Rath Yatra
Overview
 
Ratha Yatra is a huge Hindu festival associated with Lord Jagannath
Jagannath
Jagannath is a transcendental non-anthropotheistic Hindu god worshiped primarily by the people of Indian state of Orissa, and, to a great extent, West Bengal...

 held at Puri in the state
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

 of Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...

, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 during the months of June or July. Most of the city's society is based around the worship of Jagannath
Jagannath
Jagannath is a transcendental non-anthropotheistic Hindu god worshiped primarily by the people of Indian state of Orissa, and, to a great extent, West Bengal...

 with the ancient temple being the fulcrum of the area. The festival commemorates Lord Jagannath's annual visit to Gundicha mata's temple
Gundicha Temple
Gundicha Temple or the Garden House of the Hindu God Jagannath is situated in the temple town of Puri in the state of Orissa, India. While it remains vacant most of the year, it is occupied by idols of the deities Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra for nine days every year during the annual Rath...

 via aunt's home (Mausi Maa Temple
Mausi Maa Temple
The Mausi Maa temple is situated the mid-way of the Bada danda of Puri. It is a small temple dedicated to Goddess Ardhashini.As per Jagannath mythology, once Goddess Lakshmi Devi left Shri Mandira, and thus Jagannath and Balabhadra becomes poor and had to go out begging...

 which is near Balagandi Chaka in Puri).
Three richly decorated chariots
Ratha
Ratha is the Indo-Iranian term for the spoked-wheel chariot of Antiquity.It derives from a collective to a Proto-Indo-European word for "wheel" that also resulted in Latin rota and is also known from Germanic, Celtic and Baltic...

, resembling temple structures, are pulled through the streets of Puri.
 
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