Ratha Yatra, the chariot festival of Sri Jagannath Dev and one of the major festivals of the Hindus, will begin on Tuesday but no procession will be brought out this year in the wake of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
All programs will be performed inside the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKON) shrine at Swamibagh in Dhaka where daylong rituals will be held maintaining health guidelines and social distancing.
No procession will be brought out this year which is the main attraction of the festival to check the spread of the deadly virus while the presence of devotees will also be controlled and kept limited, reports BSS.
The programs of the festival generally begin in the morning with a rendering of Harisangkirtan, holding of Agnihotra Jagna seeking world peace and people’s welfare, recitation of verses from Srimat Bhagabat Geeta and distribution of mohaprosad.
At the ISKON temple at Swamibagh in Dhaka, the program will start withholding Agnihotra Jagna seeking divine blessings for world peace and people’s welfare.
The festival will come to an end with Ulto Ratha Yatra (return journey) on July 1.
Rathajatra is a journey in a chariot with deities of Jagannath (Vishnu avatar), Balaram, or Balabhadra (his brother), Subhadra (his sister) and Sudarshana Chakra (his weapon) on a ratha, a wooden deula-shaped chariot accompanied by people.
It attracts over a million Hindu pilgrims who join the procession each year in the Indian subcontinent including Bangladesh for long.
