CAR FESTIVAL OF PURI

The antiquity of the Ratha Yatra may be traced back to the ancient days of the puranas.There are references to the Ratha Yatra of Puri in the Brahma Purana,the Padma Purana,the Skandha Purana and the Kapila Samhita.

More than a religious festival,the ratha yatra is an eternal celebration of the divine values of love and compassion,of equality and fraternity.The concept of a benevolent God desending from His elevated throne down to the public avenue to share the joys and suffering of the common folk of all castes,creeds,sects and religions is indeed amazing in the history of religious thought.

The Ratha Yatra is the grand culmination of a series of celebrations spread over the summer and the monsoon month.On the third day of the bright fortnight of Baisakh,Akshaya Trutiya,commences Chandana yatra.This auspicious day marks the beginning of the construction of the Rathas or chariots.On the full-moon day of the month of Jyestha(May-June) is the Snana yatra,the bathing festival,when the three deities move in colourful processions to a platform,the snana vedi where they bathe with 108 pitchers of perfumed water.At the end of the snana yatra day,the holy triad, supposedly afflicted with fever,do not return to their pedestal.They stay away from the public view for a period of fifteen days,called anasara,after which they appear in their Naba Yaubana vesha literarlly a renewed youth,on the new-moon day of the month of asadha.

Finally comes the Ratha Yatra on the second day of the bright fortnight of the month of Asadha.

MORNING RITUALS(inside the temple):

Arati, Avakasha, Rosa homa (puja in the temple kitchen),Surya and Dwarapala Puja,Sakala dhupa(morning offering-specially cooked food),Mangalarpana,Doralagi,Puspanjali and Tuli offering,Mailam lagi,unfastening of deities and preparation for pahandi(balaka doriphita).

PAHANDI(from the Sanctum to the Simhadwara):

(Dhadi Pahandi)The deities are taken out(one after the other)in the following order-Sudarshana,Balabhadra,Subhadra and Jagannath from the Anasara pindi in a ceremonial procession amidst sounds of Ghanta,Kahali and Telengi Baja. At the seven-stairs northern exit from the Natamandapa)the three deities assemble,receive tahiya(a massive headgear made of sola) offered to them by the head of Raghav Das Matha.Then the deities one after the other are ushered through the Pata Agana,Ananda bazar,Bhitara Simhadwar,Baishi Pahacha,Simhadwara, Gumuti,Arunastambha and finally to their respective chariots as per the set protocol.