Hinduism - What Are Temple Cars In Hindu Ceremonial Worship?

 

Temple Cars refers to the ceremonial carts on which a deity's moveable image (utsava murti) may be moved across a town or, in the case of temples in southern India, around the processional avenues that frequently encircle the temple in concentric tiers.

The temple car is one of the deity's standard accouterments, and it is made from precious metals and is richly decorated, as it is at the temple of the god Jagannath in the city of Puri; in other cases (as one finds in many of the southern Indian temples), the temple car is one of the deity's standard accouterments, and it is made from precious metals and is richly decorated.

In either scenario, the god is regarded as if he or she were a king, and the automobile serves as a way of transporting the deity in procession to visit his or her earthly dominion.

~Kiran Atma


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