On July 8, 2023, I attended the Ratha Yatra Festival of India with MORSL staff and McGill students during a My Neighbour’s Faith Event. It was a moving experience to be immersed in Hindu traditions downtown in the streets of Montreal! Here are some of the things I learned before and during the event.
Ratha-Yatra is an annual festival. In recent decades, thanks to the efforts of members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, it has come to be celebrated in cities around the world. Longstanding and well-known celebrations take place at the Jagannath Temple in Puri, India in the east, while the other takes place in the western state, Gujarat. Both of these sites have connections with Krishna’s mortal remains that are sometimes woven into the legends the chariot procession is based on.
In Puri, three separate, elaborate chariots are built by a large team of carpenters who have inherited the rights to making them. The crowds are so great there that pulling the chariots can be a risky endeavor. I learned from student who attended our event that touching and pulling the rope is believed to carry great virtue and can cleanse one of past mistakes. Participants each pull the rope for a brief time—about 5 seconds! Wherever it is celebrated, the Ratha-Yatra experience is unique to devotees in that deities are removed from their shrines and brought out into the streets, something that doesn’t occur during any other Hindu festival. The crowds are excited when the chariots start to move and as they near their destination. Having the gods ride through the streets is an exhilarating way for devotees to encounter them.
The parade enacts narratives during which Lord Jagannath, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu (one of the main gods in Hindu faith, the preserver and protector of the universe), as well as his older brother Baladev and younger sister Subhadra travel from their home temple to their aunt’s home, the Gundicha temple. This journey is recounted in ancient sacred Hindu texts called the Puranas. There are multiple versions of the chariot ride legend, and many of them are complex. In some versions, the deities’ purpose is precisely to go meet their devotees who want to see them and to whom they also have a longing to meet. In another version, they have just recovered from a fever and need a change of scene. In another, the travel is due to Lord Jagannath’s devotion to his aunt.
The idols are created in a simple folk style because of diverse legends behind the chariot ride featuring King Indrayumna of Puri who requested the idols be made, but impatiently interrupted their completion and used them too early, only half-way through the creative process. In some legends, the artist was making the idols out of a log that appeared in Puri that was believed to be a regeneration of Krishna’s remains.
During the procession, we enjoyed hearing call and response singing. A singer moving with the chariot sang musical variations, always using the words “Hare Krishna.” The singers responded by echoing the exact intonations of the lead singer. “Hare Krisna” is an expression of devotion and petition to Krishna, one of the major deities worshipped in Hindu Faith (Shiva is another principal object of worship). This practice helps observants have a spiritual experience connecting with and receiving benefits from their Krishna, the preserver and protector. Devotees believe Krishna’s name has power to remove bad karma or that is, to overcome mistakes and their negative consequences. Saying Krishna’s name is also believed to have power to bring joy, greater access to truth, surmount the obstacles of personal ego, and create unity with the divine. The singing patterns accelerated and crescendoed as the chariot neared its destination. The crowds singing, dancing, and volume echoed the patterns and pace of the lead singer’s. I loved seeing when they gathered in clusters dancing with energy during the more energetic moments! It's inspiring to me to see faith traditions taking up space in the city.
I pondered human desires to create spiritual experiences and to connect with divine beings. While this is not something everyone experiences in their lives, it is a pervasive experience throughout time and across cultures. I lean into the mystery of why this is the case, and feel inspired recognizing that urges to worship a higher power, surmount struggles of the ego, and create healing and redemptive experiences run across all faith traditions. Every world religion helps individuals transform and grow and to commune with divinity. Each one fosters connection, peace, and hope. There are many differences, yet threads of common longing and meaning tie faiths together.
