Rath Yatra Is A Wonderful Celebration Among Orissa Festival

Orissa is a unpolluted state with lot of tradition and nativity located in the upper south eastern part of India, just below West Bengal, Chattisgarh in the west, Jharkand in the north and Andhra Pradesh in the South, has Bhubaneshwar as its Capital, majority of population composed of Hindus, unilingual with Oriya as the spoken language, attracting tourists with ancient temples, virgin beaches, good number of tribal areas, wildlife reserves, awe inspiring monuments, with lot of festivals and celebrations, Orissa tourism would win the heart of every traveler going there.

Jagannath Temple is an ancient Hindu temple built in 11th Century, main deities being Lord Jagannath, Subadhra and Balabadhra, with four entrances called Singhadwara, Ashwadwara, Hathidwara, and Vyagradwara, referring Lion, Horse, Elephant and Tiger, the principal deity Lord Jagannath is offered ‘bhoga’ six times everyday and the food items manufactured in a grand scale and distributed to devotees, legends mentioning that the very darshan of the Lord would bring salvation to the devotee.

Rath Yatra is a famous festival at Puri during the month of June or July every year and this festival marks the visit of Lord Jagannath’s annual visit to Gundicha maata’s temple after visiting His aunt’s temple in Balangandi Chaka, during which celebration three richly decorated chariots in the form of temple shapes are drawn through the streets of Puri. Lord Jagannath, accompanied by Lord Balarama and their sister Subadra visiting their aunt’s temple is considered very sacred and devotees of all the faiths are admitted for this darshan, whereas members of other religion are not normally permitted to enter Hindu temples.

Apart from Lord Jagannath’s temple there are other important places to visit and festivals celebrated in Orissa that include
• Sun Temple Konark
• Bhitarkanika National Park
• Chillika Lake
• Chandpur Beach
• Gopalpur on Sea
• Konark Dance festivalr
Orissa tourism and Travel Agencies have constructed a number of Orissa tour packages, enabling travelers visit most of these places and events, such as
• Five days Orissa tour package covering Bhubaneswar, Puri and Konark
• Six days package taking the tourists to Taptapani and Gopalpur in addition
• Three days Orissa tour package to Bhitarkanika
• Six days package covering Tiarpara Sanctuary
• Three days Orissa tour package Similipal Sanctuary
• Fifteen days package to villages in Orissa
• Fifteen days Orissa wildlife tour package

There are even one month long Orissa tour packages offered at affordable prices organized by Orissa tourism, to give the visitor opportunity to know about the traditional Orissa or Odhisha, its original name.

All Orissa tours can be booked on line with Orissa tourism or other Tourism Organisations including well known travel agencies.