RATH YATRA '08

---

I have been bloggin a lot lately, but there's just a lot more to talk about over the past week or so. Yesterday I went to the opening day of the world famed Rath Yatra (in English called the Chariot Festival or Car Festival) held in the holy city of Puri. Apparently, this festival is the most important Hindu festival of the year and draws throngs of pilgrims fom all over. The festival is centered on the diety Lord Jagannath, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Massive "chariots" (which look more like temples on wheels) carry three images of dieties, Jagannath himself and his brother and sister, from Jagannath temple to Gundicha Mandir temple 2 kilometers away. The chariots are 36 ft sq and 41 ft high, weigh multiple tons, and require 4000 devotees to pull them the 2K down the road!! And...they are destroyed every year and reconstructed according to rigid specs.

This festival was beyond any level of chaos I have ever seen. I was EXTREMELY fortunate to have found a good seat with a good vantage point, and it was purely by chance. I was in one crowded ally, had no idea where to go and kept getting smothered by the masive crowd. I decided to follow a random flow of people into another ally (following those who appear to be in "the know" tends to always work out), which ended up filtrering out onto the main thoroughfare. There was more people in one place than I have ever seen before. You couldn't move without getting thrust into people in front of you. Luckily, the building next to me was charging for admission to the 2nd floor. I found a wall to sit on that was a perfect view f the street below....and purely by chance I happened to be next door to where the King came out to preform his ritual duties forthe festival. Just lucky!! I sat on that wall for about 5 hours waiting on the chariots to come by. Fortunately, it was also overcast that day!!!! temps usually reach over 100 degrees during the festival. I met a nice family on the wall next to me who explained everything that was going on.

On the down side...the crowd was too much. People below were getting smothered and people were being hauled off on stretchers every couple of minutes. The Times of India reported today that 6 people were killed yesterday by being crushed in the crowd. Hundreds more were injured. The pics will show you why. Nonetheless, it was an experience I wont forget.

I have a coupleof more days in Puri and plan to check out some other temples nearby. ALso I am meeting with an organization based here for my project on Monday.

---

Photos

On the road to Jagannath
I first tried reaching the temple from a side street. It became so crowded though I had to turn back to keeo from getting smushed

Looking left
After I found my seat on the wall on the 2nd flr of a building. you can see jagannath in the background

Looking right
People as ar as the eye can see in each direction

Golden broom
The King and his entourage making their way to the chariots to dust them off with the golden broom (a ritual to signify equality of men in the eyes of the gods)

Ist chariot
You can see the cops all surrounding the base of the chariot. Pilgrims will do anything to catch a glimpse of Jangannath in the cart and push and shove to get closer to the statue. The police were constantly beating people with sticks to keep the crowd back

Translator
This was the boy from the family that was sitting on the wall next to me. He told me what was going on

no breathing room
can you believe this? there were this many people on the street for 2 kilometers or more

Fisherman's village
On the beach in Puri, right next to my guesthouse

Comments

[Sara]

What a party!
That place looks crowded, indeed. I know you must have wanted to break outta there - but you have the beach which is nice let me know how the report writing goes! miss you!