The Rath Yatra of Puri is generally interpreted as an annual chariot festival, which is a journey of the Raths of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Devi Subhadra from the Jagannath Temple to the Gundicha Temple. But such a descriptive understanding is merely part of the story of the festival's spatial, theological, and social meaning. This paper is an interpretation of Rath Yatra as a practice of ‘moving sacred geography’, and in this practice, the divine presence that is normally focused in the temple is extended to the streets of Puri. The paper discusses the Pahandi procession, the three chariots as mobile temples, the Bada Danda as a ritual corridor, collective chariot pulling, and the Chhera Pahanra ceremony performed by the Gajapati king. It claims that the festival inverts the usual order of pilgrimage: the pilgrims go towards the god, but the god comes towards the pilgrims and is available to the public for viewing. In this movement, a temporary devotional communitas is created, but social or institutional hierarchy is not completely destroyed. This festival is therefore inclusive. The Rath Yatra is a mobile temple, reflecting that sacredness may be based in space but is also contextually mobile.

 

Keywords: Lord Jagannath, Rath Yatra, sacred geography, Puri.