Saturday, September 27, 2014

Jagannath Puri Yatra



Balbhadra, Subhadra and Krishna

v Why to visit Jagannath Puri  - Main Attractions

Jagannath Puri in Orissa is known for two main reasons. One, it is one of the four “Dhams” of Hindu religion. Second, It has lovely beaches facing the Bay of Bengal. Other attractions are at some distance from Puri. These are the Sun Temple of Konark, Chilka Lake, and the holy city of Bhubaneswar. Below is a description of these places.

Main Entrance of Sri Jagannath Temple, Puri, Orissa
सिंह द्वार 

v Description of places of interest

Religious Places

1.       Jagannath Puri Dham – Aadi Shankaracharya was not only a great saint and scholor but also a person who united different sects of Sanatan Hindu religion. One of the works for this unification was the establishment of four Dhams in four directions of the Indian mainland. Dhams are places and associated temples of God Vishnu or Shiva. Paying visits and worshiping there is thought to be most important from the religious point of view for every Sanatan Hindu. It is called the Char_dham_Yatra (Different from Char_dham_Yatra of Uttarakhand). This Yatra i.e. Journey helps a person to see different places in India and interact with local people thus making a bond among them. Aadi Shankaracharya also made a rule that the main priests of these Dhams wouldn’t be local Brahmins but from a distant place. The four Dhams in four corners of India are:-
                                I.           North -Badrinath Dham in Uttarakhand –Main deity God Vishnu
                              II.           East -Jagannath Dham in Puri, Orissa  -Main deity God Krishna with brother Balrama (Dau ji)       and sister Subhadra
                            III.         West -Dwarka Dham in Dwarka,  Gujarat – Main deity God Krishna as King of Dwarka also called Sri Dwarkadhish                                    IV.          South - Rameshwaram Dham in Tamilnadu – Main deity God Shiva worshiped by Sri Ram.

सिंह द्वार एवं अरुण स्तम्भ (गरुड़ स्तम्भ ) जगन्नाथ पुरी ,ओडिसा
Main Entrance , Jagannath Puri, Odissa


Out of these first three are associated with God Vishnu and the last with God Shiva. A priest of Kedarnath, Uttarakhand had told me that since Shankaracharya was working on the unification of different sects of Sanatan Hindu religion, the main of which were Shaivas (followers of God Shiva) and Vaishnavas (followers of God Vishnu) he proposed to make two Shiva Dhams and two Vishnu Dhams. So in Uttarakhand, instead of Badrinath Dham, Kedarnath was the proposed Dham which is an equally important Shiva temple. But it could not be finalized and it so happened that ultimately Badrinath was made a Dham.
In the Jagannath puri temple, big statues of Krishna, his elder brother Balram, and sister Subhadra are placed over a platform that is about five feet high. The statues are made of wood and they are remade every eight, twelve, or nineteen years (whichever year has two months of Aashadh in the Hindu calendar). You will find these statues not as a normal one but somewhat underdeveloped. The story behind these types of statues is in two parts. The first part is in Dwaper Yug at Dwarka. Mother Rohini is describing the love of Gopis and their Krishna bhakti to the queens of Krishna. In the meantime, sister Subhadra comes there and tries to hear these stories. But mother Rohini does not allow her and tells her to guard at the gate. After a few moments, both brothers arrive there. Subhadra stops them at the gate. Balram standing to the right of Subhadra and Krishna to the Left, all three heard the stories being told by mother Rohini. They became so much emotional that their bodies began to melt. At that instant Narad muni came there and requested to remain in this appearance in idols for their worshiping. Krishna accepted his request and said, “I will remain in this appearance in the idols made of wood but in Kaliyug”. So the second part of the story starts in Kaliyug at present-day puri. The king of Malav named Indradyumn came here to have a ‘Darshan’ of God Nilmadhav at Nilachal. He could not find it as it was taken away by the Gods. At that time a voice from the sky (Aakashwani) said that God Jagannath will be pleased to appear in wooden form for you. So the king stayed there for some days. One fine day the king saw a big log of wood floating in the sea. He ordered to bring that log out of water and thought to make idols of God Vishnu from it. At that moment engineer of Gods Vishwakarma appeared as an old man and agreed to make idols out of this log with a condition that nobody opens his workshop until his permission. Many days passed but he did not come out. So one day the queen thought that he must have died out of hunger and she opened the door of the workshop. The old man had disappeared and there were three incomplete idols of God Jagannath, Subhadra and balram. The queen became sad. But again the voice from the sky said  “do not be upset, I wish to remain in this form only. Get the idols painted and put them in the temples with rituals”. That instruction was followed. Hence we see that form of idols.The construction of present day temple was started in fourth decade of twelfth century by king Anant Barman Chodgangdev (चोड़गंगदेव) and completed by his grandson (Nati) king Anang Bhimdev. The beautiful temple is about 230 feet high from the outer road level. On the outer wall of the whole temple artistic idols have been carved. Out of the campus there is a tall pillar called Arun-stambh in front of the eastern gate i.e. Singh-Dwar. Inside the campus there are many temples of different Gods. The temple of Goddess Vimla devi is important one because the “Prasad” of God Jagannath is offered to Goddess Vimla devi then only it becomes “Mahaprasad”. The main ingradient of the Prasad is rice and its preparations. Prasad is the most important thing here and there is a special kitchen inside the campus for cooking the Prasad. It is prepared in large quantity. The Vimladevi temple is also a “Shaktipeeth” . “Shaktipeeth” is important for the followers of Goddess of power i.e. "Shakti”. There are 51 “Shaktipeeths”. Each is at the place where some part of the body of Goddess Sati had fallen. It is believed that naval (Nabhi नाभि ) of Sati had fallen here. In the campus is a banyan tree called “Kalpvriksh”(कल्पवृक्ष ). Devotees do “parikrama” of it. Temples of “SiddhGanesh”, “Sarvmangla devi”, “Laxmi”, “Saraswati”, Sun god and “Hanuman” are important. Northern gate of the temple is called “Baikunth Dwar”. Near it is “Baikuntheshwar Mahadev” temple. The garden beside it is used to put old wooden idols after the new ones are made (Navakalewar).
The ‘Darshan’ of three idols in the main temple has to be availed at the time slot fixed by management. ‘Darshans’ are available at different distances. In some time slots you can have ‘darshan’ inside ‘Garbh-gruh’ (Sanctum sanctorum) for which token has to be purchased. If you are visiting first time here it is better to take services of a local priest. Priests are available inside and outside of the campus. They may insist on offering ‘prasad-bhog’ of different amount according to temple’s list. If you do not have much time and want to return back after the morning ‘puja darshan’ they will give you such type of ‘prasad’ that lasts many days, even when you reach home. But the main ‘prasad’ is the ‘bhog’ made of boiled rice and its other preparations. This is available only in the afternoon. Even some priests will make it available to you in the hotel room where you would stay.      
One of the main attractions of the temple is the daily flag hoisting ceremony. It is done in the evening. The inside campus becomes full of devotees to witness this action. A person climbs with a new flag up to the top of the temple without any help and takes out the old flag. Then he furls the new flag. At this moment all devotees who were patiently watching the person on the top start clapping in jubilation. This is a spectacular moment. The old flag pieces are distributed among the devotees for some donations.
2.   Gundicha Temple – About two km from the main temple is this ‘Gundicha temple’. During the ‘Rath yatra’ festival the idols of Krishna, Subhadra and Balbhadra travel up to this temple and remain there. Near this temple the first idols of  Krishna, Subhadra and Balbhadra were made by Vishwakarma.
3.     Loknath Mahadev Temple - About two km from the main temple is this Loknath Mahadev temple. The ‘Shivling’ here is under water because water continuously oozes out from it. It is only on the festival of ‘Shivratri’ that all the water is taken out for worship and ‘Shivling’ can be seen.
v  Other Religious Places
4.     Bedi-hanuman temple – Half a km from Puri railway station is this temple of ‘Bedi Hanuman’. Name is due to the ‘Bedi’ put on the feet of Hanuman by God Jagannath.
5.      Sonar Gaurang – It is near to the Bedi-hanuman temple. Here is the golden idol of ‘Sri Gaurang Mahaprabhu’.6.       Chakranarayan and Chakrathirth – In front of the ‘Bedi-hanuman temple’ is an old temple of ‘Chakranarayan’. Behind this temple near the sea shore is ‘Chakra-tirth’. The log of wood from which ‘Vishwakarma’ had made the first idol was taken out of sea at this very place.
7.       Emar Math – Related to Sri Ramanujacharya.8.       Gambhira Math – Related to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.9.       Kabir Math – Related to Kabirdas ji.
10.   Gowardhan Peeth (Shankaracharya Math) – Related to Adi Shankaracharya.Apart from these there are many places of religious importance in Puri.
v  Main Festivals


1. Rath Yatra – This festival is world known and it has given Puri a recognition. Every year on 'Aashadh shukla dwitiya' (according to Hindu calender - generally in June-July) this festival starts. Just in front of the main gate three big 'Raths' (chariots) are made every year and each of the three idols are placed on it. These 'raths' are pulled by devotees. By the evening it reaches Gundicha Temple. Next day these idols are placed at their predetermined places in Gundicha Temple. They remain there for seven days. On 'Aashadh shukla dashami' (according to Hindu calender) they return back to the main temple. On these nine days main temple 'darshan' is closed. The 'Darshan' of Gods at Gundicha Temple in these days is called "Aadap-darshan". It may be noted that the idols in yatra are not the same that are placed in the main temple. Where ever idol-yatras are taken out, the idols for yatra is different.
2. Chandan Yatra - Each year on 'Baishakh shukla tritiya' to 'jyeshtha krishna ashtami' (according to Hindu calender) idols of Madanmohan,Ram-Krishna, Laxmi-Saraswati and Panchmahadev are taken to 'Chandan Talab' for giving them a bath and boating.
3. Rukmani haran leela- on 'jyeshtha shukla ekadashi' (according to Hindu calender)
4. Snan yatra - on 'Jyeshtha Purnima' (according to Hindu calender) idols of Subhadra and Balram are taken to 'Snan mandap' for bathing purpose. 
5. Jhulan yatra- on ''Shravan shukla dashami' (according to Hindu calender)
6. Janmashtami, Kaliya Daman and Parshwa pariwartan - in the month of 'Bhado''. Many more festivals related to Krishna and Vishnu in other months are celebrated here. 

Places of Tourist Attraction

           The main tourist attractions of Puri are the lovely sea beaches here. Many hotels and resorts are available here that are full of tourists all around the year. So many 'Dharamshala' are here that facilitate accommodation to people coming here in large groups or for a comparatively long stay. In fact, every class of people can get accommodation here. Advance booking of hotels is necessary to avoid any difficulty in hotel search. Nowadays online booking facility is available on many internet sites like 'Makemytrip', 'Cleartrip' and many others. You can also have a choice of sea-facing rooms. The main sea beach is along Marine Drive Road. Yes! Like Mumbai here too is a marine drive. Along the beach is a road called Marine Drive road and the side of the road is full of hotels of different categories. These sea-facing hotels are a bit costlier than the same levels of hotels behind these hotels. 

Puri beach - on the left Bay of Bengal and on the right sea facing
hotels at marine drive, Puri, Odissa

            The sea beach in front of Marine Drive Road presents a look of 'Mela'. Full of people, taking a bath in the clear sea, walking along the shore, playing with sand or colorful balls, riding a horse or camel, or just sitting and enjoying the lovely view. Many 'feriwalas' roam asking you for eatables or selling other things. Photographers will continuously ask you to have a memorable photo. Same for the pearl sellers. Pearl sellers not only sell the so-called pearls but they claim to have many precious stones even diamonds. Bargaining is their main characteristic. Better not to buy anything claimed valuable by them because hardly these are original. 

Beautiful Beach at Puri, Orissa

             If you get hungry and thirsty go the road that goes behind the lines of hotels on the center of Marine drive road. Enter this road and you get tea, coffee, snacks and bottles of water. Some of the snacks are local variety. A few shops sell 'sari, chader and gamchhas'.             Along the Marine drive road you can get a cab or auto for local transport or site seeing. Outside Puri places of religious or tourist attractions are Chilka lake, City of Bhubaneswar (Famous for Lingaraja Temple), and the Sun-Temple of Konark.

राम चंडी मंदिर
On the way to Konark from Puri, Odissa.
It is said that God Ram had worshiped 
Chandika Devi here  During his 
stay at forest (वनवास)

             Puri is well connected to other parts of the country by roads and railways. By flight, you can reach Bhubaneswar which is about sixty km from Puri.  

          In fact, you get the enjoyment of both worlds in Puri -  spiritualistic and materialistic.

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