Jagannath Rath Yatra 2027
5 July 2027

Jagannath Rath Yatra, kept on Ashadh Shukla Dwitiya, is the yearly journey of Jagannath, with his elder brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra, from the Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha, to the Gundicha Temple a few kilometres away, where the three rest for about a week before returning. The deities, carved of wood and repainted in a secret ritual every twelve or nineteen years, are placed on three towering chariots and pulled through Puri’s Bada Danda, the Grand Road, by thousands of devotees.

Puri’s own tradition, kept in the Skanda Purana’s account of this kshetra, tells that King Indradyumna, guided by a vision, had the deities carved from a sacred log that washed ashore, and that Jagannath’s form, with large round eyes and no hands or feet carved to completion, is as the divine sculptor Vishwakarma left it when the king’s curiosity made him look before the work was finished. Pulling the chariot, or even touching its rope, is held in Puri to carry the same merit as a pilgrimage there.

• Image of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra
• Yellow and red cloth
• Flowers and incense
• Diya and ghee
• Khichdi or simple prasad ingredients

Source: Skanda Purana, Purusottama Kshetra Mahatmya, and Puri’s own tradition

King Indradyumna of Puri saw Vishnu in a dream, worshipped as a form called Nila Madhava, and sent his priests to find him in the forest. When the image could not be found again, a voice told the king that Vishnu would come to him in another way.

A sacred log washed ashore at Puri, and the king called Vishwakarma, the divine architect, to carve the images from it, on the condition that no one disturb him until the work was done. After many days of silence, the king’s patience failed and he opened the door to look, and Vishwakarma left at once, the carvings unfinished: large round eyes, and hands and feet not fully shaped.

Brahma himself consecrated the unfinished images as Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra, and the king installed them in the temple he built. The Gundicha Temple, where the three travel each year, is named for the king’s queen Gundicha, in whose garden tradition says the deities once rested.

What to do

• Join the pulling of the chariot rope if you get the chance, since even that touch is held to be a blessing, not a feat to be proud of.
• Keep the day devotional rather than crowded with show, since Puri’s own tradition treats the Yatra as the Lord visiting his people.
• Share prasad with whoever is near you, as the Yatra is kept as a time when everyone pulls the same rope together.

What to avoid

• Avoid pushing or rushing in the crowd near the chariots, for safety, since the gathering can be very large.
• Avoid questioning the deities’ unfinished form; tradition holds it as Jagannath’s own willed form, not an incomplete work.

Puri in Odisha remains the centre of the Rath Yatra, but similar yatras are now held in many Indian cities and at temples abroad, following Puri’s own practice.

Since this is Shukla paksha, Amanta and Purnimanta calendars both call the month Ashadh, so there is no month-name difference.