Lord Jagannath, being the master of the Universe, comes out of the temple once in a year along with his elder brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra to make him available to everybody irrespective of caste, creed and religion and to bless them all. This pious event is termed Rathyatra.
Although most of the city's process of devotional ritual is based around the worship of Jagannath with the ancient temple being the prime one of them, everybody celebrates this auspicious event according to their devotion and rituals. Like in Baripada the Chariot of Goddess Subhadra is pulled by only women.
Rath Yatra is the largest Hindu Festival which commemorates Lord Jagannath's annual visit to His aunt Gundicha Mata's Temple along with Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra in three mammoth chariots in Puri, in the state of Odisha.
This world famous event takes place on the 2nd day of the bright fortnight of the Hindu month of Ashadha. In this year 2011, this massive festival will be celebrated on 3rd of June.
Ratha Yatra is also known in the names of Rath Yatara, Car Festival, Ghosha Yatra and Gundicha Yatra.
During this magnificent Celebration lakhs of devotees from far and wide the world flock to Puri to witness the journey of the Gods on the Chariots. The 'darshan' of the deities during this period is considered as full of virtues and provides moskshya, the salvation.
'Rathe tu Vamanam drishtwa punarjanmam na vidyate'. It means a glimpse of the Vamana, an incarnation of Lord Jagannath in the physique of a dwarf Brahmin, is sure to ensure liberation to release human souls from the cycle of birth and death.
Lord Jagannath is believed to be the incarnation of Lord Vishnu and Krishna. At Puri Jagannath Temple, Sri Krishna is worshipped as ‘Jagannath’. Balabhadra is his elder brother who is known as Balaram during the time of incarnation of Krishna in the Dwapara Yuga and Subhadra is their younger sister. The idols of these three deities are worshipped together in the temple.
As per Hindu epics long after completion of the great war of Mahabharata Lord Krishna also wanted to finish his incarnation. However, to check the misuse of his name by his descendants he arranged to wash out all his relatives. Finally once he was sitting inside the dense bushes and one of his devotees in a wrong estimation fired an arrow which pierced to his feet. Later Arjuna came and he was asked to burn the body.
Arjuna burnt it for long 14 days and the ashes were merged in the sea. Also in spite of great effort a dazzling blue stone found in the heart of the Lord was safe. It was also flown to the water. It was swallowed by a fish which was later fished by Vishwabashu, the Sabar king. That is Nilamani which eventually brought to Puri and today also that Gems stone is very much present inside the wooden idol of Lord Jagannath. It means Lord Krishna is absolutely present today in the incarnation of Lord Jagannath. (The Legend)
Taladhwaja, Darpadalana and Nandighosha are the three chariots of Lord Balabhadra, Subhadra and Jagannath respectively. These huge chariots are the replicas of Bada Deula, the main temple. Nandighosha is 45 feet high, with 16 wheels, each of 7 feet diameters and festooned with a cover made of red and yellow clothes. The yellow color is to certify the name Pitambara of Lord Vishnu. Taladhwaja is 44 feet high, with 14 wheels of the same 7 feet diameter and covered with red and blue clothes. Darpadalana, which means crusher of pride, is 43 feet high with 12 wheels of the same 7 feet diameter and roofed with red and black clothes to represent its association with Shakti, the Mother Goddess. The statues of the parrots on the pinnacle of Nandighosha also bear immense spiritual value.
Each of the chariots is attached with four horses. White ones for Balarama, Black ones for Jagannatha and red ones for Subhadra. Each chariot has a charioteer called Sarathi. The three charioteers of Nandighosha, Taladhwaja and Darpadalana are Matali, Daruka and Arjuna respectively.
The splendidly decorated chariots are pulled with the help of ropes by human devotees along the grand road of Puri, called Badadanda to reach the Lords' aunt's house, Gundicha temple 2 kms away from Shree Mandir.
This is the only day when devotees who are not allowed in the temple premises on the normal days, such as non-Hindus and foreigners, can also get the glance of their esteemed deities.
Gajapati, the King of Puri, who is also assumed as the lively facsimile of the Lord (chalanti Vishnu), performs the pious work of sweeping the chariots with golden broomstick and fragrant virtuous water to offer his reverence to Lord Jagannath which is also a practice before pulling of the chariots.
An atmosphere of utmost devotional happening prevails on this day. Besides the main chariots, some devotees are also seen on the streets carrying minuscule versions of the chariots with little idols installed on them. Deva dasis (the Lord's servants) love to perform dances to offer their commitment during Rathyatra.
Saints and devotees in vibrant orange outfits also dance to the tune of Sankirtana chanting the names of the Gods during this pious festival. The huge processions accompanying the chariots play devotional songs with drums, bells, tambourines, trumpets etc. and create a spiritual environment.
Among the major devotees of Lord Jagannath the legend of Salabega is the famous one. He was a Muslim. However, he got cured by the blessings of Lord Jagannath. Hence in this way turned into a hard core devotee of the Lord. The best numbers in the ancient Jagannath’s devotional songs has been written by Salabega.
There is also a tale that once in a year during Rathyatra Salabega tried to come to have darshan of his acclaimed Lord Jagannath but could not reach on time as during that time communication was very poor and one need to come by walking. Now, to the astonishment of everybody, the Chariots did not move in spite of quite a lot of hard work. Finally when Salabega arrived, witnessed the God and prayed the chariots only moved. Jagannath is so kind towards his devotees in the midst of this Kali Yuga also.
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