History, Importance, Facilities, Festivals and Activities of Jagannath Temple, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Shree Jagannathji Mandir is situated on bank of River Sabarmati near Jamalpur, Ahmedabad and dedicated to Lord Shree Krishna as main deity along with Baldevji, Subhadraji and Hanumanji. It is believed that around 460 years back the site where Jagannath temple is located today was the dense forest with river side and favorite spot for sages for their penance. Once Shree Hanumandasji, devotee of Shree Hanumaji found this spot for meditation and penance here and installed idol of Lord Hanuman.
His successor Shree Sarangdasji was the follower of Lord Shree Jagannath. During his visit of Jagannath Temple Puri, Lord Jagannath inspired him to installed idol of Lord Jagannath, Baldevji and Subhadraji at Hanuman temple, thus temple became the Jagannath Mandir of Ahmedabad. During the 1996-2000, the whole temple complex was renovated and idols of Holy trinity were ritually installed on raised pedestal, the Ratn Vedi. Big auditorium was built in temple for devotee to gather for Bhajan and religious activity.
All major festival of Hinduism are celebrated here in temple with immense joy, great devotion and love towards the supreme Lord.These festivals are Gau Puja, Jal Yatra, Rath Yatra, Hindola Darshan, Janmashtami, Rudrabhishek, Vasant Panchmi , Diwali , Uttarayana , Maha Shivratri , Holi , Ramnavami and Akshay Tritiya.
Shree Jagannath Mandir Trust manages various activities like Sadavrat – free of cost food to needy people and saint, Panch Karma Hospital, Ayurvedic Medicine, various social works etc. Temple trust also manages facility to accommodate devotee, tourist and saints at Dharmshala at main temple and Shree Naklang Mahadev Mandir.
World Famous Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannathji in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Rathyatra of Lord Shree Jagannathji was initiated in 1878 by Mahant Shree Narsinhdasji Maharaj. The massive procession is held on second day of Shukla Paksha of Ashadh month – Ashadh Sud Beej, each year and millions of devotee participates in Rath Yatra. In general devotee comes to Temple for worship of Lord Jagannath but on this day Lord himself goes out to see the devotee.
After performing the rituals by Mahant Shree and chief minister of Gujarat, the procession is led by 20 elephants in decorative dress, followed by lots of trucks and then trained athletes of various Akhada. Next in the procession follows followers with decorative flags of the temple, bhajan mandali, bands and then comes the “Holy Trinity” on chariots made up from coconut tree pulled by devotees.
The procession halts at Saraspur – Mosal of Lord Jagannathji, where the local people feed all the devotees of Lord Jagannath. In the evening the Rathayatra returns to the Shree Jagannath Temple. Rathyatra in Ahmedabad is the third largest Rathyatra after the Puri and Kolkatta and become the Lokotsav of Gujarat.
