Today is Ratha Yatra

Today is Ratha Yatra the holy festival of Odisha, also this festival is known as cart festival. Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and maa subhadra three of these come out from sree mandir and visited to their aunt’s house (maushi maa temple).

As an Odia, i beleave in lord Jagannath and Ratha Yatra is a special occasion for me and for all other bhakta or worshippers of Lord Jagannath. From my child hood, I visited cart festival with my parents and it is a strong believes that Lord Jagannath comes out from Sree Mandir to see his worshipper and bless him.

And according to millions of people those every year come to puri from different parts of Odisha, India and different other countries, they feel that an unnatural power bless them.

Ratha Yatra in Dhenkanal

Millions of people from different religions are cultures coming to see the Ratha Yatra festival or cart festival. Today is the special day and today also many people are coming to puri to see cart festival.

Apart from puri these are many other places are available where the temple of lord Jagannath are present and in these places cart festival celebrated by people in a very happy and joyful way.

                                         
In my home town Dhenkanal a glorious temple of Lord Balaram is present and people celebrated cart festivals in this temple every year, all rituals are obeyed like puri jagannath temple but as it is the temple of Lord Balaram, he is the elder brother of Lord Jagannath, so the cart festival begins first in dhenkanal than after that in puri.

Every year in my child hood I visited Ratha Yatra in my home town dhenkanal and it is a very holy experience I fell every year. Today I wish you all a very happy Ratha Yatra. 

“Ratha-Yatra” The Holy Festival of Puri, Odisha

Ratha-Yatra (Chariot Festival) is a very popular Hindu festival of Odisha, India. This is a very famous festival where millions of people are gathered at Puri to join the festival. Not only the Indian people or only Hindu community people also people from different countries from different communities are coming to Puri (the land of Jagannath) to participate in holy Ratha-Yatra or Chariot Festival.  

Ratha-Yatra or Chariot Festival involves transporting deities on a Ratha (chariot). In this festival the Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra come outside of temple and visit to his aunt’s house.

The name Ratha-Yatra itself describes the festival, Rath means chariot and Yatra means journey. So the journey of Lord Jagannath and his brother and sister are called famous Ratha-Yatra.

Puri is the Land of Jagannath, here the famous Jagannath temple situated and Lord Jagannath worshiped in it. But once in a year Lord Jagannath go to visit Gundicha Temple or mausi maa temple (Lord Jagannath’s aunt’s house). Lord Jagannath left the temple (Shri Mandir) for seven days and after then come back to temple.

Millions of people gathered to see the lord Jagannath on chariot, people gets a divine experience by seeing lord Jagannath on chariot. So people like this chariot festival very much.

Ratha-Yatra usually occurred during the month of Asadha (Rainy Season of Orissa, usually falling in month of June or July). During this time millions of people from different countries come to Puri and stay here and worship lord Jagannath.

Mainly Hindu community people are gathered in a vast population and along with them all other community people are joined them and enjoy the Ratha-Yatra festival.

Also the Ratha-Yatra festival celebrated in different other places of India and also in different countries. Mostly in American countries people very much like to celebrate this chariot festival. 

Important Festivals of Odisha

Odisha is a state situated in the east of India. It is surrounded by the states of West Bengal to the north-east, Jharkhand to the north, to the west and North West, Telangana to the south-west and Andhra Pradesh to the south. In this state many peoples of different religions live together. So here many festivals are celebrated. Some major festivals of Odisha are:-

·     Durga Puja is one of the important festivals in Odisha. This festival is a 10-day-long festival. During this period, goddess Durga is worshipped. For this period some temporary shrines are created those are called pandals or Shakti Peethas. 

·         Kumar Purnima is another important festival od Odisha basically this festival is celebrated by unmarried girls who pray for a handsome husband.

·   Deepabali It marks the days on which Lord Rama Return to Ayodhya after completing his 14 years exile, with Sita, Laxman and Hanuman. People celebrate his returned day with deepa and fire crackers.

·      Prathamastami is a festival celebrated for first born in the house. In this occasion they pray for long life of their first born children.

·       Maha Shivaratri is one of the very important festivalin Odisha, here in this festival People worship lord Siva. It is mainly observed by fasting by adherents, especially. Married women pray for the well-being of their spouses. 

·    Ratha Yatra is the main festival of Odisha organized at Puri, land of Lord Jagannath. This festival also known as car festival. Here in this festival Lord Jagannath, Lord balabhadra and maa Subhadra are visited to their aunts house. Thousands of people gathered at puri to see this festival.

·    Ganesh Chaturthi is a festival where people worship to Lord Ganesh (lord of Knloge). Mainly students worship Lord ganesh for good education.

Gajalaxmi Puja in Odisha

These are some important festivals of Odisha, some more regional festivals celebrated in Coastal Odisha are: Dola Purnima, Raja Parba, Bali Jatra.

And one important festivals celebrated in Central Odisha are:  Gajalaxmi Puja

And in Western Odisha people celebrated festivals like Nuakhai, Sitalsasthi, Dhanu Jatra.

So these are some festivals which are celebrated in Odisha.