Ratha Yatra

The festival of chariots, locally known as Ratha Yatra commences from the temple town of Puri. This annual festival is celebrated to commemorate Lord Jagannath's visit to the Gundicha Temple.On this auspicious occasion, Lord Jagannath accompanied with his siblings Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra leaves the sanctum sanctorum of the Sri Mandira Temple and journeys to the Gundicha Temple, sited 2 miles north of the Sri Mandira temple, armed with the ethereal Sudarshan Chakra. After a week's stay the deities return back to the sacrosanct sanctums of the Sri Mandira temple.

A colorful promenade accompany the large chariots and swarms of admiring crowds follow on the bada danda, overflowing with religious Diaspora. To complete the picture of the carnival, fairs are set up in various corners of the town where the hoi polloi gather to celebrate the festal joys of Ratha Yatra. The milieu is full of color, vitality and drama and presents a spectacular kaleidoscope. All of these gala arrangements are done to pay a tribute to the Lord and seek his benedictions. The celebrations are a wondrous montage of the bucolic and tribal cultures and interspersed with traces of the classical as well as urban sophistry that holds up the socio-cultural essence of the Indian civilization.

Ratha Yatra, one of the most significant Orissa festivials, is known by a variety of nomenclature that include Gundicha Jatra, Dasavatara Jatra, Navadina Jatra and Ghosa Jatra. There are several legends and surmises concerning the supernatural powers of the deities enshrined in the temple. It is said a mere glimpse of the Vamana or the dwarf form during the auspicious ceremony frees the devotee from all earthly bonds and helps him attain salvation.