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Home >> Orissa Information >> Rath As And Rajas
Rath As And Rajas : The Car Festival At Puri :
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The ratha yatra of Puri is India's "car festival" par excellence and the temple car which carries Jagannatha, lord of Universe, every year in the month of Asidha (June/July) from his temple to his summer residence is the most famous in India.
Jagannatha and his car festival have been reported by numerous European travellers since the 14th century1. The 17th century descriptions of Bruton, Bernier, and Tavernier are the most detailed and well-known. However, Thomas Bowrey is equally informative.
In that great and Sumptuous Diabolical Pagod, there Standeth i. mtr greatest GodJno. Gernaet, whence the Pagod received that name alsoe. This Imadge is of massy Gold very richly wrought, and in the full Stature of a man, kept in a large dark roome of it Selfe, but by the lustre of his Eys which are two Diamonds ofExceedinge Value, the place is by relation as light as though there were-more then 2 Candles lighted.
Sundry Festival! times they keep here with great Splendour, One amongest the rest continueth 7 or 8 daysr to which Devilish feast resorteth many very rich Merchants andBrachmans with many others from the remotest Parts of Hindostan, in soe much that it is very rare if fewer than 150,000 persons resort to one of the festivalls at the great pagod, and noe few thousands to the Subordinate Pagods in the whole Empire. The maine Spectacle and purpose is to behold their graven God Jno. Gernaet, which at such times is carried in a Chariot (richly adorned and of curious and costly Workmanship) round the Pagod and through the broadest streets of the towne in great triumph and with grea. Solemnitie.
..... is of Exceedinge great weight, beinge made of very solid wood, uev rich, with much iron worke thereon and finely Engraven, with the Shapes of men and women dancinge, as alsoe many hideous Shapes of Satyrs, bulls, bears, Tigers, Elephants, Rhinocerots , efa in soe much that it is soe Ponderous, that although it be fitted upon 6 or 8 Good Axletrees, with good wheels on each side, yetrequireth more then an hundred strange men to draw it alonge upon hard and smooth ground (and this they accompt the Arke of God).
In the Middle of that great Diabolicall Chariot, is placed their great patron Jno. Gernaet, having the foremost end open, fairly to be beheld by many of the people, which in Generell they Endeavour to doe, but more than one halfe are prevented by the infinite multitude, in soe much that many of them are pressed downe by the crowde... And which is" both Stranger and more incredible, many of them come a great many miles to End their days here, under the wheels of this ponderous but, accompted by them, holy Arke.
They Voluntarily and with great Couradge castinge themselves Under the wheels thereof, as it is drawne alonge, and are there crushed to death, which is accompted by all orthisSecf a most Noble, Heroike, and Zealous death.
Self-immolation under the wheels of Jaganna'tha's car was stressed in these early descriptions. Though by 1818 a young government officer reported only three such incidents during the preceding four years of which one at least was an accident, the common belief in the frequency of these self-immolations and the propaganda of missionaries against this "stronghold and fountain-head of idolatry" made" anything to which persons blindly devote them-selves, or are ruthlessly sacrificed". Ironically it was the very zeal of the missionaries that contributed to the resurgence of the Jagannatha cult, particularly in the late 19th century when the yearly car festival became again the most famous religious event of Eastern India and a symbol of Oriya Nationalism during the Independence struggle.
There can be no doubt that the fame and popularity of "the Lord of the Universe" both among foreigners and in the Hindu world are largely, due to the car festival with its three cars which carry Lord Jagannatha and his divine sister and brother, Subhadra and Balab-hadra. from their "Great Temple1 (bada deula) through Puri's 'Great Street (bada danda) to the Gundicha temple, their summer residence for about nine days.
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