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.