Things you didn’t know about Jagannath Rath Yatra
Also known as the land of Lord Jagannath, Puri is located on the coast of Bay of Bengal and is 60 km far from the state capital Bhubaneswar. Jagannath Rath Yatra is one of the most awaited festivals in the state of Orissa. Celebrated in the month of June or July, it is dedicated to Lord Jagannath (Lord Krishna) , his sister Goddess Subhadra and his elder brother Lord Balabhadra. Some other names such as Gundicha Yatra, Chariot Festival, Dasavatra and Navadina Yatra are also used to talk about this Rath Yatra. It is said that each year Lord Jagannath wishes to visit his birthplace Mathura for a few days. And so to fulfil his desire this yatra is conducted each year from Jagannath temple to Gundicha temple.
Unbelievable facts about Jagannath temple
- As unbelievable as it may sound, once you enter the temple from Singh Dwara any sound produced by the ocean won’t reach your ears (no scientific explanations available). Belief is that Goddess Subhadra wished peace and serenity within the temple premises so such was made to happen.
- Whatever the time of day it is, the shadow of the main dome of Jagannath temple is not visible. Architectural coup or Lord’s desire?
- In case of Jagannath temple even the land breeze and sea breeze follow different rules. Here unlike other coastal areas, the breeze blows from land towards sea during day-time and from sea to land during the night time.
- Now if this wasn’t enough, the flag atop the temple flows in reverse direction of the breeze.
- Seems like the birds are also under some kind of spell. Not even a single one of them would be found flying above the temple.
- The food cooked inside the temple never goes to waste.
- You can stand in any direction in Puri and somehow you will always end up with the Sudarshan Chakra on the top of the temple facing you.
- En route Gundicha temple, the procession somehow comes to a stop by itself at this place each year. This delay gives an opportunity for thousands of devotees to have darshan of the deities which otherwise wouldn’t have been possible.
- The Rath Yatra was initially performed with two sets of chariots, one to carry the deities till the river where they would be made to cross the river in three wooden boats and the other chariot would be waiting on the end to carry the deities from there to Gundicha temple.
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