The Rath Yatra

Every year, the wooden images of Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra are placed on three enormous chariots. The Nandighosha stands 45 feet high, with 16 wheels each 7 feet in diameter. Pulled by hundreds of thousands of hands along the Grand Road from the Singhadwara to the Gundicha Temple and back. Three kilometres there, eight days at Gundicha, three kilometres back. The circuit. To the tradition it is festival. To the foundation system beneath the temple, it is something else. The crowd pulling the rope generates resonance. The resonance travels inward through the ring system. The circuit's completion renews the seal for one year. Any person may touch the rope. This is important. The renewal requires everyone. Not the priests alone. Everyone. The Rath Yatra has not completed its circuit for three consecutive years. Each broken circuit, the seal degrades. Each broken circuit, what is below presses harder against what holds it.