AGARTALA: In a spirited display of devotion, young boys across Agartala have built their own chariots to mark Lord Jagannath’s Rath Yatra, taking them out through the streets of the city on their own initiative.
Without any adult supervision or institutional backing, the children reportedly fashioned the raths themselves and pulled them through parts of Agartala, continuing what appears to be a grassroots tradition tied to the annual festival.
The informal celebrations run parallel to the larger Rath Yatra festivities held in honour of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra, which commemorate the deity’s symbolic journey from the sanctum to the Gundicha temple. While official processions in the region are typically organised by temple committees and religious bodies, this spontaneous participation by children reflects the festival’s cultural pull among Tripura’s youngest residents.
Such scenes are said to recur each year in neighbourhoods across the city, with children taking up the practice independently as part of local Rath Yatra observances.