Jagannath Rath Yatra

Ratha Jatra, the Festival of Chariot: Chariot of Shri Jagannath is celebrated every year at Puri, the temple town in Odisha, on the second day of Shukla paksha of Ashadha Maasa. The presiding deities of the Jagannath Temple, Puri's main temple, Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra, with the celestial wheel, are removed from the temple in a ceremonial procession to their chariots. The huge, colorfully decorated chariots are drawn by a multitude of devotees on the bada danda, the grand avenue to the Gundicha Temple, two miles away to the North. On the way, the chariot of Lord Jagannatha, Nandighosa waits near the crematorium of Bhakta Salabega, a Muslim devout to pay him tribute.On their way back from the Gundicha Temple, the three deities stop for a while near the Mausi Maa Temple (Aunt's abode) and have an offering of the Poda Pitha, which is a special type of pancake supposed to be the Lord's favorite. After a stay for seven days, the deities return to their abode. The three chariots of Balabhadra, Subhadra and Jagannatha are newly constructed every year with wood of specified trees like phassi, dhausa, etc. They are customarily brought from the ex-princely state of Dasapalla by a specialist team of carpenters who have hereditary rights and privileges for the same. The logs are traditionally set afloat as rafts in the river Mahanadi. These are collected near Puri and then transported by road.