Lord Jagannath’s chariot will roll on Sukhoi-30 fighter jet tyres this year, which have replaced the Boeing 747 tyres used since 1977.
The 54th edition of the Rathyatra, organised by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon), will have another first. An app has been unveiled to track the chariots in real time when they trundle down city streets, at kolkatarathyatra.live.
“We had approached the Dunlop management, makers of the Boeing tyres, in 2009 for replacement but they said the model was out of commission. They could not even provide old tyres. We were looking around since then for an alternative. The Sukhoi tyres, being 4ft in diameter, turned out to be a good fit,” said Radharamn Das, vice-president of Iskcon, Calcutta on Tuesday.
MRF, the Sukhoi tyre makers, were surprised at the request and came for an inspection before agreeing to the supply, he added.
The journey of the chariots was disrupted in 2024 when the 38ft chariot developed a snag midway, delaying the journey by hours. “That was due to a steering malfunction. We overhauled the system last year before Ultarath itself. That has nothing to do with the change in tyres which was pre-planned. We are changing the steering system this year of Lord Baladev’s chariot, which is the second tallest, at 36ft,” he added.
The iron wheels of Baladev’s chariot had been changed last year itself. Only Subhadra Devi’s chariot still runs on old iron wheels.
Traditional wooden wheels are unsuitable on chariots for city streets requiring sharp turns, explained Vallabh Chaitanya Das, also a board member and vice-president of Iskcon, Calcutta, countering a criticism about the use of tyres in place of wooden wheels. The jet tyres are designed to endure extreme conditions and high-speed aerial manoeuvres.
The Iskcon authorities also fended off another recent criticism from Puri king and chairman of Jagannath Temple managing committee, Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb, about Iskcon-organised snanyatras and rathyatras taking place in different times in different cities across the globe. This was an aberration from the tithi sanctioned by the scriptures, he wrote in a letter.
“Our founder, Acharya Prabhupada, had started Rathyatra in San Francisco on July 9 in 1967. That year, it was the day of Rathyatra. But now in many cities, they are given permission to take out processions only on the weekends. What is more important — sticking to the rulebook or popularising the Lord’s cult?” Radharamn Das argued, with his colleague Ananga Mohan Das seated by him.
The old Boeing tyres were given a public send-off on Tuesday. “The old tyres will be preserved at our New Town temple where a museum has been planned,” he said.
Though the chariot will ply on fighter jet tyres, the authorities are sending out a strong message of peace. “Our devotees are spread across 180 nations. But when they meet at our Mayapur headquarters, Russians and Ukrainians together chant the Lord’s name, forgetting all enmity. In contrast, even at United Nations, the head office of which bears flags of all countries, representatives fight tooth and nail. Who is the bigger unifier?” Radharamn Das argued.
The festival will be inaugurated on Friday by parliamentarian Subrata Bakshi and Iskcon governing body commission member Jayapataka Swami as chief minister Mamata Banerjee will be away in Digha where the new Jagannath centre will host its first rathyatra.
She will visit the mela at the Brigade Parade Ground, opposite Park Street Metro station, on July 3. The mela will be held till July 4, the day before Ultarath. Daily khichudi prasad will be served from 3.30pm to 8.30pm.