A Festival Dedicated to the Largest Chariot on the Move!

Scandinavia’s Biggest Chariot Festival in Stockholm!

Rath Yatra, the car festival of India is very close to the hearts of all Indians. It is a unique event that is nothing like anything you have ever seen! This is one festival that is celebrated on a large scale in every part of India. Be it Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Bangalore, no matter the place, people come together to celebrate the 9-day journey of Lord Jagannath and his siblings.

What is Rath Yatra

Do you know what is Rath Yatra? With three huge chariots housing each of our three deities being pulled by hundreds of devotees from one temple to another, this car festival is a treat to the eyes!

In July every year begins the 9-day sojourn of three deities Lord Jagannath, his sister Maa Subhadra and his brother Lord Balabhadra to the Gundicha temple and back. While the onward visit is called the famous Rath Yatra, the return journey is called Bahuda Yatra. Read more on the reason behind this journey.

– It’s Significance and the Story

King Indrayumna was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu and wanted to build a temple in his honour. Not knowing how to go about it, he prayed to Lord Brahma to guide him on the right path. Lord Brahma appeared before him and suggested that he must seek advice and blessings from Lord Vishnu for the best solution.

After a long bout of prayers, Lord Vishnu appeared in the King’s dream and told him to get a log of neem wood from Bankamuhana. Once the king had sourced the wood from the said forest, now he faced the problem for the right person to craft the idols. Any carpenter who set to the task could reach nowhere as their instruments kept getting stuck or broken on touching the neem wood. The king was now in a quandary.

One day, as he was sitting in this forlorn state, he received a visitor by the name of Ananta Maharana. Disguised as an artist, he was none other than Lord Vishwakarma, the architect of the Gods. He offered to make the idols on condition that he won’t be disturbed till his work is complete. The king agreed.

Now Vishwakarma started his work inside a closed room with all the doors and windows closed. You could hear the sounds of work getting done from the outside. The work continued for a long time. Months passed, and people started getting curious. One day, no sounds came from inside the room. The silence continued for the next few days.

Out of curiosity, the King and his sister opened the door to the room. They saw that the idols were partially prepared with only the head and torso, and no hands and feet. On seeing the King, Vishwakarma got angry. He said that since the former has broken his vow, the work would remain incomplete. Saying this, he left. And that is how we came to have our three deities with only a head, torso and two arms each with no hands and feet.

About Rath Yatra - Why is Rath Yatra So Unique

Queen Gundicha was the sister of King Indradyumna, the one who built the Jagannath temple of Puri. According to folklore, Lord Vishwakarma had built the idols of Lord Jagannath, Maa Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra from wood logs at the Gundicha temple. Queen Gundicha was the one who had opened the doors to the room while the work on the building of idols was midway. Seeing this, Lord Vishwakarma left his work incomplete and disappeared.

It is said that after the Jagannath temple was built, the Holy Trinity would visit Gundicha temple once a year for 8 days and make the return journey on the 9^th day.

 

For The Love Of A Son - Jean Sasson

Does everything about a certain 'couple of' countries have to be so extreme? Such wrath, such misogyny, such derogation and such hatred for women just for existing? I am disgusted. Honestly, women are nothing but child bearing machines? No identity, no right to live, no right to happiness otherwise? It is okay for them to be beaten, tortured, insulted, mutilated, raped and what not and bear it all. It should be nobody's business. And they can't even break free. There's no law to support them!? Oh God! Did their Allah allow their conscience to write such laws? How come they thought men were so superior and women nothing! I could go on and on, but I am in utter shock upon completing the book. God help me and all those who bear this criminality on a daily basis, and its scary to imagine how many millions of women have been living such lives all their life, hoping and expecting nothing better, no happiness, no smile and dying into oblivion...just like that! Disgusted! Shattered! Shocked! Angered!
FYI: Had I been a citizen in any of these countries, I would have been beaten and murdered for my thoughts, and they would have said, it's perfectly alright. She was only a woman, after all.

Where or When - Anita Shreve

What is it about love that can't be controlled? Is it just the hormones, or emotions running deep? If love matters so much, then is love right even when it stands to break existing families, separating children? What is important?
This book reminded me slightly of Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, where you stand to question the idea of fidelity. They say, if you are not happy with somebody, then there is no point continuing in a loveless marriage. And if you find true love elsewhere, even if both parties are married, what about then? This book left me with unending questions...

When The Moon Is Low - Nadia Hashimi

Imagine a sky filled with lights and crackers, the atmosphere rife with pollution and dust. Only, the lights are not from crackers, but rocket attacks. This is no wedding scene that you might imagine, but war-ridden Kabul with the onset of Taliban which made mere thriving itself impossible on a daily basis. Imagine how would it feel to feel imprisoned in your own city, in your own home, where the laws kept changing, and the ones you followed, or grew up following, were never right. The consequence of each misdemeanor being death. Imagine a life where nothing you ever do is right.
Kabul is described as lush and beautiful by people before the Russian invasion. After that, everything is just drab, myriad and full of destruction. In come the Taliban, as a seemingly welcome messiah, but that was not to be. They made even breathing impossible. Is staying put and hoping it would go away the solution? Or running away, which is nothing less than walking on a bridge of fire... It seems impossible to me to imagine surviving in such a situation. Afghan stories always render me shocked...

Coming Round the Mountain - Ruskin Bond

A 30-year old woman (girl) still reads Ruskin Bond, devours any of his books that come out, pre-orders them even. It is clear the books are meant for a younger crowd. However, she has grown up reading him all her life, so now is no different.
Mr. Bond never fails to keep you hooked. His autobiographical style of writing keeps us all enthralled and the 3-decade-young woman would like to recommend this, and any of his books, to readers throughout.

Th Art of Hearing Heartbeats

What is a love story? What comes to your mind when you think of love? Is it a passing infatuation which changes with time? Or is it something you want to keep under your closed fists? Is love about control and how much time we spent with each other? This book describes itself as a love story but could not be far from it. Encumbered by unfathomable amounts of patience, decades and decades of longing, a whole life gone by without that person beside you. Can trust exist without communication? Can love thrive even if the two people in question are not there to experience it? So many questions and such awe all in one book... One must read to realise if all their questions can be answered, or not...?

Imaginary Happiness

I had hopes of an open breeze,
Of dreams unleashed, of happy feet.
I had dreamt of satisfying freedom,
Of open breaths and overwhelming clarity.
I had wondered how life would be,
Next to you, sans daunting severity.
I had imagined a life of bliss,
Of happiness and serenity.
What I got was naught as planned,
Of becoming a thing to be despised.
There's a field and I am blind,
Have to walk but I can't see.
Within me there was love immense,
Yet life works not in that sense.
Losing hopes and sanity again,
Running out of mustered confidence.