Every year, lakhs of people watch the chariots roll through Ahmedabad. But almost no one asks who dressed the Lord that morning. For 16 years, Bhushan Bhatt’s family quietly held that honor, sponsoring Lord Jagannath’s ceremonial outfits until last year’s yatra, their final one before the responsibility passed on.
A Seva Passed Through Saraspur’s Hands
“It’s not us who actually stitch the clothes,” the family clarified. The outfits are hand-crafted by a veteran artisan based in Saraspur. The very neighborhood is believed to be Lord Jagannath’s mosal, his mother’s side of the family. The temple decides the design; the family’s role is to sponsor and commission it, a seva known as being a labharthi, or beneficiary-sponsor, of the outfit.
Six Months, Three Outfits, One Theme
It’s far from a quick job. One outfit takes more than six months to complete, with planning for the next year’s look beginning just two to three months after the current Rath Yatra ends. Traditionally, the Lord doesn’t wear just one outfit for Rath Yatra. He wears three separate ones across three days: Ekam, Beej, and Teej, each with its own colour and design. This year’s set follows the Gajaraj (royal elephant) theme, with the outfit changing colour each day, orange, red, and green, As the celebrations move from one day into the next. Over the years, the family has sponsored outfits built around other themes too. A Navratri look, a monsoon look, even a peacock-feather design with fabric shifting year to year between cotton, velvet, and polyester, depending on what that year’s theme calls for.
“The Joy Can’t Really Be Put Into Words”
Ask what it feels like to see Lord Jagannath step out in an outfit their family commissioned, and the answer comes without hesitation: “That joy can’t really be put into words. You know how it feels wearing something new yourself, you keep glancing in the mirror all day. Now imagine that feeling, except it’s the Lord wearing it. It becomes something much, much bigger than that.” – Bhushan Bhatt
Why Every Pol Turns Into a Welcome Party
On why Ahmedabad celebrates with such devotion, the family pointed to something deeply rooted in Hindu tradition: “When a guest comes to your home, you make sure they lack nothing. Atithi devo bhava. Here, God Himself is the guest, and He’s only coming once a year. So no one wants His darshan to fall short in any way.”
That spirit is exactly what plays out on the streets. As the rath moves through the old city’s pols, residents don’t just stand and watch. They step out with aarti thalis ready, waiting to do darshan the moment the chariot reaches their gali. Almost every five feet along the route, you’ll find a mandap set up with prasad. One pol keeping chaas, another keeping chai, another water, another snacks, another sharbat. Each family contributes whatever they can, so that anyone walking the yatra, devotee or stranger, is fed and welcomed. As the family put it, describing the scene: “Come, eat, and go saying ‘Jai Ranchhod’ — that’s the mahaul you’ll find there.” Even outside their own home, where the family’s own Rath traditionally begins its journey, buttermilk packets, tea, water, and snacks are laid out for everyone passing by.
From Rath Yatra to Jan Yatra
And in this, more than in the chariots, the crowds, or the music, is where the real feeling of Rath Yatra lives. As the family described it, this festival long ago stopped being just a religious procession: “It used to be a devotional journey held in the month of Vaishakh. Slowly, the mood shifted, and it became something bigger, not just a Rath Yatra, but a Jan Yatra, a Lok Yatra. A people’s journey, because God Himself is walking among us.”
That’s the feeling every Amdavadi carries on this day, not of watching a festival, but of hosting one, gali by gali, thali by thali, until the whole city feels like it belongs to the Lord for those few hours.
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