OdishaPlus Bureau
A look at Lord Jagannath’s journey to Gundicha temple (his aunt’s home).
Rath Yatra starts on second lunar day (ashadha shukla dwitiya ) of the Hindu month of Ashadha.
On the first day, the deities are transported in three different glorious chariots, drawn by the many devotees to Gundicha temple from Sri Mandir, Puri. The three chariots involved in the emanation are one for each deity with central chariot called the Nandighosha, carrying the main deity Lord Jagannath and the second chariot known as Taladhwaja carrying Lord Balabhadra, and the third chariot called the Darpadalana carrying Devi Subhadra.
The Gajapati Maharaja of Puri performs the Chera Panhara ritual before the chariots roll and the deities are to proceed for the rath yatra. Firstly, the elder brother Balabhadra, then sister Subhadra and then Lord Jagannath proceed for Gundicha temple. The procession progresses down the 3 km long “Bada Danda” and reaches the gates of the Gundicha temple before dark.
The deities remain in the chariots on the first day and enter the Gundicha Temple on the second day. They reside at the Gundicha temple for seven days. After resting at Gundicha temple for a week, the deities return back to the Sri Mandir. On their way to Sri Mandir they take the offering of Poda Pitha.
Hera Panchami is a ritual of Goddess Lakshmi observed during the fifth day of Rath Yatra in the Lord Jagannath Temple. During Rath Yatra, Lord Jagannath comes out on a sacred outing with his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra along with his divine weapon Sudarsana chakra, leaving behind his wife Mahalaxmi and hence Goddess Laxmi expresses her anger.
She proceeds to the Gundicha Temple in the form of a Subarna Mahalaxmi and threatens him to come back to the temple at the earliest. Seeing the Goddess angry, the sevakas close the main door of Gundicha temple. To make her happy, Jagannath offers her agyan mala.
In this unique ritual, the Goddess orders one of her sevakas to damage a part of the Nandighosa chariot. She hides behind a tamarind tree outside the Gundicha Temple to witness the proceedings and after some time she escapes to her home temple in secrecy, from a different path way known as Hera Gohri lane the unique ritual is enjoyed by lakhs of devotees of Lord Jagannath.
Watch all the videos of ‘Shree Jagannath Rath Yatra’ here: