The word juggernaut is derived from Sanskrit word 'Jagannath' (Lord Krishna) meaning 'Lord of the Universe'. The festival is popularly known as car festival. Taking the word in positive sense the festival is so huge and the gathering of people is massive so it is called juggernaut .This is one of the most popular festivals in India. Definitely a person must include himself/herself in the sea of people in this festival.
This is also known as Rath yatra. Rath yatra generally takes place in rainy season in the month of June or July. In this festival lord Jagannath, Balabhadra (brother) and Subhadra (sister) are brought out onto 'Bada Danda' which is Main Street of puri about 3 kms long, in their separate chariots. The chariots are pulled by devotees to the Mausi Maa temple (Gundicha temple). Ratha means chariot and yatra means journey. The Ratha is a huge movable structure with giant wooden wheels. The height of Rath is about 45 feet and 35 feet square and takes 2 months to construct. New chariots are made every year for Rath yatra.
There are many rituals performed, among them Chhera Pahara is famous. During the festival, the king Gajapati have to sweep all around the 'Rath' to make it clean with a broom with golden handles. Many ‘Pandas’ (priest) escort him during the ceremony. They put sandal water with flowers around the ‘Rath’ and King Gajapati sweeps it. He came to Raths with a huge procession in ‘Palinki’. Paninki is a wooden Rath carried by four men.
Before Cheer Pahara three statues of lord Jagannth , Balabhadra and Subhadra are brought to the Raths by Pandas . This process is called Pahandi. After all the rituals all three Raths are connected with huge ropes. Then the Rath moves along the devotees to Shree Gundicha temple which is 3 km away from the temple. This is a very dramatic festival of incredible India. Over 10 million devotees include them in this festival. This festival is not limited in Orissa now. There are many foreign countries where car festival is much famous.
This is one of the most exotic festivals of incredible India. People treat Lord Jagannath as a living God. The festival includes so much devotion and excitement makes it most popular.
How to reach:
The Jagannath temple is located in Puri District of Orissa. Orissa is a state located in the east side of India. Transportation is very easy to the place. You can take a flight from Delhi to Bhubaneswar, capital of Orissa. From there many transportation facilities are available; you can travel trough bus, taxi. The best you can take a direct train from Delhi to Puri. There are many popular resorts in Puri which provides one of the best service and comfort.
Trains available from Delhi (capital of India)
Nandan Kanan Express
Neelanchal SF Express
Purushottam SF Express etc.
Flights from Delhi to Bhubaneswar
Jet Airways no-9W2286
IndiGo Airlines no-6E257
Other attractions:
Another attraction of the place is the beautiful sea, unique touch of Odia food. Don't forget to bookmark this and include it into your travel schedule. At a single place you find a very unique culture, excitement, beautiful scenery, sea beach, mouth watering sea food, relaxation at popular resort, ,,,, what you need more!
By Bpkp (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons