Puri Ratha Yatra Important Dates 2021:
Jagannath Ratha yatra or Puri Ratha Yatra or Puri Chariot Festival or Car Festiva is a famous Festival celebrated in Puri Jagannath Temple in Odisha. This Chariot Festival is dedicated to Lord Jagannath. Every year it is celebrated on Ashada Shukla Paksha, It attracts a large number of devotees all over the world. This festival is the oldest Ratha Yatra taking place in India and the World, whose descriptions can be found in Brahma Purana, Padma Purana, and Skanda Purana and Kapila Samhita
This festival commemorates Lord Jagannath’s annual visit to the famous “Gundicha Temple” passing by the “Mausi Maa Temple”, located near Balagandi Chaka in Puri. During Puri Rath Yatra, the main deities of the temple, Lord Jagannath, Goddess Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra, are taken in their respective chariots as part of a grand procession.
Jagannath Ratha Yatra is celebrated on July 12th in 2021:
The three chariots of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhdra are newly constructed every year with wood of specified trees like phassi, dhausa, etc. They are customarily brought from the ex-princely state of Dasapalla by a specialist team of carpenters who have hereditary rights and privileges for the same. The logs are traditionally set afloat as rafts in the river Mahanadi. These are collected near Puri and then transported by road.
The three chariots are decorated as per the unique scheme prescribed and followed for centuries stand on the Bada Danda, the Grand Avenue. The chariots are lined across the wide avenue in front of the temple close to its eastern entrance, which is also known as the Sinhadwara or the Lion’s Gate.
Around each of the chariots are nine Parsva devatas, painted wooden images representing different deities on the chariots’ sides. Each chariot has a charioteer (Sarathi) and four horses.
Jagannath Temple Other Important Dates 2021:
May 15th – Chandan Yatra (Akshaya Tritiya)
June 24th – Snana Yatra (Snana Purnima)
July 9th – Netro Ustav( After Snana Purnima, Lord Jagannath is said to catch cold and fever for a duration of 15 days.)
July 12th – Ratha Yatra Starts (Famous Ratha yatra starts today)
July 16th – Hera Panchami (Celebrated at Gundicha temple on the fifth day from Start of Rathayatra)
July 20th – Bahuda Yatra(After 9 days Lord Jagannath will return from Gundhica Temple)
July 21st – Suna Besha (After they return, Lord Jagannath takes up along with his brother and sister.)
July 23rd – Niladri Bije.
