Jagannath Yatra is considered to be one of the most important festivals of the Year the special is celebrated in the Ramana of Lord Jagannath Jagannath and is considered to be one of the 10 incarnations of Vishnu. Lord Jagannath placed the statue in lavish and equipped Chariots made of wood for the celebration, they also have Statues Of his sister Subhadra and Jagannath’s elder brother Bala Bhadra. After the gap of 2 years this year Jagannath Rath Yatra celebration is expected to witness a huge public participation. Jagannath Rath Yatra was celebrated in Orissa Puri on Friday 1st July 2022 as it is observed on the Shukla Paksha Dwitiya tithi and the month of Aashadha.
How the tradition started –
As it is believed that one day Godrej Subhadra the younger sister of Lord Jagannath Express her desire to go out in the City for a round and from this processor, Rath Yatra started. For seven days, the three chariots stay there and then come back to Jagannath Temple. These chariots are followed by a large number of followers and pulling of the chariots is considered to be highly auspicious they are decorated with different styles followed for centuries and carried out by priests. Devotees from all over the participate in the festival it is celebrated as a huge procession devotional songs are played and devotees perform dance and bhajans.
In Puri, the Orissa Rath Yatra festival is celebrated in the most glorious manners and is considered to be one of the biggest festivals in the world Rath Yatra is celebrated for 7 days in Puri brahmins are fed and donated. Pooja and Archana are done in this period. There is a huge crowd of people on both sides of the road to see the procession of rath Yatra. This time after a gap of 2 years following the covid pandemic the participation of devotees in Rath Yatra has been allowed. Every year a very special arrangement is made by the Government of Orissa as the devotees gather all round from the world to witness this Rath yatra.
Sunil Kumar Bansal, DGP Odisha said that
“Keeping in mind the desire for devotees to worship their lord, several provisions were made for traffic, parking, crowd control and VIP movement. Almost 180 platoons of police force have been added,
All the three idols of Jagannath Bala Bhadra and Subhadra are made up of neem Woods because it is considered one of the most auspicious wood.
The chariot of Lord Jagannath moves on 18 wheels whereas the Talawaja, Lord Balarama’s chariot moves on 16 wheels and 14 wheels of goddess Subhadra’s Padmadhawaja.
The biggest Rath of Lord Jagannath about 45 feet in height is red and yellow that is called Nandi gosha it takes 2 months to be built.
Some of the beliefs of this puja –
It is one of the beliefs that no Birds or planes fly over the Puri Jagannath Temple and it’s a phenomenon which remains a mystery. As per the belief lord, Jagannath is carried by Garud Dev the king of birds who acts as a vehicle for Lord Vishnu and Lord Jagannath so it is said that since Garud Dev protects the Jagannath temple, Puri, all the birds scared of flying over the temple or the holy place. For the aeroplanes, the area is covered by Neil Chakra and 8 metal Chakra at top of the Jagannath Puri temple which is made up of metal and blocks all wireless communication, therefore, flying aeroplanes is considered to be dangerous in this areas.
The Chakra are top temple which is situated at 20 feet in height and wearing a top can be visible from any corner of the city that is one of the interesting facts about Puri Jagannath Temple also the flag on the top of the sanctum always floods in the opposite direction of the Wind that signifies scientific reasoning.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi greater people on the occasion of Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath and prayed for the happiness and peace and prosperity of all. He twitted greetings on the special day of Rath Yatra we pray to Lord Jagannath for his constant blessings may we all be blessed with good health and happiness he also share the importance of Rath Yatra during his broadcast in recent Mann Ki Baat.
President Ram Nath kovind also created people on the occasion of Rath Yatra wishing that everyone is blessed with good health and happiness he twitted ” hearty congratulations and best wishes to all the countryman on the auspicious occasion of Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath I wish that with the blessings of Mahaprabhu Jagannath there should be happiness peace and prosperity in everyone’s life.
Renowned sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik made 125 sand chariots to make the Jagannath Puri Yatra he said that it will be our new world record.“The greatest festival of the Supreme Lord is Rath Yatra which happens every year. For the last 2 yrs, devotees’ participation was barred due to the pandemic but is allowed this year. Expecting huge public participation today,” Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb, the current titular Gajapati Maharaja and the King of Puri was quoted as saying by the news agency ANI.
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan along with Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnav earlier inspected preparation for the Jagannath yatra at Puri railway station last night.
Money matters in the Rath Yatra –
The report of Charles groom the first collector of Puri in 1805 reveals start rupees 6822 were spent on making the chariots of the Yatra that year.
According to the regional archives, Vivekanand das.
In the year 1805, the annual expenditure to run the temple was 71,560.
This year the temple public relations officer Lakshmi Dhar Puja Panda said that the temple administration is spending rupees 1.7 crores on the Yatra whereas the expenditure on the making of chariots would be over 30 lacs excluding the cost of wood as the temple gets free Timber for the construction of three chariots from the forest department every year. This year the temple is expecting 8 to 10 lakhs people to witness the Yatra. The cost of the timber would be around 60 lakhs according to the sources.
This high amount is especially surprising since Orissa is among the poorest state in India. The Profitability of the pilgrim business is yet unknown one sin centuries, particularly about Puri. The Odisha state government there only follows neatly in the predecessor’s footprints it no longer imposes a pilgrim tax, collected from every pilgrim entering the city. They choose other means to benefit from the religious sentiments of the people even though the state had to invest a considerable amount into infrastructural projects first on a quantifiable level this involves Texas gained through various expenditures of devotee pilgrims and tourists such as accommodations food and purchases.
The government attributes centrality to Jagannath of Orissa and globality to Rath Yatra it intended to guarantee a successful festival it implemented various projects for infrastructure development and straightening of existing services and amenities around Puri in the year 2015 the finance department in a report mentioned 5 areas for which it provided a budget of 20 crore rupee for Nabakalebra, 5 crore rupees for other Jagannath Temple in Odisha and 3 Crore rupee for tourism police 40 lakh for free transportation from the newly built Malatipatpur bus stand. And other 67 crore rupees to ensure an uninterrupted power supply in Puri during the festival sum of these amounts provided 954 million rupees or depending on the exchange rate approximately 14 crore euros. (Government of Odisha 2015,).
