Celebrating Ratha Jatra - Biswajit Acharya (Grade-9)

SFO Ratha Yatra

Ratha Jatra is a beautiful festival that celebrates Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, and Goddess Subhadra’s annual journey from the Jagannath Temple in Puri to the Gundicha Temple. Since not everyone gets to see the deities inside the temple, the Lord comes out once a year to give darshan to all living and non-living beings, including demons or ghosts. This year, with the Lord’s blessings, it felt as though Lord Jagannath Himself came to our place and chose our home for the celebration. My parents and their friend planned to build a six-foot-tall miniature rath for the three deities. My dad sketched the plans for the rath, and within a week, we completed its construction. On the day of Ratha Jatra, we were swinging the three deities and taking them to the new rath. Children even made their small rath to pull alongside ours. As we left our home, a few pieces of wood fell off the rath. While some might see this as unlucky, it’s considered auspicious — in Puri, it’s a tradition for the rath for the wood to be loose. So we fixed it right away and got ready to start pulling the rath through the streets, just like they do in Puri. As we pulled the rath, some devotees played the taal, while Jagannath bhajans played on the speakers. Neighbours watched from their windows, and many came outside to join the celebration. Once we reached the destination, we brought the deities inside to their Singhasan, where they would stay for the next few days. Following the tradition, we prepared chapan-bhog, fifty-six different dishes, as offerings to Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, and Goddess Subhadra. After nine sacred days, we celebrated Bahuda Jatra, as the deities gracefully returned to our home, filling our hearts with the same joy that devotees feel in Puri when the Lords return to their temple. I'll save the description of Bahuda Jatra for later. Looking back, it was an amazing celebration, and without Lord Jagannath’s blessings, none of this would have been possible.