AMN/ WEB DESK
Rath Yatra festival of Lord Jagannath was celebrated across Bangladesh on Monday amid the Corona pandemic forcing most of the events to be held at a very limited scale. Many of the rituals like chariot procession were observed only symbolically due to the ongoing lockdown and spike in corona cases in the country. The pulling of the Rath was conducted inside the temple premises with a few people taking part in it.
The Rath Yatra begins on the second day of the Shuklapaksha of Asharh month of Hindi calendar. It concludes on the 9th day with the returning Rath Yatra called Ulto Rath which will take place on 20 July.
In Dhaka the Rath Yatra was observed at the ISKCON temple complex at Swamibagh and a few other places like Jagtnath Jiu Tagore Temple at Tantibazar in Old Dhaka, Ramsita Temple at Joykali Mandir Road among a few others.
The India-Bangladesh Manipuri community also celebrated Rath Utsav according to their traditional system.
The festival was also observed at Dhamrai near Dhaka on a limited scale observing covid related restrictions. The Rath Yatra celebration at Dhamrai is a centuries old tradition which is known as the second largest one after the Rath Yatra of Puri.
The historic Rath at Dhamrai was burnt down by the Pakistani forces during the 1971 liberation war of Bangladesh. The new Rath was built in 2010 with the support of Indian High Commision in Bangladesh. The upkeep and maintenance of the Rath and the temple complex is done by the philanthropic organisation Kumudini Welfare Trust whose founder Ranada Prasad Shaha was also killed by the Pakistani forces in 1971.