A kids blog written by 9 years kid
Lord Jagannath's cart festival is world-famous. It is celebrated for 9 days every year in the month of early July (Asadha Sukla Paksha Dwitiya Tithi as per the Lunar calendar). Jagannath means the Lord of the cosmos who comes out of the temple into his chariot in magnificent fashion in the sacred place Puri Dham.
Why is the cart festival celebrated?
Lord Jagannath takes a holly bath once every year, this is called "Devasnana Purnima". After that Supreme Lord falls sick with fever for 15 days. These 15 days he stays in quarantine in a special room called Anasana Griha, where special care is being taken. This gives us the understanding that the Supreme Lord is a person having supreme personality and his activities are like a living being but not all his activities are ordinary.
On the 15th day as Supreme Lord Jagannath recovers from fever, he decides to visit his aunt's place along with his elder brother Lord Balabhadra and sister Subhadra Maiya. They start this journey on their respective Carts, that is why this festival is called Cart festival or Rath Yatra.
How is the Cart festival celebrated?
All the three deities are placed in three chariots, which are then pulled by numerous devotees. Let us look at more details of each of the three chariots:
PAHANDI
Pahandi is the process of bringing deities from the temple to the respective chariots. Shudarsana charka is first brought in the Pahandi. Next comes Lord Balabhadra in the Pahandi. After that Subhadra Maiya comes in Pahandi and finally Lord Jagannath comes swinging back and forth in Pahandi, he comes at the slowest pace compared to others so that he can spend more time with his beloved devotees.
CHERA PAHANRA
The process of swiping the chariots by the Supreme King of Puri (Gajapati Maharaj) is called Chera Pahanra. Puri Maharaj comes on his horse with a golden broom to clean the chariot of the supreme Lord. Here the understanding is that though he is the Supreme King, still he is a servant in front of the Lord, therefore the understanding is also that we all are Servants of the Supreme Lord.
GUNDICHA YATRA
Gundicha is the birthplace (ancestors place) of Lord Jagannath. The process of pulling the 3 chariots of the deities from the Puri main temple to the Gundicha temple is called Gundicha Yatra. After Chera Pahanra, the Gundicha Yatra starts. During this festival, all people keep dancing, singing, and doing kirtan in front of the Lord. As it is highly crowded, for many people only the Lord's eye is visible. Devotees bring the charioteer to sit on the cart and after that, the carts start moving. The devotees pull the carts using a rope. On the way to Gundicha temple, the deities stop at their aunt's place to eat Poda Pitha (a handmade sweet which is a very famous Odisha delicacy).
They reach Gundicha temple before sunset. Then again Pahandi takes place to bring the deities from the cart to the Gundicha temple. The devotees offer their prayer, prasadam, and Kirtan to the supreme Lord. There they stay for 9 days, during which Lord Jagannath takes 10 Avatars.
Ten Avatars of Lord
The first avatar is the Maschya avatar(fish), the second avatar is Kashyap (tortoise), the third avatar is Varaha (Boar), the fourth avatar is Nrusingha (half-lion, half-human), the fifth avatar is Bamana, Sixth avatar is Parshuram, Seventh avatar is Sri Ram, the eighth avatar is Balarama, the Ninth avatar is Gautam Budha and finally the tenth avatar is Kalki. The ten avatars of the Lord show how life has evolved on earth.
The day of Hera Panchami, which is the fifth day from the start of Ratha Yatra is celebrated with the rituals of Goddess Maha Laxmi who is the better half of Lord Jagannath. Goddess Mahalaxmi gets angry with Lord Jagannath because he did not take her in the Yatra. So she comes to the Gundicha temple and threatens the Lord of the universe to return to the temple at the earliest. Also, she orders her attendants to break the chariot of Lord Jagannath Nandi Ghosh.
BAHUDA YATRA
On the tenth day, all the three Deities again brought to their respective carts with Pahandi. All the devotees hold the rope and Pull the three carts back to the main temple and thus the Bahuda Yatra begins. The three carts reach the temple in the evening and the deities stay overnight near the main temple on their carts. Devotees offer their prayer. The next day is Big Ekadashi celebrated, on that day all the deities wear full pure gold and this is called Suna Besa. To see the Sunabesa of Lord Jagannath millions of people gather near the temple and offer their Bhakti. The next day all the deities are brought to the main temple with Pahandi. Goddess Laxmi doesn't let Lord Jagannath enter inside the temple. Then Lord Jagannath offers Rasa Gola to Goddess Laxmi. Goddess Laxmi then lets Lord Jagannath enter inside the temple and with this ritual the Ratha Yatra ends.
THE END
Written by - Sidharth Pattnaik (Standard III)
Published by - LRL Enterprises
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