Timing of Gwalior Rath Yatra a concern: Gajapati Maharaja

BHUBANESWAR: Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb on Saturday said Rath Yatra cannot be organised in any other part of the country or world after the Holy Trinity’s festival at Puri. Earlier this month, the Madhya Pradesh ISKCON chapter announced to organise Sri Jagannath Rath Yatra Mahotsav-2023 on June 24 in Gwalior and preparations in this regard are underway.

This, however, has not gone down well with the servitors of the Shree Jagannath temple at Puri who said there should be no untimely conduct of Lord Jagannath’s Rath Yatra as it demeans the Jagannath Culture. In the past too, the Shri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) had warned ISKCON against doing so.

They have been demanding that Rath Yatra should be organised across the world only during the Hindu month of Ashada as per Skanda Purana and other religious scriptures. Speaking to media persons on Saturday, Gajapati Maharaja informed that after the festival at Puri when the Holy Trinity is taken on to the Ratna Simhasana inside the sanctum sanctorum of Srimandir, no Rath Yatra can be organised anywhere else.

“In the past, we had discussed the ISKCON issue with the saints and scholars here. They had said that the Trinity leaves Srimandir during the Dwitiya Tithi, Shukla Paksha, of the Ashada month when the Rath Yatra begins. And during Asadha Suklapakshya Trayodashi, the deities return to Srimandir in Niladri Bije,” he said. Hence, the period between Dwitiya and Trayodashi is the time for organising Lord Jagannath’s Rath Yatra.

Stating that Dwitiya is the perfect time for organising Rath Yatra, the Gajapati said in case of any problem Rath Yatra can be held between Dwitiya and Trayodashi. “But after Trayodashi (after deities are back to the Ratna Simhasana ), there is no question of any Rath Yatra anywhere,” he said.

Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp