Rath Yatra 2016

Rath Yatra 2016 festival beginning July 6

The holy Hindu festival of Rath Yatra is scheduled to take place on July 6 in 2016. The celebration for the festival is done in a grand manner in the Jagannath Puri temple, one of the four Hindu shrines, in Odisha.

For those who are yet unaware of this great festivity, here we have got few interested facts about the Puri Rath Yatra that you’ll surely love to know—

Heavy rush and injuries

Well, every year Puri would be filled with disciples from all over the world on this auspicious day who would risk their lives to pull the chariot of their beloved Lord Jagannath. Innumerable people every year are hospitalized as a result of stampede.

The King and his golden mop

The monarchy system might have been demolished by the Indian Government, but Puri still has its official “king” for Lord Jagannath would only come out from the temple after the king of Puri have swept the path himself by his mop made of pure gold!

Lords and their chariots

The three deities, Jagannath, Balaram and Subhadra travel in three different chariots—Nandighosha, Lord Jagannath’s chariot, has 18 wheels and is as much as 45.6 ft high, Taladhwaja, Lord Balaram’s chariot, has 16 wheels and is around 45 ft. in height and Devadalana, the chariot of Lord Jagannath, has 14 ft. and is around 44.6 ft. high

At Baripada in Mayurbhanj district of Orissa, only women are allowed to pull the rath (chariot) of Subhadra. The unique tradition started in 1975 when the district administration proclaimed on the occasion of International Women's day that henceforth, only women were to pull Subhadra's rath. 

Every year, thousands of women jostle to hold the sacred rope to pull the chariot. Women devotees from across the state annually pour in at Baripada to avail the opportunity and take great pride in pulling the rath from Jagannath temple in Baripada to Mausui Maa temple located nearby. The Baripada Ratha Yatra is significant because nowhere else in India are women given this special privilege to pull the chariot. The participation of women in the festivities is what has made the Ratha Yatra at Baripada an extremely popular event.