News Notes
By Sanjana Mishra
The East Indian festival of Rath Yatra took place in late June. Hundreds of thousands of people amass in Puri, Odisha annually to take part in the procession of three chariots that travel from the Jagannath temple to the Gundicha temple. For families in the Charlotte metropolitan area, however, celebrations looked a bit different.
The Hindu Center of Charlotte held a chariot procession on June 24, 2023 marking its seventh year of celebrating Rath Yatra. Hundreds of people took part in pulling the chariots around the temple, all the while ringing bells, blowing conch shells, and chanting “Jai Jagannath.” The procession symbolizes the journey of Lord Jagannath and his two siblings, Lord Balabhadra and Mata Subhadra.
“Rath Yatra is a very popular, very religious, very auspicious festival,” said Mahesh Panda, puja committee lead of the Shri Jagannath Society of North Carolina, or SJSNC. When devotees chant mantras, pull the chariots, and take part in the festival, they experience a strong and positive spiritual connection, said Panda.
In Puri, Rath Yatra takes place over nine days, after which the deities return on Bahuda Yatra. But an “abridged” version was celebrated here, with priests conducting all ceremonies within the same day.
“You can worship Jagannath in any way,” said Prakash Mohanty, president of SJSNC. “We have been doing [this] for five, six years, but when we started, we didn’t know all the rituals, so we made mistakes.”
There is no fixed ritual, said Mohanty, and Lord Jagannath is happy with any form of devotion.
The event was a collaborative effort between the Hindu Center of Charlotte and the Jagannath Society, who had been preparing for the celebration for several months. Dozens of volunteers helped assemble and decorate the chariot, set up booths for aarti and lassi, organize cultural showcases, raise funds, and cook food for over 1200 people.
“[There] is very intensive work going on to do the Rath Yatra,” said Mohanty. Volunteers are largely from the Jagannath Society, but if anyone they know is interested in helping, they are welcome too, he said.
The annual Rath Yatra celebrations at the Hindu Center began in 2017. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, there was no chariot procession in 2020 or 2021— instead, the temple held a small puja indoors.
After the chariot-pulling, devotees offered aarti to the deities. In honor of them, a cultural program also took place, consisting of performances of devotional songs and classical Odissi dances.
SJSNC feels it is important to celebrate events like these because of the growing Indian diaspora around the world and to pass on the culture and beliefs to future generations.
“It brings everyone together,” said Hemant Amin, president of the Hindu Center. “Our goal is to have kids educated… to give them that knowledge. When they are here, they learn from each other, we learn from each other, we learn from them too while teaching them.”
The Hindu Center strives to keep the culture and religion alive for generations to come, said Amin.
“A lot of people are coming in together, chanting the holy name, and enjoying the darshana,” said Panda. “It’s really a great moment for everyone to… enjoy.”
