The construction of all three chariots for the Rath Yatra in Puri is in its final stage. Now only the final finishing work remains.
Festivities and preparations are in the final phase for Lord Jagannath’s Rath Yatra in Puri, Odisha. The auspicious festival will begin on Thursday and will continue until July 24, and around 10 lakh devotees are expected to arrive in the state to participate in the festival.
Hotels and lodges in Puri are flooded with bookings before the Rath Yatra. According to the district administration, these bookings had started as early as February this year.
These establishments near the temple and the Rath Yatra route are in the highest demand. Hotels whose balconies or windows open towards the Rath Yatra route are in special demand.
Compared to last year, hotel and lodge rents have increased by up to 10 times. Lodges whose normal rent is 1500 to 2000 rupees have seen their rent reach up to 50,000 rupees for three days during the Rath Yatra. There are approximately 1200 hotels in the entire city.
In Howrah, the lap of a professor becomes Lord Jagannath’s chariot
Beyond the boundaries of religion and faith, a unique Rath Yatra is organised every year in Howrah, West Bengal. Here, the chariot is neither pulled by a rope nor is it a huge chariot decorated.
Instead, Dr Sheikh Maqbool Islam, a professor in the Bengali department of St. Paul’s Cathedral Mission College, Kolkata, carries the idols of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra, and Sudarshan in his lap and circumambulates for about 400 meters. People from all communities, including Hindu, Muslim, and Christian, participate in this journey.
Dr Islam has been researching Lord Jagannath since 1992 and has written more than 14 books on the subject. The idol of Lord Jagannath has been installed in his house since 1996, while since 2009, he has been organizing this unique circumambulation every year on the occasion of Rath Puja.
‘If my body is the chariot, then why to create a separate chariot?’, says Dr Islam
Dr Sheikh Maqbool Islam’s ideology for this unique yatra is based on the Shloka from the Kathopanishad ‘आत्मानं रथिनं विद्धि शरीरं रथमेव तु।बुद्धिं तु सारथिं विद्धि मनः प्रग्रहमेव च॥’. According to him, this verse describes the body as the chariot for Lord Jagannath, the intellect as the charioteer, and the soul as the owner of the chariot. Therefore, when the body itself is the chariot, there is no need for a separate chariot.
He is completely vegetarian and prepares 35 types of sattvic offerings for Lord Jagannath in his home according to the tradition of Puri, and offers them with proper rituals.
