Jai Jagannath
We stayed at the city of Puri for three days. Even though the city buzz is around the famous Jagannath temple, there is so much to see and experience in Puri.
The city receives daylight as early as 5am every day and one can watch the sunrise at the beach closer to 5:30 am. Cleanliness at the beach and other areas of the city needs special mention. Basic amenities are available all around the city that are organised and clean. The vibrant culture of the state is proudly displayed everywhere. We did not see hoardings of political parties or posters stuck onto walls or posts anywhere in the city that disrupts the view and becomes an eyesore. One could view statues of the heroes of the state neatly maintained.
The vast expanse of Jagannath temple welcomes devotees with highly organised and modern systems of crowd management. Jagannath Swamy presents himself as Patheeth Paavan ji at the entrance of the temple near Dwaja Stambha and gives darshan to all who are unable or not keen on going inside.
We had hired a Pandit guide to help us navigate and also tell us about the rituals of the temple. He took us around and showed the main shrines of Kasi Biswanath, Satya Narayana, Bimala Devi, and Bhubaneswari. There is a large kitchen where Bhog is prepared and offered to Swami, and then dispersed among devotees as Mahaprasad.
Jagannath Swami is presiding along with Balabhadra, and Subhadra Devi. Huge wooden idols are decorated beautifully with garlands and aarti is performed. The decorations are changed eight times a day because Swami is treated like a normal human being. Those who approach the sanctum sanctorum with faith can definitely feel the energy, positive vibrations which gives goosebumps.
The temple architecture is typical of Odisha and the tower is more than 200 feet. The flags flying atop the tower is changed every day in the evening. Pandits climb the tower barefoot without any equipment support, reach atop, change the flags and come down with flags from previous day.
Only thing that bothered us at the temple was everywhere pandits and other small-time pujaris were forcing us to do some pooja and ask for exorbitant amount of money. We learnt quickly and did only what our hearts felt like. Nonetheless, darshan was divine and we felt blessed.
Later, I spoke to few people, read up about the Jagannath temple, their festivals, and rituals. They have more than 13 festivals in a 12 month calendar year. Rath Yatra of Jagannath swami is the biggest festival. Jagannath swami along with Balabhadra swami and Subhadra Devi rides the chariot and goes to Mausi Ma temple and stays there for nine days. He then returns to his abode on tenth day.
What amazed me about this festival is that more than 25 lakhs of people assemble in the city for this festival. Every year the three chariots are made from scratch by the family who has the authority. Specific trees are identified for building the wooden chariots. But the amazement comes from the fact that the chariots are built with a predetermined number of logs. The chariots are built and then decorated by another family in their own creative way. The Royal family of Puri leads the cleaning up of the roads where the chariots will roll. After the festival, the chariots are dismantled, and logs are disposed off.
Another interesting fact about Jagannath ji is that since HE is treated like a human being, sometimes HE falls sick with cold and fever. At that time, darshan is not available and devotees worship at the Bata Jagannath shrine. HE rests for nine to ten days and then recovers.
Jagannath Swami idol is wooden and is bound to be damaged over time. Every 12 – 19 years the main idols are replaced by new idols. From identifying trees for idol, every step of building new idols are considered to be holy occasions and are celebrated. Once the new idols that are exact replica are completed, they are brought to the temple and placed near the existing idols. At night, ritual of Brahma Parivartan (transfer of soul and power) as dictated in Vedas are performed by Purohits. During this time, the power supply to the city is cut off. People keep vigil with fasting and oil lamps.
Life sized old idols are ceremoniously cremated according to Hindu rituals. Since Jagannath swami is treated as a real person, the old idol is believed to be dead. A ten day mourning is taken up by all just like the death of a person in family. Men tonsure their head and take dip in the river. All these rituals emphasise the spiritual truths behind life.
Furthermore, this temple is unique in many more ways.
We visited the Pattachitra museum, Netaji museum, Kanchi Peetham, Priyadarshini Handlooms, Puri beach.
Vani Viswanathan 