Lord Jagannath is back to ‘Sri Mandira’. After spending 9 days at his birthplace; garden temple, located outside the town centre called Gundicha, with his brother, Balabhadra and sister Subhadra, Lord of ‘Kalayuga’ is back in business.
As mentioned in Hindu scriptures the yugas are said to succeed each other almost endlessly. After the perfect Satya Yuga, a decline marks the Treta Yuga. Further decline brings about the Dwapara Yuga, and after it comes the final and dark Kali Yuga, a time of wickedness, when man kills man.
This is Kali yuga and the Lord of this yuga is Sri Jagannath. In this Yuga, only by seeking the blessings of Lord Jagannath Puri, one shall attain salvation.
So I suppose no salvations for those nine days of vacation ... .. . hmmmm .. .
Of all the festivals, the Ratha Yatra of Jagannatha is the most famous. This takes place on the second day of the ‘asadha’ month. Jagannatha ordered King to take him to his birth place, the Gundicha Mandira (symbolically Vrindavana), on this day. The Raja, expressing his humility as a sevak (servant) of the lords, sweeps the chariots with a golden broom and initiates the yatra. It is said that to honour the devotion of Queen Gundicha, wife of the legendary King Indradyumna who built the Puri Jagannath temple, Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra leave their regular abode in the main temple and spend a few days in this temple built by her in their honour. The present day king of puri is Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb. Of course kingship is abolished by the Govt. Of India; he is traditionally accepted as a king and he performs all his religious duties as his predecessors did.
Lord Jagannath is worshipped along with his elder brother Balarama and his sister Subhadra. Each sibling has his / her own chariot and goes to the summer residence with great pomp. Lord Jagannatha’s Chariot is called ‘Nandighosa’, Lord Balabhadra’s – ‘Taladhwaja’ and Subhadra’s – ‘Dwarpadalana’. The three chariots are newly constructed every year with wood of specified trees like phassi, dhausa, etc. They are customarily brought from the ex-princely state of Dasapalla by a specialist team of carpenters who have hereditary rights and privileges for the same. The logs are traditionally set afloat as rafts in the river Mahanadi. These are collected near Puri and then transported by road.
Thousands of Hindus flock to see, and to pull the grand chariots from one temple to the other, i.e. from ‘Sri Mandira’ to ‘Gundicha’. The English word "juggernaut" comes from the giant chariots of Lord Jagannath of Puri. The British were so stunned by the size of the chariots, they coined a word for it!
This is the only time when non-Hindus are able to see the deity as they are not allowed inside the temple. Well, the tourism department is not quite happy with the discriminating rule but no one wants to poke into religious issues.
In recent years there has been a dramatic change in attitude of the religious heads and the process of conducting the rituals. Traditionally the kings of various provinces, and kings alone, used to perform the customary acts but now since most kings are survived by daughters only, and who are subsequently crowned as “King”; Chhera Pahara, the symbolic ritual cleaning of the chariots, is being performed by the female kings.
15-year-old, Sulakhyana, who was crowned as the king' of Dharakote estate, after the death of her father, the late King Kishor Chandra Singhdeo and 31-year-old, IIM-B graduate Aparna Bhir Singh Bharadwaj, daughter of the late king Raja Birabara Krunshaprasad of Jaipur’s Gadamadhupur, performed the traditional duties in their respective provinces.
Hmmmmm . .. ... . . 21st century . . . ..
Now thats what i call Women on Top !
Away from the hustle and bustle of the city, away from the innumerable temple servants, away from their spouses, the siblings enjoy their "Vrindavan-like" garden retreat. The temple routine in the garden temple is very much relaxed compared to the main temple. Various festivities and fun are planned for their short stay in this leafy abode. As the Lord has only taken his brother and his sister on this holiday, the wives are left at home! Alone and brooding, Goddess Lakshmi, seeks help from Goddess Vimala to get their husband back. Travelling by night, in a closed palanquin, she arrives at the garden temple of the Lord. She enchants the Lord and entreats him to return. A few days later, i.e. after the 9th day, the Lord returns to his city temple. The return of rath, Bahuda Yatra, is celebrated with equal velour as the Rath Yatra.
And no one is happier than Lord’s wife. 87-years-old Sasimani Debadasi is touted as the human wife of Jagannath. She stays 100 meters from the Jagannath temple. This year she failed to participate in Rath yatra and Bahuda Yatra following ill health.
And as for the people of Chattia and the Jagannath temple at Chhatia, about 30 km from Cuttack, the wait continues. Chhatia has been waiting for arrival of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra, for over 500 years now, from their abode at Puri. The priests of the temple and locals believe that the holy Triad will someday come to Chhatia after abandoning their home in the holy town. According to a prophecy, Puri will be submerged in the sea due to global warming and rise of water level. Achyutananda Das, a 15th century saint, had predicted the arrival of the trinity to Chhaita after the sea engulfs the holy town and its nearby areas. Das, known as the Nostradamus of Orissa, wrote about the return of the Lord in his famous book Malika. Das’ prediction about the Naanka drought in 1866, Super Cyclone in 1999 and other major events in the country have come true.
Every day priests of the temple worship the empty pedestal of the temple in the sanctum sanctorum with the hope that Lord Jagannath will arrive someday. Das’ famous poem in Malika says, Jiba Jagata Hoieba Lina, Baishi Pahache Kheliba Mina (All the human beings will be perished and fish will play at the steps of Puri temple). In recent times, the sea has acted strangely and devoured lands on the waterfront making the people believe that Das’ prophecy will come true one day. Till then they have to wait ... .. .
