Jagannath (Sanskrit: जगन्नाथ jagannātha is a

Hindu deity, a form of Vishnu. The oldest and

most famous Jagannath deity is in the city of Puri,
in Orissa, India (the city is known to many as
Jagannath Puri after the Jagannath Temple)
where each year the famous Rath Yatra festival
takes place. Jagannath is worshipped all over
India.
 L ike Badrinath • Rameswaram
Dwarka ,The Jagannath Temple in Puri is regarded as
one of the 4 most sacred Hindu pilgrimage places in
India
 . Jagannath Rath Yatra or the' chariot journey of Lord
Jagannatha', observed in the month of Ashadha (June-
July), is a festival that celebrates the annual visit of the God
to his birthplace. Several lakh people converge at Puri for
this festival. An atmosphere of almost hysterical devotion
prevails on this day and in earlier years; devotees were
known to have thrown themselves under the wheels of the
rath in the hope of obtaining instant salvation. But the
actual preparation starts from the Magha Saptami with the
cutting of trees in distant Daspalla/Nayagarh and nearby
areas for providing the wood necessary for construction of
chariots.
On the third day of the bright fortnight of Baisakh, i.e.
Akshaya Trutiya, starts the auspicious construction
of chariots on the Grand Road of Puri and
completed within a short span of 58 days
• The chariots are lined up in front of the Puri temple.
The King of Puri with great pomp and ceremony then
brings the deities to their respective chariots.
Devotees offer prayers to the deities. Descendants of
the King, heralded by gaily-caparisoned elephants
sweep the chariot platforms with a gold-handled
broom and sprinkle scented water to demonstrate that
in the eyes of God, all men are equal. Nowhere else is
a deity, once consecrated, taken out of the temple.
The entire yatra is a symbolic humanization of God
and an attempt to bring God down from his pedestal of
glory to a more human level.
Their Lordships on the bathing altar
Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra
in Their Gajanan Vesha
Lord Jagannath surrounded by devotees belonging
to all religions as it is only on the Rath Yatra day
that Lord Jagannath, along with brother Lord
Balabhadra, and sister Devi Subhadra come out of
the main temple giving a chance to people of all
religions to have a glance of him.
• Each deity has its own massive chariot, which
are replicas of the temple. Jagannatha's chariot,
Nandighosha, is yellow in color, 45 ft high and
has 16 wheels, each one seven feet in diameter.
About 4,200 devotees draw the chariot.
Balabhadra's chariot is called Taladhvaja, is blue
in color and has 14 wheels. Subhadra's chariot
is the smallest, with 12 wheels and is called
Deviratha.
Rathyatrra in london
Devotees dancing down Fifth Avenue, New
York, as the ISKCON rath yatra winds its
way
Ratha Yatra in Berlin
sand sculpture of the deity on the
sea beach by well-known sand
artist Sudarsan Pattnaik
• When the chariots reach the summerhouse, the idols are
installed. The journey back, a week later, consists of
another ritual, known as Phera Rath Yatra.Every year,
the chariots are broken down, its wood sold as relics and
a replica made. However the images of the deities are
preserved. It is only when two Ashadha months occur
one after the other that the images are changed. This
happens once in 12 or 24 years. The ceremony, Naba
Kalebar, consists of burying the old images inside the
temple. Then new images are created. This practice
stems from the belief that in such a year, everything in
the universe changes form, and therefore Jagannatha
receives the same treatment.