INDIAN DIASPORA TRADITION AND CULTURE
It is the oldest Ratha Yatra
celebrated in the India and all over
the world. This festival is celebrated
on the second day of the Shukla
Paksha, Ashadh month as per
the traditional Oriya calendar. It is
considered most auspicious to visit
the temple during this period. The
festival in Odisha is celebrated for
nine days, the commencement of
this festival is called as the Rath
Yatra and the return journey on a
ninth day is called as Bahuda Jatra.
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The celebrated Ratha Yatra Festival
is said to have started in the time
of Svarochisha Manu of the second
manvantara and is predicted to
continue until the end of the second
half of Lord Brahma’s lifetime.
Even in the Valmiki Ramayana, it
is mentioned that when Lord Rama
was getting ready to leave this
world, he told Vibhishan, Ravana’s
younger brother, to worship Lord
Jagannatha, the Lord of the Iksvaku
dynasty in His absence.
The Skanda Purana also fixes
the date of the Ratha Yatra as the
second day of the bright fortnight if
the month of Ashadha, a day called
Pushyami Nakshatra by astrological
calculations. The Padma Purana
describes that in Purushottama-
Kshetra, or Jagannatha Puri, the
supremely blissful Personality of
Godhead pretends to be made of
wood. In this way, although the
Lord takes on what appears to be
a material form, it is completely
spiritual by the causeless mercy
of the Lord for the conditioned
souls who cannot perceive the
transcendental domain of His.
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