BAY AREA: Rath Jatra is perhaps the grandest Hindu festival. Everything is on a scale befitting the great Lord. Full of spectacle, drama and color, this festival is a typical Indian fair of huge proportion. Bay Area Oriya Community celebrated the Rath Jatra Festival on July 4 at the Fremont Hindu Temple. The community has been successfully celebrating Shri Jagannath Ratha Jatra since 1994, even though the deities do not reside in the temple.

The deities were brought to the temple from the Puja room of a devotee on the day of Ratha Jatra. The program started with religious offering to the deities, followed by Bhajan and a short Pravachan on Ratha Jatra. Every year in mid-summer, Lord Jagannath, with his elder brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra goes on vacation, traveling on grand chariots, from his temple in Puri, to his garden palace in the countryside.

This belief of the Hindus has given rise to one of the biggest religious festivals in India - the Rath Yatra or the Chariot Festival. Jagannath, believed to be an avatar of Lord Vishnu, is the Lord of Puri - the coastal town of Orissa in eastern India. Rath Yatra is of great significance to the Hindus, and especially to the people of Orissa. It is during this time that the three deities of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are taken out in a grand procession in specially made gigantic temple-like chariots called raths, which are pulled by thousands of devotees. Almost in a similar manner the colorful chariot was constructed with available resources.

With tremendous faith, and belief, and enthusiasm women and children decorated it making it almost a near replica of Purim chariot. After religious ceremony this chariot was pulled by hundreds of devotees around the temple parking lot and was placed back in the temple. A delectable array of Oriya dishes comprised Priti-bhoj relished by everyone present in the temple.