RAJARHAT NEWTOWN JAGANNATH SOCIETYSri Sri Jagannath SarbojaninRATHA YATRA2026

Long ago in the sacred city of Puri, Lord Jagannath — the dark-eyed Lord of the Universe — expressed a wish to leave his golden temple and visit his birthplace, the Gundicha Mandir, where his aunt awaited him. So once each year, on the second day of the bright half of Asadha, the three deities step out of the sanctum and ascend their towering wooden chariots.

Carved anew every year from the wood of fragrant neem trees, the three chariots — Nandighosa, Taladhwaja and Darpadalana — rise like moving temples. They are pulled not by horses, but by the hands of devotees, for it is said that even one touch of the rassi dissolves the karma of countless lifetimes.

For nine days the Lord lives in his aunt's home. Devotees feed him, sing to him, dance for him. Goddess Lakshmi, left behind in the great temple, sets out in search of her beloved on the fifth day — Hera Panchami — in one of the most tender episodes of Indian sacred story.

Then comes the Bahuda Yatra — the return. The chariots roll back home, carrying with them the memory of every face that gazed upon the Lord. To witness the Ratha Yatra is, the scriptures say, to be carried across the ocean of existence itself.