Bhubaneswar: Odisha Samaj, United Arab Emirates (OSUAE) celebrated one of the most awaited festival of Odisha state. ‘’The world famous ‘’Rath Yatra’’. An annual event which was organized at the ‘Sindhi Ceremonial Centre’, Meena Bazaar, Bur Dubai today. This festival commemorates the lord, Mahaprabhu Shri Jagannath’s annual visit to his birthplace, Gundicha Temple, along with his elder brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra. As per the traditional Odia calendar, the Rath Yatra begins on the second day of Shukla Paksha (waxing phase of the moon or bright fortnight) of the Hindu lunar month of Ashadha. In 2019, it commenced on July 4 and shall end on July 15 while OSUAE celebrated it on 05th July 2019.
The morning started with the usual ceremonial rituals from the purohit. The Idols were towered to the chariot while devotional songs and prayers from the Vedas were chanted continuously by more than 300 devotees from the odia community who gathered to pull the chariot and be a part of this colorful event. Upon completion of Puja many devotees began pulling the chariot all the way along the ‘Sindhi Memorial Hall’. It is believed that the divine trinity blesses those who pull the chariots. While this colossal spectacle was witnessed by other attending devotees many of who came not only from ‘Dubai’ but different parts UAE.
The chariot pulling was followed by a culinary delight of serving an exotic prasad marking an end to the event.
Jagannath Rath Yatra or the Chariot festival known to be one of the oldest and also the grandest procession festival, which is celebrated every year in ‘Puri as well as many places in India, ‘OSUAE’ is proud to have preserved such tradition in a foreign land which denotes equivalence and integration.
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