Ulto Rath, called Bahuḍā Yātrā in Puri, is the homeward chariot festival of Jagannātha, Balabhadra and Subhadrā. On Ratha Yātrā the three deities ride to the Guṇḍicā temple, and after about a week there they return to the main temple on the same chariots. Bengali usage calls this Ulṭorath, the turned or returning chariot, and the neighbourhood processions and rath fairs of Bengal make it especially vivid. With it the chariot festival that began on Dvitīyā comes to a close. How the day is fixed: The day is the one on which Āṣāḍha Śukla Daśamī is present at local sunrise. Ratha Yātrā falls on Āṣāḍha Śukla Dvitīyā, so the return usually comes about eight days after the outbound journey. Keep in mind: When a tithi is lost or repeated, the gap between Ratha Yātrā and the return can shorten or lengthen by a day. The Ekādaśī that follows the next day is a separate observance with its own reckoning. This year: The 2026 date shown here is worked out from sunrise at the place you chose, so in another city the same day can fall a day earlier or later. The return procession: In Puri the three chariots are pulled back from Guṇḍicā to the main temple along the Bada Danda, halting at the Mausimā temple where poḍa piṭhā is offered. In Bengal neighbourhood raths are pulled in the reverse direction and the rath fairs, such as the one at Mahesh in Hooghly, close around this day. The days after Bahuḍā: In Puri the deities stay on their chariots for Suna Beśa, the golden adornment, on the Ekādaśī that follows, and later for Adharapaṇā. They re-enter the temple at Nīlādri Bije, when Lakṣmī is said to be appeased with rasagolā before the doors open. Jagannātha stotra at home: Those who cannot join a procession light a lamp at home and recite a Jagannātha stotra such as the Jagannāthāṣṭaka. Its verses end with the refrain 'jagannāthaḥ svāmī nayanapathagāmī bhavatu me', and tradition ascribes it to Ādi Śaṅkara. Worth remembering: Ulto Rath is the return half of the journey. Ratha Yātrā, with its unfinished wooden mūrtis and the Navakalebara renewal, is the outbound festival on Dvitīyā and is kept as a separate observance. The day lives most fully in the east. Odisha keeps the Bahuḍā with the Mausimā halt and the Suna Beśa that follows, Bengal ends its rath fairs with the neighbourhood Ulṭorath, Mahārāṣṭra and the Telugu lands move straight on to the Ekādaśī of the next day, and Ahmedabad's own Ratha Yātrā returns home the same evening it sets out. Whatever the local form, the surest guide is the way the elders of one's own house have kept the day.
Comments
Share how your family observes this day, or ask a question. Please keep it kind and on topic.