Puri decked up for annual RathYatra
- July 12, 2021
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Puri decked up for annual RathYatra
Subject : Culture
Context : The world-famous RathYatra will be conducted without devotees in view of the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.
Concept :
About RathYatra
- RathYatra is a festival dedicated to Lord Jagannath (Lord Krishna), Goddess Subhadra (his sister) and Lord Balaram (his elder brother).
- RathYatra is widely celebrated and one of the biggest festivals of India.
- The term particularly refers to the annual Rathyatra in Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and other East Indian states, particularly the Odia festival.
- JagannathRathYatra festival as per the traditional Oriya calendar begins on the second day of Shukla Paksha of the Hindu lunar month of Ashadha.
- The nine-day-long festival marks the annual journey of Lord Jagannath, his brother Lord Balbhadra and sister Subhadra to the Gundicha temple.
- RathYatra is also celebrated in Ahmedabad.
- Apart from this, the Ahmedabad yatra is different from its Puri counterpart on other counts — the idols Lord Jagannath, Baldev and Subhadra are blindfolded ahead of the procession day, as part of the netrotsav ceremony, but remain open to public view.
- In Puri, they are given a bath and kept out of public view till the procession.
- Known as ‘Chaka dola’ (the one with the large round eyes) in Odisha, Jagannath is believed to be the Lord who watches over the world and never sleeps.
- The Puriyatra to the maternal uncle’s place is also called the Gundichayatra, named after Gundichadevi, the maternal aunt of Lord Jagannath.
- The siblings spend at least seven days at their aunt’s and return to the main temple in Puri in what is called the ‘bahudiyatra’ (the return journey).