Udupi Navaratna Chariot

It has been some time since I blogged a post. Last night I was going through my digital photo treasure trove, I found this lovely snap of Navaratna chariot of Udupi that I clicked some time ago.

Here is another snap taken during this utsava, with people and *vehicles* around. Now a days you will not see ANY vehicles around rathabeedi (car-street) as they are banned and all roads leading to rathabeedi have been blocked with gates.

About the ratha: This ratha (chariot) is the first of its kind in the country built of gem stones laid on intricately carved gold. It has been built using 12 kg gold, 18 kg silver and 500 kg copper besides 1.5 lakh precious gem stones and the cost of construction was approximately Rs 7 crore.

Putthige math seer Sri Sugunendratheertha Sripada dedicated this ‘Navaratna ratha’ to Lord Krishna in Udupi on December 24, 2009.