Rath Yatra: Pulling of chariots resumes amid chants of 'Jay Jagannath'
| Photo Credit: Biswaranjan Rout
The chariots of Lord Jagannath and his siblings resumed their journey to the Gundicha Temple in Odisha's Puri on Friday (July 17, 2026), as part of the annual Rath Yatra festival that commenced a day ago, officials said.None of the three chariots had reached the temple, around 2.6 km away from the 12th-century Shree Jagannath Temple, due to a delay in the 'Pahandi' rituals on Thursday (July 16, 2026), they said. The deities remained on the chariots overnight. Amid chants of 'Jay Jagannath', lakhs of devotees started pulling the chariots of the trinity—Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath—this morning.In a video message, Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb, considered the first servitor of Lord Jagannath and sibling deities, said, “There is nothing wrong in chariot pulling being made on the day after the scheduled Rath Yatra. Many times, the chariots could not reach the destination on schedule, and they were pulled the next day. The chariot pulling was halted on Thursday (July 16, 2026),
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