Rath Yatra

Ratha Yatra is a nine-day festival celebrated each year. The three deities of the Jagannath temple are taken out in huge wooden chariots or raths (which are built anew each year). 

Logs got ready for making the raths

Work on the raths has started

The wheels in making

A wheel and its axle. An idea of the size can be had here

The rath yatra (chariot journey) goes to Gundicha Mata temple, 3 kms away from the main temple – Gundicha was the Queen of King Indradyumna who built the first temple at Puri. 

The temple, on the occasion of the rathyatra

The three raths of Balram, Subhadra and Jagannath. And the devotees.

The return journey to the main temple after nine days is called as Bahud Yatra. The three chariots are called Nandighosh नंदीघोष (of Jagannath) Taldhvaj तालध्वज (Balbhadra or Balram) and Devdalan देवदलन (Subhadra); these are decorated with fabric coloured yellow, green and black respectively, mixed with red. 

The chariot of Balram, decorated in green colour, ready to be pulled

The chariot of Subhadra, decorated in black, ready to be pulled.

While the idols are taken out on a Rath, the three chariots are pulled by devotees through the streets of Puri. Since non-Hindus are not allowed at Jagannath temple, the rathyatra is an opportunity for them to have darshan. The photos here are entirely of the 2018 celebrations.

 The three raths of Balram, Subhadra and Jagannath. And the devotees.

A small video of the procession can be viewed here. 

The festival is celebrated on second day of the bright lunar fortnight in the month of Ashadh - आषाढ़ शुक्ल द्वितीया. In 2018, it was on July 14, while the Ulta Rath or Bahud Yatra was on July 23, 2018. The largest Rath Yatra festival is celebrated at Jagannath Puri in Orissa, while smaller ones are celebrated in other cities too. In Varanasi, we have a Rathyatra crossing – रथयात्रा की चौमानी – a rath is kept there which too is pulled along the road.

There are various stories associated with the deities and the Jagannath Rath Yatra. 

• King Subal, a great devotee of Jagannath, asked a sculptor to create idols of Krishna, brother Balaram and sister Subhadra. The sculptor’s condition was to work in a room in solitude. But the King became impatient and opened the door - the sculptor disappeared and all the King could see were the wooden deities – only partially complete and without their limbs. 
• Another is of mother Rohini telling tales of young Krishna to his wives. Subhadra was tasked with keeping the men away. Engrossed, she then stood between Krishna and Balram at the doorway. Narad saw this scene and wished for these to bless people together.
• And one story goes that King Indradyumna, disappointed to find no idols of Vishnu on the Nilanchal mountain was given a divine assurance of re-incarnation as Jagannath but in the form of stone or wood.

After Krishna left Vrindavan, many decades later the Vraja-gopis met him in Kurukshsetra and longed for a lasting re-union. They envisioned taking Krishna back to Vrindavan on a chariot – drawn not by horses, but by the love of their hearts and the labor of their hands. This is immortalized in the Rath-Yatra - the starting point represents Kurukshetra and the ending point Vrindavan. Devotees pull the chariot and assist the gopis in their labor of love. 

Incidentally, as part of the Chithirai Festival of the Shaivites in April/May each year, the Vaishnavites take out the Alagar procession in a rath – photos in the post on Madurai
(My grateful thanks to my friends for the rathyatra photographs posted here).