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Bahuda yatra
·
On July 12,
2008 more
than 800,000
devotees
witnessed
Bahuda yatra,
the return
of Lord
Jagannath
and two
other
deities at
Puri city
·
Bahuda yatra
or the
return
festival is
held nine
days after
the annual
ratha yatra
or chariot
festival.
Mission
IAS’2009
·
Ratha yatra
is held on
the second
day of the
waxing moon
during the
month of
Ashadha
(June-July)
of the
Indian
calendar.
·
“Rathyatra”
of Jagannath
(Lord
Krishna),
his brother
Balbhadra (Balram)
and his
sister
Subhadra,
commemorat
the deities
visit to
countryside
in summer,
was
enthusiastically
staged in
several
parts of
India.
·
All the
rituals are
performed on
time and the
deities —
Jagannath,
Balabhadra
and sister
Subhadra —
are brought
out of the
12th century
Jagannath
temple to be
driven to
the Gundicha
temple
in
their
respective
chariots
named
Nandighosh,
Taladhwaja
and
Darpadalana.
·
In Puri, the
traditional
site of the
festival,
over a
million
devotees is
witnessed
the trip of
the ‘lord of
the
universe’
for a
nine-day
sojourn to
the
Gundhicha
Temple.
·
The chariots
roll down
the Grand
Road one
after
another
·
The chariot
carrying
Devi
Subhadra is
pulled
exclusively
by women,
a tradition
which has
been
observed for
the past
three
decades.
·
The deities,
who are
treated as
humans, make
an
appearance
before the
devotees on
the occasion
of “Naba
Jauban or
“Netrotsav”
only after
remaining in
seclusion
for a
fortnight.
·
Tribal
priests
known as
“daitas”
remains in
charge of
the deities
offering
them fruit
and water
mixed with
cheese. A
“Raj Vaidya”
(physician)
treated the
deities as
they
recuperated.
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