Types Of Rathas Puri Odisha, India

Rath Yatra Festival is mainly distinguished for 3 Rathas of main 3 deities. These are;

Nandighosa Rath

The chariot of Lord Jagannath, the prime deity is called Nandighosha Ratha. The accompanying deity of this Ratha is Madan Mohan. This Ratha could be distinguished by color of its decorative cloth material i.e. red and yellow. Lord Jagannath is said to be one synonym of Lord Krishna. Red and yellow colors are auspicious for this Ratha as these colors are considered to be favorites of Lord Jagannath. This Ratha looks Yellow on its top-most portion. This Ratha is also called Garuda dhwaja Ratha or Kapila Ratha.

Taladhwaja Rath

Taladhwaja Ratha is 2nd Ratha belonging to Lord Bala bhadra. The accompanying deity of This Ratha is Ramakrishna. This Ratha is also called Langala dhwaja Ratha.

Darpadalana Ratha

Chariot of Goddess Subhadra, sister of Lord Jagannath is adorned with red and black colour clothes. This chariot is smallest of all 3 chariots.

Parshva Devata : Each chariot has its own Parshva Devatas who are the deities of lesser regard than main deities. There are 9 Parshva Devatas for each chariot. All the Rathas are drawn by different colours of chariots. Dark coloured chariots are for Balarama, White ones are for Jagannath, Red ones are for Subhadra. Each chariot customarily has a Sarathi or Charioteer.