Annual Ratha Yatra begins at Puri Jagannath Temple in Odisha

The annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath and his siblings Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra began in the temple town of Puri in Odisha on Sunday morning with the three deities set to embark on their journey to the Sri Gundicha temple for a nine-day sojourn.

After the rituals such as mangal arati, abakash, tadap lagi, mailum, rosa homa, suryapuja and offering of Gopal bhog to the deities, the servitors of the temple began the process of carrying the three deities from the temple to the elaborately decorated chariots placed on the Bada Danda or Grand Road. After Puri king Gajapati Dibyasinghdev does the ceremonial sweeping of the chariots, it will be pulled by lakhs of devotees who have thronged the town. The three chariots—Nandighosa, Taladhwaja and Darpadalan—have been kept ready at the Lions’ Gate of the temple.

Puri district collector Siddharth Swain said for the first time in 53 years, the chariots would be pulled for two days due to celestial arrangement. “A similar situation occurred in 1971 when chariots were pulled for two days. Besides, rituals like Nabajouban Darshan and Netrostava that are performed ahead of the Rath Yatra are being held on a single day on Sunday. The chariots would be pulled at 5pm,” said Swain. The Bahuda yatra (return car festival) will be held on July 15 and Sunabesha of the deities on July 17. After that the deities will enter the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.

Rath Yatra is one of the main festivals of Odisha that commemorates the annual journey of Lord Jagannath and his siblings from the 12th century Jagannath temple to their aunt’s abode in Gundicha temple, 2.5 km away. The Gundicha temple is the place where Jagannath is said to have taken the form in which he is currently worshipped. The Rath Yatra is the only time when Lord Jagannath comes out of his holy abode so that people of all religion can see him as only Hindus are allowed into the temple on regular days.

This year is also special as President Droupadi Murmu will witness the festival and pull the chariots, making it the first time in the history of the temple town when a President or Prime Minister were present during the event. Apart from the President, governor Raghubar Das, chief minister Mohan Majhi, deputy CMs KV Singh Deo and Pravati Parida, former CM Naveen Patnaik and several ministers of the state government would be present in Puri.

PM Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav and other ministers have greeted people on the occasion.

Odisha director general of police Arun Sarangi said 180 platoons of police led by three additional DGPs and several IGPs have been deployed for the event as well as President Murmu’s visit. Several units of bomb detection and disposal units, three companies of RAF, and five companies of CRPF have also been deployed for the festival. The Badadanda or the Grand Road has been divided into six security zones and one senior officer will look after the arrangements in his/her respective zone. Besides, at least 164 CCTV cameras with artificial intelligence have been installed along the road and other parts of the town.

The Puri district administration also launched an Android-based mobile application - Rath Yatra 2024 - to provide all

necessary information about things such as parking lots, drinking water facilities, health centres, free food distribution points, police service centres, child desk helplines, information centres and temporary accommodation camps.