The city of temples Puri is fully prepared to witness the Jagannath Rath Yatra, 2025, starting tomorrow.
During the festival, devotees draw the grand chariots of three gods – Lord Jagannath, his brother Lord Balabhadra and sister Devi Subhadra – to the Gundicha temple, where the gods live for a week and then return the Jagannath temple.
The Rath Yatra is expected to have a huge crowd at the ceremony, making traffic management a major issue.
Talking about the preparations for traffic control, Additional Director General (ADG) Traffic Dayal Gangwar said, “We are building 21 parking lots. At five places we are arranging ‘holding area’, where people can be erected during the huge crowd. The parking lots are mainly built at 3 major places.”
Technology is also being used to provide timely information. Gagwar said, “This time we will also use the app … people will get more facilities.”
Three huge chariots of holy Tridevas – Lord Balabhadra, Lord Jagannath and Goddess Subhadra are made for the annual Rathotsav at the Jagannath temple of Puri.
During the festival, three gods – Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra are taken by devotees to the Gundicha temple in three huge wooden chariots, where they live for a week and then return the Jagannath temple.
Earlier, a multi-agency mock drill was held at Dharamshala in front of Sri Jagannath Temple in Puri to assess preparations and coordination for any emergency.
Puri Superintendent of Police (SP) Vineet Aggarwal said that a multi-agency mock drill was organized to evaluate the readiness and coordination of the security forces in dealing with emergency situations near the Shri Jagannath temple. He further stated that 11 agencies participated in anti -terrorism exercises.
On Wednesday, June 11, Lord Jagannath performed a holy bathing ritual with his siblings Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra on the occasion of bathing in Puri. The three gods were formally bathed with 108 pitches of holy water. This ritual is an important beginning of the grand Rath Yatra.
Rath Yatra, also known as the chariot festival of Lord Jagannath, Goddess Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra, is one of the most prominent Hindu festivals in Puri, Odisha. This festival is celebrated every year in the month of June or July on Dwitiya of Shukla Paksha.
Every year the three chariots are renewed before the annual chariot festival.
