Dates with devotion: The division in Puri’s Rath Yatra celebrations

The Jagannath Temple in Puri holds its Rath Yatra every year on a date prescribed by its centuries-old ritual calendar.

A branch of ISKCON, however, stages international events of the procession on dates that differ from the original, citing practical reasons.

The divergence has sparked a controversy, with many in Puri viewing it as a challenge to the temple’s authority and its religious identity, finds Satyasundar Barik ...