Every year in Puri, Odisha, the renowned Rath Yatra begins, and for the past nine years, a man in Vadodara has been organizing his own chariot procession to commemorate the occasion.
Unlike the ancient Rath Yatras in Puri and Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where devotees pull majestic chariots carrying the deities Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, and Devi Subhadra, Jai Makwana’s procession features a motorized chariot operated by a robot, carrying an idol of Lord Jagannath.
For Makwana’s “Robo Rath Yatra,” the chariot is controlled via remote, and this year, he took a step further by equipping the chariot with a solar-powered motor.
Makwana was inspired nine years ago by the practice of building new wooden chariots every year in Jagannath Puri, prompting him to create an environmentally conscious robot-driven chariot. The remote-operated chariot features a robotic motor with the chariot structure fitted on top.
This year, Jai went above and beyond by incorporating solar-charged batteries into the robotic motor and installing solar panels on the top of the chariot, where the Sudarshan Chakra is seated.
Jai emphasizes the importance of using science with humility, cautioning against its potential for destruction. He sees the Robo Rath Yatra as a means to promote discretion in the application of science.
The Rath Yatra, celebrated on the second day of the Ashadha month in the Hindu calendar, is a well-known Hindu festival observed worldwide. It is associated with Lord Jagannath at Shri Kshetra Puri Dham in Odisha, where the idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, and Devi Subhadra are displayed to the public and taken to the Gundicha Temple.
In Puri, lakhs of devotees pull the three majestic chariots from the Singha Dwar of Jagannath Temple towards the Gundicha Temple. The Yatra’s history is also documented in Hindu scriptures such as the Brahma Purana, Padma Purana, Skanda Purana, and Kapila Samhita.
Apart from Jai’s celebration in Vadodara, the Rath Yatra is also observed in other parts of Gujarat. The Ahmedabad Rath Yatra, the second-largest in the country after the Puri Jagannath Rath Yatra, began on Tuesday morning from the Jagannathji Temple, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah participating in the Mangla Aarti at the Jagannath temple in Jamalpur.
In Rajkot, a more recent tradition spanning 16 years, the Saurashtra region is observing its longest Rath Yatra yet, covering a route of 23 kilometers.
