puri car festival some known & unknown facts
TRANSCRIPT
Puri Car Festival--Some Known & Unknown Facts
The famous Puri Rath Yatra or Car Festival is observed in honor of Lord
Jagannath. It is one of the biggest Indian festivals.
It's also a time when Lord Jagannath sojourns to his maternal aunt's abode every year.
During the Festival, the door of the Puri Jagannath Temple is open to all, irrespective of caste and religion where the people of different Indian communities can worship and get blessed
from the Lord.
Here are some known & unknown facts :-
Rath Yatra is celebrated every year on the occasion of Ashad Shukla Dwitiya that falls between the months of June-July.
Rain :-
The Lord's blessing is bestowed on devotees in the form of rain as per belief from long ago.
This is the only time when devotees can see all the three deities--Lord Jagannath and his siblings Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra, on Bada Danda (main street of Puri) from where they will travel (3 km) to the Shri Gundicha
Temple (the Mausima Temple) in huge chariots.
The Gundicha Yatra is celebrated to welcome them, when they reach their
aunt's house where they stay for 9days.
Resting in high fever time :-
Before the Rath Yatra the door of the temple remains shut for 21 days as Lord Jagannath gets high fever due to which visitors are
not allowed to see him.
It is believed that due to this fever the Lord needs a change of place, so the famous visit takes place to his aunt's place.
It is the only temple in the world where deities walks out of the temple to meet the devotees (as a belief).
Day of breaking cast barrier
The Lord Jagannath Temple Puri is governed by the most orthodox stringent Hindus where only Hindu by birth can
enter the premises to offer prayer.
But on the day of Car festival, the barriers of caste, religion, or creed simply vanish and
everyone can see and pray to Lord.
The chariots :-
The chariots or rathas of deities are newly constructed every year from woods by the carpenters, maharana who hold the
hereditary rights.
Interesting fact is that though they are newly made but the model, structure, design and dimensions of the chariots
remain invariable.
The deities have their different chariots namely Nandighosha, Taladhwaja and Devadalana for Lord Jagannath with his elder brother Lord Balaram and
younger sister Suvadra.
Lord resists from moving
As per legends, Lord Jagannath first shows unwillingness for sometime to visit his aunt's place but after a continuous pushing and pulling then he starts to move.
The King and his golden mop
The monarchy system has been demolished by Indian Government but Puri still has the king who sweeps the path himself by the golden mop and then only Lord Jagannath come out of the temple.
This sweeping ceremony called Chhera Pahara that held 2 times. First while deities leaving from temple towards aunt's house and other one when they come back to
temple.
During the return journey Lord Jagannath and his siblings takes a halt to have their favorite dessert called Poda Pitha.
Lord Jagannath's favorite dessert
Heavy rush of devotees :-
Every year Puri is filled with devotees from all over the world on the auspicious day of Rath Yatra and these devotees risk their lives to pull the chariot of the Lord Jagannath.
In the process of pulling, most of the people got injured by stampede.
But the Government of Odisha appoints doctors, volunteers and police for taking care of the situation in a proper way
without disturbing the festival.
