festivals
What is Puri's Bahuda Yatra and how does it relate to the main Rath Yatra?
The full story
Rath Yatra takes the three deities from the main Srimandir temple in Puri to the Gundicha temple on large wooden chariots. They stay there for nine days. Bahuda Yatra is the journey home. The same three chariots travel the same road back, so the two processions together form one complete cycle. Puranic tradition, including the Utkala Khanda of the Skanda Purana, describes this whole cycle as part of the deities' annual visit and return. Without Bahuda Yatra, the festival is seen as incomplete.
What happens on the way back
On the return journey the chariots stop at the Mausi Maa temple, which means the temple of the maternal aunt. There the deities are offered Poda Pitha, a baked rice and lentil cake that is a traditional Odia sweet. The story behind this stop is that the deities pause to accept food from a beloved relative before reaching home. It is a warm, human moment woven into the grand procession. Later that same day, the deities are dressed in Suna Besha, meaning golden attire. Gold ornaments cover the images on the chariots, and this darshan is considered especially auspicious. Crowds gather just for this sight.
How the two processions connect
Rath Yatra gets far more attention outside Odisha, but Bahuda Yatra is equally important within the tradition. Devotees who miss the outward journey often come specifically for the return. The route is the same road in reverse, so the same streets see the chariots twice in nine days. The whole cycle, departure and return, is what the tradition marks as the Lord's annual journey.
Today
Bahuda Yatra draws enormous crowds in Puri, though it is less known to the wider world than Rath Yatra. Among Odia Hindus and Jagannath devotees everywhere, both days carry equal weight. Communities outside Odisha, including in other parts of India and abroad, sometimes observe Bahuda Yatra alongside Rath Yatra, keeping the full cycle alive far from Puri.