Ratha Yatra, is a public procession in a chariot. The term particularly refers to the annual Ratha Yatra in Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and other East Indian states, particularly the Odia festival that involve a public procession with a chariot with Lord Jagannath (Lord Krishna), his sister Goddess Subhadra, and his elder brother Lord Balabhadra; Jagannath Yatra is a religious procession. This annual event is celebrated in the month of June or July.
Rath Yatra takes place not only in India but also in the world. Jagannath Yatra is celebrated on the second day of the Shukla Paksha as per the traditional Oriya calendar. This auspicious festival is celebrated for nine days in Odisha. The festival commences with the Rath Yatra and concludes on a ninth day with a return journey - Bahuda Jatra. During Bahuda Jatra the Rathas visit the Mausi Maa Temple. The deities are moved from their abode of Jagannath Temple to Gundicha Temple during the procession.
On the first day of the procession, the Raths of the deities reach the Gundicha Temple and remain there for the next seven days. And on the ninth day, they return to the Jagannath Temple. The three chariots are constructed and decorated for the deities to start their Yatra.
With a strong Vaishanvite following, Bengal too has been celebrating the Jagannath Rathyatra festival for centuries. In Kolkata alone there are many households, temples and associations celebrating the chariot festival. Here are five famous chariot festivals within easy driving distance from Kolkata. Apart from enjoying the main festival, you may also visit the local fairs held simultaneously.
Kolkata's rath yatra may not be as old as Puri's, but is definitely just as big. An ancient Vaishnava festival, rath was popular only in pockets of Bengal, until ISKCON replicated the grand tradition of Puri and started the festival in Kolkata in 1972. Celebrated each year without fail, thousands of people file the streets of Kolkata to throng around the chariot and have a pull at it.
The best part of rath is getting your own little chariot, decking it out with beautiful paper works, garlends and flowers and placing the clay idols in the seperate compartments. And then pulling it around the neighborhood. We spent many blissful childhood rath days doing that.
The excitement lies not simply in pulling the little chariots around, many places in West Bengal, Rather Mela is organized for 9 days, starts on the 1st day of Rath. In such mela, every kinds of shops are their like toy shops, utensils shops, many fun rides, food stalls etc. and bingeing on staples like Fried papad, Tele bhaja, Jeelipi, Goja.
We who can't get the Rather Mela essence from outside of Bengal, try to recreate the mood of Rath Yatra, to remember our childhood memories by making such Rath special food at home.
Rath special foods are,
Malai kulfi(what the kulfi wala, used to bring from his chilled ice cold handi, and serve on shalpata)
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