Shocking! Place in Odisha where Ratha Yatra never observed

The annual Ratha Yatra of Lord Jagannath was celebrated across the Odisha and also outside with great gaiety and favor. The festival is not only observed in Odisha but also across the globe. But it is astonishing to know there is a place that too in Land of Jagannath where the festival is not celebrated from last 300 years.

The place has been identified as Ganjam’s Marada. Interesting, there is no deity in the temple at Marada which served as a safe hiding place for deities of the Puri Jagnnath Temple during 1733-1735 AD. All the deities where taken to Ganjam when temples were being targeted by Muslim invaders.

Later, the deities returned to Puri when the situation calmed down. As the deities had taken shelter at Marada, the place came to be known as Sarana Srikhetra. Since then there is no deity in the temple, the car festival is never observed.

The place was never been in limelight as Puri has been the center of Jagannath cult in India.