Celebration in Amedabad
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The Puri Rath Yatra and the Rath Yatra of Ahmedabad, Gujarat take place on the same day. In grandeur and popularity, the Rath Yatra of Ahmedabad stands next to the Puri festival.
The Ahmedabad Rath Yatra has been taking place for more than 130 years. Akin to the Puri celebrations, the three chariots with the idols of Lord Jagannath (Krishna), Balarama (Balabhadra) and Subhadra are pulled by the devotees through the city.
The procession starts from the Jagannath temple in Jamalpur locality in Ahmedabad city and passes through a 14 kilometer route. Thousands of devotees throng the streets to have a ‘darshan’ of the deities. A highlight of the Ahmedabad Rath Yatra is the procession of caparisoned elephants.
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Decorated elephants participate in almost all the important rituals associated with the festival. Another important feature is the participation of Akhada Sadhus and Mahants and the numerous floats with different themes. The day-long procession ends with the chariots returning to the Jamalpur Jagannath Temple.
These days, the police use under the global positioning system to chartthe course of the chariots on a map on the computer screen to monitor them from a control room. This is done to ensure the safety of the devotees.
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