Dhamrai Jagannath Roth

About

The Dhamrai Jagannātha Rath is a traditional wheeled temple-chariot dedicated to Lord Jagannātha, kept at Dhamrai in the Dhaka district of Bangladesh. It is the focus of the great Rath Yātrā celebrated here each year, one of the most important Hindu festivals in Bangladesh, drawing thousands of devotees who gather to pull the rath through the streets in a procession of song and prayer.

Lord Jagannātha is honoured in the Hindu tradition as a form of Lord Vishnu, and devotees particularly identify him with Krishna; together with Balabhadra and Subhadrā, he presides over the well-known Jagannātha pilgrimage tradition rooted in Puri, Odisha. The Dhamrai festival is part of this larger devotional family, and the Rath Yātrā is the moment in the year when the deity is said to leave the inner sanctum to come among the people in the streets.

For the Hindu community of Bangladesh, the Dhamrai Rath Yātrā has become an important annual gathering and a tangible link to the long Vaiṣṇava tradition of Bengal.

History

Sri Madhab Mandir at Dhamrai was established in 1672, and for its first quarter-century the roth pulled through its streets was woven of bamboo. Feudal landlords of nearby Baliati later commissioned a succession of larger wooden chariots, culminating in a sixty-foot roth on thirty-two wheels that carpenters from Dhamrai, Kaliakoir, Saturia, and Singair jointly completed in 1933. Ray Bahadur Ranada Prosad Shaha sustained the tradition through the Kumudini Welfare Trust until 1970, but during the 1971 Liberation War the Pakistan Army burned the historic roth and killed Shaha himself. A simpler chariot carried the tradition forward until 2010, when a new three-storied roth twenty-seven feet high and set on fifteen wheels was completed with support pledged by Indian High Commissioner Bina Sikri.

Significance

Devotees venerate Lord Jagannath, who travels with Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra from the Madhabbari Temple toward the Gope Nagar Temple, regarded as his in-laws' house, a half-kilometre journey retraced in reverse about a week later as the Ulto Rath. The Dhamrai Rath Yatra is one of the most important gatherings of the year for Bangladesh's Hindu community, drawing thousands who consider even a glimpse of Lord Jagannath on the chariot, or a touch of its ropes, to carry real blessing. It stands as a living link between the Hindu community of Bengal and the wider Vaishnava pilgrimage tradition rooted in Puri, Odisha.

Architecture

Bengali wooden temple-chariot (roth) tradition; the current roth is a three-tiered structure twenty-seven feet high, set on fifteen wheels