Jagannath Dev

Puri Rath Yatra the festival of chariots held beautifully in Puri streets with huge crowed filled with devotees and tourists on Sunday. For Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra all devotees and tourists, who have come down from all corners of the country and abroad to a take part in the annual Rath Yatra.  It is to be one of the ancient festivals in the world that started with the commencement of the 12th century place of worship. It was at the order of Ananta Barman Chodoganga Dev (1112-1148 AD) that the construction of the temple was started and lastly it was completed by his grandson Anangabhima Dev Three richly decorated chariots, resembling temple structures, are pulled through the streets of Puri. 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.

The Rath carts themselves are some approximately 45 feet (14 m) high and are pulled by the thousands of pilgrims who turn up for the event, the chariots were build newly each year only from a particular type of tree. Millions of devotees assemble at Puri for this annual event from all over the country and abroad.


The 3 km Grand Road, which will see the festival chariots rolling out, has been spruced up and most beautifully decorated. For the first time, the district administration has given a fresh coat of paint, a uniform ivory, to all the buildings inside layer the parade path. Another high point of this year’s Rath Yatra is the prohibit on the sale of non-vegetarian food items along the road. All commercial and promotional hoardings have been pulled down by the district administration to offer devotees a better view of the events.

Puri district collector, Fakir Charan Satapathy, has taken care as per the measures on instructions from the chief minister who reviewed the festival preparations recently. And pilgrims will have a safe darshan of lord Jagannath in the temple.

Jagannath Temple, Puri

The Jagannath Temple in Puri  is a famous Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath (Vishnu) and located in the coastal town of Puri in the state of Orissa, India. The name Jagannath (Lord of the Universe) is a combination of the Sanskrit words Jagat (Universe) and Nath (Lord of). The temple is an important pilgrimage destination for many Hindu traditions, particularly worshippers of Krishna and Vishnu, and part of the Char Dham pilgrimages that a Hindu is expected to make in one's lifetime . The temple was built in the 11th century atop its ruins by the progenitor of the Eastern Ganga dynasty, King Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva. The temple is famous for its annual Rath Yatra, or chariot festival, in which the three main temple deities are hauled on huge and elaborately decorated temple cars. Since medieval times, it is also associated with intense religious fervour.
Legendary account as found in the Skanda-Purana, Brahma Purana and other Puranas and later Oriya works state that Lord Jagannath was originally worshipped as Lord Neela Madhav by a Savar king ( tribal chief ) named Viswavasu. Having heard about the deity, King Indradyumna sent a Brahmin priest, Vidyapati to locate the deity, who was worshipped secretly in a dense forest by Viswavasu. Vidyapati tried his best but could not locate the place. But at last he managed to marry Viswavasu's daughter Lalita . At repeated request of Vidyapti, Viswavasu took his son-in-law blind folded to a cave where Lord Neela Madhav was worshipped.
Vidyapati was very intelligent. He dropped mustard seeds on the ground on the way. The seeds germinated after a few days, which enabled him to find out the cave later on. On hearing from him, King Indradyumna proceeded immediately to Odra desha (Orissa) on a pilgrimage to see and worship the Deity. But the deity had disappeared. The king was disappointed. The Deity was hidden in sand. The king was determined not to return without having a darshan of the deity and observed fast unto death at Mount Neela, Then a celestial voice cried 'thou shalt see him '. Afterwards the king performed a horse sacrifice and built a magnificent temple for Vishnu. Sri Narasimha Murti brought by Narada was installed in the temple. During sleep, the king had a vision of Lord Jagannath. Also an astral voice directed him to receive the fragrant tree on the seashore and make idols out of it. Accordingly the king got the image of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Chakra Sudarshan made out of the wood of the divine tree and installed them in the temple.