Jagannath Rath Yatra 2017: Sudarsan Pattnaik pays sand art tribute to the Lord

New Delhi: The world famous annual chariot procession of Lord Jagannath, brother Balabhadra, and sister Subhadra is about to commence from June 25, 2017 (Sunday). One of the most important festivals of the Eastern state of India, Odisha attracts millions of devotees thronging the annual chariot procession just to get one glimpse of the Lord.

Renowned sand artist from Bhubaneswar, Sudarsan Pattnaik took to Twitter and paid a sand art tribute to the Lord in his own unique style. He captioned the image as: “World famous #RathaJatra of Lord Jagannath is just a day away; my SandArt welcoming visitors to the Festival at #Bhubaneswar airport. Odisha.”

World famous #RathaJatra of Lord Jagannath is just a day away; my SandArt welcoming visitors to the Festival at #Bhubaneswar airport. Odisha pic.twitter.com/lN05ZwsQI4

— Sudarsan Pattnaik (@sudarsansand) June 23, 2017

World famous #RathaJatra of Lord Jagannath on Sunday ; my SandArt welcoming visitors to the Festival at #Bhubaneswar airport. Odisha pic.twitter.com/JWvMDR3tpv — Sudarsan Pattnaik (@sudarsansand) June 23, 2017

The Rath Yatra or journey of the chariots has a huge religious significance. During the month of Asadha in June or July, the presiding deities of Lord Jagannath, brother Balabhadra, and sister Subhadra are taken from their Puri temple to Bada Danda and complete the distance of almost 3 km to Shri Gundicha Temple on huge chariots.

While the deities travel on chariots driven by many people, devotees and onlookers pay their obeisance and seek the darshan of the Lord for blessings. The Rath Yatra is also known as the Shri Gundicha Yatra.

The chariots are huge in size, with Lord Jagannath's chariot being approximate of 45ft high, 35ft sq and takes around 2 months to get prepared. The festival happens to be the main attraction of Odisha attracting several tourists every year.