Lord J

In a land with over 33 crore* gods, there is no shortage of deities to worship in India (*a crore is ten million).

One of the most prominent deities here in Orissa is Lord Jagganath (and family), whose temple is located in the nearby religious (and beach) town of Puri.

Lord Jagganath is considered an aspect of the god Vishnu or his avatar Krishna and worshipped as part of a triad along with Krishna's brother Balabhadra and his sister Subhadra. The 12th century temple of Jagannath in Puri is regarded as one of the Char Dam (four sacred Hindu pilgrimage places) in India.

Every year in mid-summer, Lord Jagannath, with his elder brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra, goes on vacation, travelling on grand chariots, from his temple in Puri, to his garden palace in the countryside. This belief of the Hindus has given rise to one of the biggest religious festivals in India — the Rath Yatra or the Chariot Festival. This is also the etymological origin of the English word 'Juggernaut'.

The festival begins with the Ratha Prathistha or invoking ceremony in the morning, but the Ratha Tana or chariot pulling is the most exciting part of the festival, which begins in the late afternoon when the chariots of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra start rolling.

  

This commemorates the annual journey of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balarama, and their sister Subhadra to their aunt' s temple, the Gundicha Temple which is situated at a distance of 2km from their temple. New chariots are built every year. This is the only day when devotees who are not allowed in the temple premises such as non-Hindus and foreigners, can get their glimpse of the deities. During the festival, devotees from all over the world go to Puri with an earnest desire to help pull Lords' chariot with the help of other priests pulling the chariots with ropes. They consider this a pious deed and risk their lives in the huge crowd. The huge processions accompanying the chariots play devotional songs with drums, tambourines, trumpets etc. Crowd estimates vary wildly but it would be fair to say that at least a million (and possibly several times that number) come to Puri during Rath Yatra each year.

Lord Jagganath is a god for the low caste people and during the festival, the low caste people become the kings of Puri. In fact, during Rath Yatra, the King of Puri has to climb each of the chariots and sweep the floors, becoming a low caste person.

My good friend Pintu who owns the guesthouse in Puri which has become my second home, organised tickets for us on a balcony right outside Jagganath Temple where we could witness all of the proceedings away from the unbelievable crowd.

We were woken just after 4.30am to get ready to head down there. Many streets are blocked off and the crowds become just too heavy to get through the streets if you leave it too late. 

I still haven't been able to find the words to tell you about the experience of Rath Yatra. 

From the moment I arrived in Puri on Saturday and climbed on the back of Pintu's bike, I felt a change in the air in Puri. We spent some time cruising through town to organise tickets and pick up beer and various other things and the energy and excitement I could feel as we rode around town gave me goosebumps.

Again on Monday morning Pintu woke me early and we went down to Grand Road at about 6am in the morning drizzle to witness the pilgrims lining up to board the chariots. We walked through the area and lit a candle and I touched Jagganath and Subhadra's chariots.

Puri is a wonderful and interesting place and to be part of Rath Yatra, a centuries old ritual, is a privilege and has provided me now with memories I won't ever forget.