This rare footage offers a glimpse of the Jagannath Rath Yatra as it was half a century ago
The 138th Jagannath Rath Yatra on Saturday that coincided with Eid-ul Fitr celebrations marked a symbol of peace and harmony as millions of Hindus and Muslims celebrated their festivals together. Thousands of devotees took part in the procession of the chariots of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balbhadra and sister Subhadara across the streets of India, but the epicentre of pure celebration was in Puri, a city in the Indian state of Odisha.
Home to Lord Jagannath, the temple of Jagannath in Puri is one of the Char Dham, four of the holiest Hindu spots, in India. The other three are Badrinath, Dwarka and Rameswaram, places where worshippers believe to get eternity of blessings. Puri’s Rath Yatra is an annual celebration in which thousands of deities marks a pilgrimage from Jagannath Temple to the temple of Devi Gundicha, with this year's yatra also coinciding with the Navakalevar re-birth ceremony that happens every 12 years, making this the century's biggest Rath Yatra.
Pilgrims were jammed pack in a 3-km stretch of Bada Danda (grand road) between the Jagannath Temple and Gundicha Temple, a sight that, for all the changes since, looked little different from the congregation of more than half of million Indians who visited Puri for the 1961 Yatra, which you can see in this video from British Pathe.