The world-renowned Puri Rath Yatra 2021, which is also called the Chariot festival is an annual event that will be starting next week. The festival is conducted at the prominent Jagannatha temple in Puri, Odisha, India. Three Lords are worshipped on the festival day which are Lord Balabhadra, the elder brother of Lord Jagannath; Subhadra, the sister of Lord Jagannath and Lord Balabhadra; and Lord Jagannath.
The Jagannath Temple is one of the four important pilgrimage festivals of Hindus that has a lot of religious significance. Ratha Yatra this year will be observed on Monday, July 12, 2021. The Dwitiya Tithi starts at 07:47 on July 11, 2021, and finishes at 08:19 on July 12, 2021.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has asked for devotees and common people to co-operate for the smooth functioning of the Rath Yatra festival this year with a strict following of all the COVID-19 protocols during the pandemic situation.
The Ratha Yatra of Puri Jagannath Temple in Odisha has been a century-old festival wherein lakhs of devotees visit the pilgrim city to worship their lords and get mind satisfaction.
You will be surprised to know that almost 1400 carpenters build three large chariots every year for the annual function from the scratch. The three chariots have to be designed with exact measurement and by using the oldest technique of measurement which is hands and finger lengths.
Every year it is noticed that rainfall occurs on the festival day and as per earlier records, there has no festival of Rath Yatra with no rains on that particular day. There have been times when it hasn’t rained for days before Rath Yatra but on that day, monsoon surely leaves its mark.
During the colonial rule, when Britishers saw the heavy and large chariot of Lord Jagannath, it is believed that they came up with the term Juggernaut in English which means a huge, powerful and impactful force.
It has been observed that the king or Gajapati of Puri sweeps and cleans the rath with a golden broom before the start of the Rath Yatra, which means that even a king is a servant in front of the Lord.
