Which Is the Biggest Temple Festival in India?

The biggest temple festival in India isn’t just a parade-it’s a sea of humanity, devotion, and sound that moves over a million people in a single week. If you’ve ever seen footage of thousands pulling massive wooden chariots through the streets, arms straining, voices chanting in unison, you’ve seen the Sri Ratha Yatra in Puri, Odisha. This isn’t a local event. It’s the largest temple festival on the planet, both in scale and spiritual impact.

What Makes Ratha Yatra the Largest?

Every year in June or July, the deities of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra, and sister Subhadra are taken out of the Jagannath Temple in Puri and placed on three enormous, multi-story chariots. These aren’t decorative floats-they’re full-scale wooden structures, each weighing over 25 tons, built from fresh teak wood every year by a team of skilled artisans. The chariots are pulled by devotees from all over India and beyond. In 2024, more than 1.2 million people participated in pulling the ropes. That’s more than the entire population of cities like Melbourne or Vancouver.

Why do so many people come? It’s not just about seeing the gods move. In Hindu belief, the journey from the temple to the Gundicha Temple-about 3 kilometers away-is a sacred act of surrender. Devotees believe that touching the chariot ropes or even the dust under its wheels brings blessings. Many walk barefoot for hundreds of kilometers to be here. Others camp out on the roadside for days, waiting for their chance to pull.

How It’s Different From Other Temple Festivals

India has hundreds of major temple festivals. The Thrissur Pooram in Kerala draws 500,000 people. The Kumbh Mela, while larger overall, isn’t tied to a single temple-it’s a river festival with multiple temporary shrines. The Ratha Yatra is unique because it’s centered entirely on one temple, one set of deities, and one ritual that repeats annually with near-perfect consistency.

Other festivals might feature dancing, music, or fireworks. Ratha Yatra is raw movement. No screens. No amplifiers. Just the sound of drums, conch shells, and millions of voices singing hymns. The chariots themselves are works of art-each has 16 wheels, painted in red, yellow, and black, with intricate carvings of gods and mythological scenes. The ropes? Made from jute, each one as thick as a man’s wrist. Pulling them isn’t a tourist activity-it’s a lifelong dream for many.

The Rituals Behind the Scenes

What happens before the chariots roll out? Months of preparation go into this one day. The idols are carved from neem wood, not stone or metal. They’re replaced every 12 or 19 years, depending on astrological calculations. The new idols are made in secret, inside the temple, by priests who fast and chant for weeks. When the old ones are retired, they’re cremated in a ritual called Navakalevara, and the new ones are installed with ceremonies that last over 100 days.

On the day of the festival, the deities are bathed in 108 pots of sacred water. Then, they’re dressed in silk and gold, and placed on the chariots. The chariots are named after their deities: Nandighosa for Jagannath, Taladhwaja for Balabhadra, and Darpadalana for Subhadra. Each has a different height and color scheme. The chariot for Jagannath is the tallest-45 feet high-and has 16 wheels. The others have 14 and 12 wheels respectively.

Who Comes and Why?

People don’t just come from nearby villages. They come from Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the United States, Australia, and even remote islands in the Pacific. In 2023, over 12,000 foreign tourists registered through official channels. Many are descendants of Indian diaspora families who haven’t visited India in decades. For them, this is a homecoming.

Local families prepare food for pilgrims. Over 500,000 meals are served daily during the festival, free of charge. The temple kitchen, called the Mahaprasad kitchen, is one of the largest in the world. It uses over 1,000 large clay pots, and cooks work in shifts around the clock. The food is offered to the deities first, then distributed to everyone-regardless of caste, religion, or background.

What to Expect If You Go

If you’re planning a temple tour to Puri during Ratha Yatra, be ready for chaos-and wonder. The streets are packed. You won’t find a quiet spot. Phones won’t work. Water and food lines stretch for blocks. But if you can move with the crowd, you’ll see something rare: pure, unfiltered faith.

Bring a hat, water, and sturdy shoes. Wear modest clothing-shoulders and knees covered. Don’t try to take photos right in front of the chariots; it’s disrespectful. Instead, find a high point-like the temple’s outer wall or a nearby rooftop-and watch the wave of people move as one. The moment the chariots start rolling, the entire city falls silent for a few seconds, then erupts in song.

Stay in Puri, not in Bhubaneswar. The city transforms. Guesthouses fill up months in advance. Even basic rooms go for triple the normal price. Book early. Or better yet, stay with a local family. Many open their homes to pilgrims. You’ll get home-cooked meals, stories, and maybe even a chance to help tie a rope.

Why This Festival Still Matters Today

In a world where tradition often fades, Ratha Yatra grows stronger. It’s not preserved in museums or turned into a cultural show. It’s lived. Every year, young people in Delhi, Mumbai, and even Toronto learn the songs and chants so they can sing them in Puri. Schools in Odisha teach children how to tie the traditional knots used on the chariot ropes.

The festival survived colonial rule, natural disasters, and even a pandemic. In 2020, when the event was canceled for the first time in over 800 years, people lit diyas in their homes and sang outside their windows. The next year, when it returned, the crowd was even bigger.

This isn’t just a Hindu festival. It’s a human one. It shows how faith can bring order to chaos, how tradition can hold a society together, and how a single act-pulling a wooden cart-can connect millions across borders, languages, and generations.

Planning Your Visit

Here’s what you need to know before you go:

1. Date: Ratha Yatra falls on the second day of the bright fortnight of the Hindu month of Ashadha. In 2025, it’s on June 28. Check the exact date each year-it changes based on the lunar calendar.
2. Book early: Flights and hotels in Puri sell out by April. Book at least 4 months ahead.
3. Transport: The nearest airport is Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar (18 km away). Trains from Kolkata, Delhi, and Chennai arrive daily.
4. What to pack: Light cotton clothes, rain gear (it’s monsoon season), a reusable water bottle, and a small towel. Leave expensive jewelry at home.
5. Respect the space: Don’t block paths. Don’t touch the chariots or idols. Don’t use flash photography near the deities.

Many temple tour operators offer guided Ratha Yatra packages. But the real magic happens when you go alone-walk into the crowd, feel the rhythm, and let yourself be part of it.

What Happens After the Chariots Stop

The chariots stay at the Gundicha Temple for nine days. During this time, devotees visit daily to offer prayers and flowers. On the ninth day, the deities return to the main temple in another procession called Ulta Ratha Yatra. The return is quieter, more intimate. Fewer people pull the ropes. The focus shifts from spectacle to reflection.

After the deities are back in the temple, the chariots are dismantled. The wood is burned in a sacred fire. Nothing is saved. Everything is renewed. It’s a powerful reminder: nothing lasts forever, but devotion does.