The world famous sand artist from Orissa, Sudarsan Pattnaik, paid tribute to Lord Jagannath and Puri Rath Yatra by creating a five ft high sand sculpture on Puri Beach and the theme was religious harmony. On the Puri Rath Yatra day, the three chariots are surrounded by people of all religion, caste, class and creed and all get equal opportunity to the divine darshan of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra.
The sculpture had an image of a chariot and an image of Lord Jagannath surrounded by devotees belonging to all religions.
‘Rath Yatra is an occasion when devotees, irrespective of religion, caste, class and creed get an opportunity to see the presiding deities. Devotees even touch and pull the chariots. Through my art, I want to spread the message of universal brotherhood that how Lord Jagannath clinches people from all religions on a single day and occasion,’ said Sudarsan Pattnaik to Kalinga Times.
In 2007, too Sudarsan Pattnaik had created sand sculptures of the three chariots of Puri Rath Yatra.