Rath Yatra

Culture of origin: Hindu · Cultural

Holiday sources: Hinduism

At the Rath Yatra the images of Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and his sister Subhadra are drawn by a multitude of devotees on three massive wooden chariots, newly built every year, along the grand avenue of Puri, in Odisha, to the Gundicha temple. They stay there for a week and then return (the Bahuda Yatra). It is held to be the oldest and largest Hindu chariot festival, and since 1968 ISKCON has carried it to cities around the world.