Rath Yatra (Chariot Festival)
The great chariot procession of Lord Jagannath, one of the world's largest religious gatherings.
Rath Yatra begins on the second day of the waxing moon in the Hindu month of Ashadha, usually in late June or July. The deities return to the Jagannath Temple about nine days later in the Bahuda Yatra.
When Is Rath Yatra (Chariot Festival)?
Rath Yatra begins on the second day of the waxing moon in the Hindu month of Ashadha, usually in late June or July. The deities return to the Jagannath Temple about nine days later in the Bahuda Yatra.
Because the Gregorian date changes from year to year, check a calendar published by the tradition or your local community for this year's date.
Why It Matters
Rath Yatra is the annual procession of Lord Jagannath in Puri, Odisha. Hundreds of thousands, and in some years over a million, devotees gather, and the three massive chariots are pulled with ropes. This festival is so famous it gave English the word 'juggernaut.'
How It Is Observed
Pulling of three enormous wooden chariots (raths) by hundreds of thousands of devotees, devotional singing, bathing of deities, ceremonial eye-painting of the deities.
Sacred Text
“Rathe tu vamanam drishtva punar janma na vidyate, one who sees the Lord on the chariot is not born again.”
, Verse traditionally attributed to the Skanda Purana ↗