pulled by thousands
of devotees from the main temple to another temple called Gundicha Mandir. The yatra takes
more than 12 hours because although the distance to be covered is not much, the raths are
extremely heavy. Here they rest for seven days before they return to their own temple.
The year 1996 was an extremely special year for this festival because it was in this year
that 3 idols were newly made. This event is called nabakalebar and it signifies the
symbolic death and rebirth of Jagannath, the Lord of the Universe. This event is held
every 12 years. It is also interesting to note that the English word 'juggernaut' which
means a large heavy vehicle or object used to crush things in its path is actually derived
from the name Jagannath and the huge car procession at Puri at the time of this festival.
Lord Jagannath's message is very simple - Vasundhaiva Kutumbakam - which means the world
is my family. This message of the Lord of the Universe is clear and simple and it reaches
out to the people all over the world and to whomever that can hear it and understand it.
