I hail from Orissa, the land of the famous
temples at Puri, Bhubaneshwar and Konark. I was allotted to Madhya Pradesh, again a land
of beautiful temples at Khajuraho, the
magnificently designed and extremely well preserved thousand years old Nilakanteswara
temple at Udaypur in Vidisha district built by the son of Raja Bhoj and yet
another thousand years old circular Chaunsath
Yogini Temple with pillars all around the circle in Mitaoli in Morena district,
which served as the model for the British architect, Henry Baker, to design the
Parliament House in New Delhi, with minor modification. Interestingly, the
Parliament House is the only building built by the British which does not
reflect Western architecture. With such an exposure to temples from a young
age, I developed a keen interest in the history, architecture and symbolism of
Hindu temples. Based upon my study of the temple of Lord Jagannath in Puri, I
am narrating some facts about this temple, its traditions and its practices
without touching upon the religious and mythological aspects.
I
would like to start with the account of the Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar and
traveller, Hiuen-Tsang whose 16 years pilgrimage to India from 627 to 643 AD,
started from Taxila (now in Pakistan) to Nalanda, Bharhut (Satna), Sanchi (Raisen)
and on to Puri and other Buddhist centres down south. In his travel log he has mentioned
about a Buddhist shrine at SI HA-LI CHE-TA-HA-LO
in Kamrup (Assam). Since Chinese do not
use the letter ‘ra’, the place mentioned by him has been deciphered as SRI HARI
KSHETRA. He also made mention about a place in the east coast named SI
CHE-TA-HA-LO where there is a big stupa situated on a small mound 3 Li from the
sea (in Chinese measurement a Li is 500
metres). It means the stupa was one and a half kilometers from the sea coast. SI
CHE-TA-HA-LO has been deciphered as SRI KSHETRA. Here, I would like to reiterate
that even to this very day Puri is also referred to as Sri Kshetra (or Sri
Khetro as Oriyas pronounce it).
In the 7th Century, Buddhism
appears to be the religion practiced through the entire stretch of land from
Afghanistan to the south of India. This explains the existence of huge statues
of Buddha in Bamiyan in Afghanistan (destroyed by the Taliban in recent years) to
the picturesque limestone stupa at Amravati in Guntur district of Andhra
Pradesh (relics now displayed in the Museum in Chennai)
Many years later, Adi Shankaracharya,
who is believed to have lived for only 32 years from 788 to 820 AD, travelled the
entire length and breadth of the country unifying and establishing the main
currents of thought in Hinduism. Though the origins are not clearly known,
the school of Hinduism propagated by Adi Shankaracharya attributes the
origin of the four monasteries (char dhams) to the seer. The four
monasteries lay across the four corners of India - Badrinath in the North, Puri
in the East, Dwarka in the West and Rameswaram in the South. These mutts were headed by learned teachers of Hinduism who came to be
known as Shankarcharyas. Over the next 2 or 3 hundred years, starting from the
North, Buddhism gradually faded out in India and Hinduism revived throughout the country.
The Tibetan Buddhist Lama Taranath
describes how by the tenth century, after repeated onslaughts on Buddhism by a
mainstream Hinduism, Buddhism lost a lot of ground in the north and thereafter in
the rest of India. With
this fading out of Buddhism, the stupa at Puri fell into disuse. With the predominant
presence of adivasis, known as sabaras, in the area, they appear to have put up their deities made of wood where the stupa stood, in
accordance with the adivasi’s tradition of worshipping wooden logs or poles and
not a humanised physical representation of a
deity.
Two or
three centuries later, King Chodaganga appears to have decided to construct a
temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu at the same place where earlier there was the
Buddhist stupa and later the adivasis’ temple. He took care to ensure there was
a fusion of Buddhism and tribal faith in the temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu,
which he planned to construct. Thus we observe that the idol of Lord Jagannath is a carved and decorated
wooden stump with large round eyes and a symmetric face, with a conspicuous
absence of hands and legs. The image consists of a square flat head and
the pillar representing his face merging with the chest. The icon lacks a neck,
ears, and limbs. Within this face are two big symmetric circular eyes with no
eyelids. History has it that he was a tribal deity, adorned by the Sabara
people. He is shown with the Vaishnava U-shaped mark on his forehead. His dark
color and other facial features are an abstraction of the cosmic form of the
Hindu god Krishna. Further, the
King appears to have retained the worship procedures, sacraments and rituals including
rites that are not common in Hinduism. King Chodaganga started the
construction of the Shikhar or the main structure where the idols are kept and the Jagamohana or the assembly
hall. After his death, his grandson, Anangabhima Deva completed the construction
of the temple in 1174 AD.
According to the established norms of
Hindu temple architecture, the way to identify to which deity a temple is
dedicated to is to look at the niche in the walls on four sides of the main temple
(known as Suknasas). In a temple having a Shivlinga, there is the humanized
form of Shiva and Parvati in the Suknasas. In Puri, we see the four different
avatars of Lord Vishnu in the four Suknasas.
Since the half man-half lion Narasimha avatar of Lord Vishnu, should never be prominently
displayed, in the Puri temple the statue of Narasimha has been placed in the
rear side Sukhnasa.
It is to be noted that in this Hindu temple dedicated
to Lord Vishnu, there are two features which are unique. One is that the idols
are not made of stone or metal like most other Hindu temples but of wood which
is a recurring theme in the forest dwellers religious practices. The second is
that the persons who have a fair share of responsibilities to perform rituals
of the temple are not Brahmins but tribals, who claim to be descendants of the
hill tribes of Orissa known as Daitapathis. Since
wood has a limited life span, hence after some years when one lunar month of
Aashada is followed by yet another lunar month of Aashadha, new wooden idols are
freshly carved from Neem wood to replace the old ones. This can take place in 8, 12 or even 18 years. This ritual is called Navakalevara (taking of a new form)
In
a secret and sacred ceremony, the new idols are
placed in front of the old idols and after midnight something is taken out of
the body of the old Jagannath idol and placed inside the body of the new idol.
The transfer of this "Life Force"
occurs in total silence. There are strict rules attached to this act that the
three Daitapatis must adhere to. Among them are the Daitapatis must fast and
meditate the whole day inside the temple, they should be blindfolded, they must
tie a piece of cloth around their palms so that they cannot feel what they are
transferring. It is this ceremony that is the actual Navakalevara ritual, or
Transformation Ceremony of Lord Jagannath. What’s interesting is that no
Daitapati till date has been able to experience what actually is this sacred
item. When asked of their experience at this time, the Daitapatis say, "it
is very difficult to express what the item is. It can't be seen or felt. Our
eyes are blindfolded and our hands are covered with cloth when we carry it. Yet
a powerful feeling is very much present. This is our experience. Beyond this, exactly
what this “Life Force” is that is so powerfully felt, nobody is able to
say". After this ceremony, the
old deities of Jagannath, Bhalabhadra ans Subhadra are buried
within the temple premises before dawn. There
are three separate graves for the three deities. All the previous Jagannaths
are laid to rest in the same grave, one on top of the other. Similarly with the
other deities. The idols that are currently being worshipped in the
temple were installed in the year 2015.
There are several interpretations
about what is this item that is transferred from the old to the new idol with so
much secrecy, devotion and sacred ceremonies. The interpretation that has
appealed to me is that it could be the casket containing the relics of Lord
Buddha which must have been recovered from the erstwhile stupa. As has been
stated above, the temple was built over the ruins of a Buddhist stupa. It is
well known that all stupas have at the bottom a stone casket containing the
relics of Buddha or some Bodhisattva. I have seen one such casket, carved
out of stone, at a place called Ratnagiri in Orissa which was once a Buddhist
center. The heavy stone casket was about 12 X 10 X 4 inches with a stone lid.
The reason for so many non-Hindu practices being followed in the temple could
be due to presence of this casket in the body of Jagannath idol.
On the morning of the second day the new deities are seated on
the altar, new garments are given to the new deities, food is offered, and puja
is done. Devotees can then come inside for darshan.
And on the third day the new deities emerge from the temple for the annual Rath
Yatra Festival. They are brought out and taken
up to the Gundicha temple three kilometers away in huge chariots decorated as per the unique scheme prescribed and followed for
centuries. They are covered with bright canopies made of stripes of red cloth
and combined with those of black, yellow and green colours. There are three chariots for the three deities of Jagannath, his
brother Bhalabhadra and sister Subhadra. The Rathas are huge wheeled wooden
structures, which are built anew every year. The chariot for Jagannath is the
biggest and is approximately 45 feet high and 35 feet square.
At the beginning of the Rath Yatra, the Daitapathis bring the
idols from the sanctum sanctorum of the temple and with a lot of effort, pull them
up on to the three chariots. After this, rituals that are actually a mix of
mainstream Hindu, Buddhist and tribal traditions are performed by men from all
castes and sects. The rituals begin with an untouchable, who is normally not
allowed inside the temple, offering a coconut to the Lord. Thereafter, the most significant ritual associated with the
Ratha-Yatra takes place. The erstwhile Raja of Puri dons the outfit of a
sweeper and sweeps all the three chariots with a gold-handled broom and also
cleanses the road in front of the chariots and sprinkles sandalwood water and
powder with utmost devotion. This centuries old ritual is a relic of a Buddhist tradition – the most exalted person in
the kingdom, rendering the most menial service to Lord Jagannath witnessed
by lakhs of people. This ritual signifies that under the lordship of Jagannath,
there is no distinction between the powerful sovereign and the most humble
devotee. Led by the Raja and Rani, all
devotees, irrespective of their caste or creed, pull the strong ropes tied to
the chariots to Lord Jagannath’s aunt’s house, some three kilometers down the
road, while the town resounds with sounds of priests and masses singing,
dancing and chanting prayers and banging on gongs. This is the only time when people, who are not
allowed inside the temple premises, such as non-Hindus and foreigners, get a
glimpse of the deities
Legend
has it, that one Salbaig, the son of Lalbaig, a 17th century Muslim
Subedar at Cuttack and the Brahmin widow he married, became a devotee of
Jagannath and took to composing and singing songs for the Lord standing outside
the temple. At each Rath Yatra he would stand and sing soulfully to his Lord. Even
after four centuries, all three cars make a brief halt at the grave of the Muslim
musical mureed which is on the way
the Gundicha temple. The deities are kept for nine days at this
place and thereafter they ride back to the main temple. These nine days absence
is probably meant to give the maintenance people time to look into the
essential maintenance of the sanctum sanctorum.
According
to historians, the Ratha Yatra was started on the completion of the great temple
around 1150 AD. This festival is one of the Hindu festivals that has been
reported to the Western world very early. Friar Odoric of Pordenone
(in Italy) visited India in 1316-1318. In his own account of 1321, Odoric
reported how the people put the "idols" on chariots, and the King and
Queen and all the people drew them from the "church" with song and
music.
The colours of Jagannath,
Bhalabhadra and Subhadra are black, white and yellow. Social anthropologists
interpret these colours to represent the three races of mankind viz the black,
the white and the yellow. The eyes of Jagannath
are regular circles, the eyes of Bhalabadra and Subhadra are oval. The
head of Bhalabhadra is scalloped with a semi-circular lobe. Subhadra’s head is
a tiara and Jagannath a straight line. Originally, when the temple was built,
there was only one image of Jagannath representing Vishnu. Bhalabhadra
and Subhadra representing Saivite and Shakti faiths were added subsequently.
A magnificent sixteen-sided 100 feet high monolithic pillar
known as the Arun stambha stands in front of the main gate of the temple. This
pillar has an idol of Arun, the charioteer of the Sun God Surya, on its top. This pillar was earlier located in the Konark
Sun temple. Later, the Maratha guru Brahmachari Gosain brought this pillar from
Konark. There
are numerous small temples and shrines within the Temple complex. I had been to
the Surya temple. A small image of the Sun god is placed in front of a screen.
I peeped to see what was behind the curtain. There was the big black stone
statue of Surya Bhagwan, sitting in a Padmasana position. This was the statue
which was worshipped in the now dilapidated Konark temple. Since the statue is
slightly disfigured, it is not worshipped and hidden from view.
The temple's kitchen is reputed to
be the largest in the world. It can prepare food for over one lakh people
within a few hours notice. 56 varieties of offerings known as Chappan bhog are prepared every day. Cooking
is done only in earthen pots. After being offered to Lord Jagannath and
the other deities, the mahaprasad is
sold at Ananda Bazaar, an open market inside the temple premises, where it
should be eaten off leaf plates or broken pieces of the earthen pots.
The Jagannath temple maintains a
chronicle of all the historical events that have taken place. It is mentioned in this chronicle,
called Madala Panji, that the temple
was invaded and plundered eighteen times. In 1692, the Mughal
Emperor Aurangzeb ordered the temple to be closed otherwise it would
be demolished. The temple was therefore, for the first time, closed for 15
years till the death of the Muslim bigot in 1707.
Many
supernatural things are attributed to the temple. I would like to relate only
four things which I have observed and could not find rational explanations for
them. The first one is about the heavy metallic Sudershan Chakra on the pinnacle
of the Shikar. From any direction you look at it, it appears as if it is facing
you. The second one is the long triangular flag which flies on top of the
temple. When the wind blows the flag should fly in the direction of the flow of
the wind but this particular flag flows in the opposite direction to the wind's
course without any scientific background to back it up. Thirdly, I have never
seen a bird sitting on the temple. Fourthly, seven pots are used as vessels
mounted one on top of another and are cooked using firewood. Surprisingly, the
food in the top-most pot gets cooked first, and the rest follow the same order.
The shrine at Puri where the worship
procedures, sacraments and rituals associated with Jagannath are
syncretic, and include rites that are uncommon in Hinduism was perhaps the first conscious
experiment in synthesising India’s diverse religions and religious principles
that flourished in the east around the 12th Century. It became the meeting
point for all major Hindu and non-Hindu cults: Buddhism, Jainism, the Tantrik
Panth and various tribal religions that pre dated all of these.
There is an interesting connection
between Sikhism and Puri. Visitors to the Puri temple can write their names in
the scrolls maintained there. Guru
Nanak, who visited Puri in June 1510 had also written his name, his father’s
name and the name of his village. When President
Zail Singh visited the temple, the scroll containing Guru Nanak’s name was
shown to him. Guru Tegh Bahadur, the 9th Guru also visited Puri in
1670. In March 1699, at an assembly in Anandpur Sahib when Guru Gobind Singh,
the 10th Guru wanted five persons to volunteer to sacrifice their
lives for the religion, a courageous Oriya water carrier from Puri, by name
Himmat Rai, volunteered to get his head chopped off. He was declared as one of
the (five) Panj Pyare by the Guru
under the name Bhai Himmat Singh.
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