Sunday 23 March 2014

Puri Sri Jagannatha Ratha Yatra (Car Festival) Dates 2014, Odisha

Sri Jagannatha Ratha Yatra, Puri, Odisha:
Puri Jagannatha Ratha Yatra is the festival of Chariots of Lord Jagannath being celebrated every year on the Second Day of Shukla Paksha of Aashada Masam (Ashadha Shukla Dwitiya) at Puri, the temple town in Odisha State on the east coast of India. 

The Ratha Yatra of Jagannatha is populary known as Car Festival. It is also known as Gundica Yatra. Gundica was the name of the queen of Indradyumna, the legendry builder of the first temple and hence the name Gundica Yatra for the Car festival.
Puri Jagannatha Car Festival 2014 Beginning and Ending Dates:
This is a nine day festival starts from 2nd day of bright fornight of Ashadha and ends on Ashadha Shukla Dasami every year. In this year 2014, Puri Jagannath Ratha Yatra(Car Festival) will be celebrated on June 29, 2014(Sunday).

During this period, on the first day the deities (Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra Devi) are taken to the Gudicha Temple located at a distance of 3km from the main temple in three beautifully decorated new Chariots, made for each of three deities.

On the last day(ninth day), the deities are brought back to the main temple on the same chariots. Thus the deities spend Seven Days in Gudicha Temple. The return journey is called Bahuda Yatra. Jagannatha Rath Yatra completes with the Bahuda Yatra.

Significance and Importance of Chariots:
On the day of Akshaya Trutiya (falls on 3rd day of Vaishaka Shukla Masam[April/May]), construction of the Chariot begins at Ratha Khala(Grand Road), Puri. It is a tradition to construct three new chariots for each deity of the temple and after completion of the yatra all the three chariots are dismantled.

The Chariots are made up of Logs of Wood. These wood are brought from the forest of Dasapalli located at  a distance of about 200km from Puri city.

The special names of these three chariots are as follows...
1) Jagannatha - Jagannatha - Nandighosa,'
2) Balabhadra Taladhvaja and 
3) Subhadra - Devadalana. 

The colour of the fabrics used to decorate the chariots are yellow, green and black respectively, mixed with red. During the starting of the car festival, the order of movement of the chariots from the temple gate towards the Gundica temple are (a) Balabhadra, (b) Subhadra and lastly, (c) Jagannatha.

Jagannatha Temple Car Festival Dates 2014, Puri
Name of the Festival
Festival Date & Day
Akshyaya Trutiya 02.05.2014
Nrusingha Janma (Sri Narasimha Swamy Jayanthi) 13.05.2014
Debasnana Purnima .06.2014
Srigundicha 
(Rath Yatra 2014 staring day)
29.06.2014 (Sunday)
Hera Panchami 03.07.2014 (Thursday)
Dakhina Moda 04.07.2014 (Friday)
Sandhya Darshan 06.07.2014 (Sunday)
Bahuda Yatra
(Puri Rath Yatra 2014 Closing Date)
07.07.2014 (Monday)
Suna Besha 08.07.2014 (Tuesday)
Adharapana 09.07.2014 (Wednesday)
Neeladribije 10.07.2014 (Thursday)

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