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RATHA JATRA
Ratha Jatra, the Festival of
Chariots of Lord Jagannatha is celebrated every year at Puri,
the temple town in Orissa, on the east coast of
India.
The presiding deities of the main temple, Sri
Mandira, Lord Jagannatha, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess
Subhadra, with the celestial wheel Sudarshana are taken out
from the temple precincts in an elaborate ritual procession to
their respective chariots.
The huge, colourfully
decorated chariots, are drawn by hundreds of thousands of
devotees on the bada danda, the grand avenue to the Gundicha
temple, some two miles away to the North. After a stay for
seven days, the deities return to their abode in Srimandira.
Ratha Jatra is perhaps the grandest festival on earth.
Everything is on a scale befitting the great Lord. Full of
spectacle, drama and colour, the festival is a typical Indian
fair of huge proportions. It is also the living embodiment of
the synthesis of the tribal, the folk, and the autochthonous
with the classical, the elaborately formal and the
sophisticated elements of the socio-cultural-religious ethos
of the Indian civilization.
Sanctity and significance
of Ratha Jatra:
The festival is also known as Gundicha
Jatra, Ghosa Jatra, Navadina Jatra, Dasavatara Jatra and by a
variety of other names. For the devoted and believers, it is
considered a most auspicious occasion. Rathe tu vamanam
drishtwa punarjanmam na vidyate. A glimpse of the Vamana, the
dwarf form, an incarnation of Lord Jagannatha, is sure to
ensure emancipation, release from the cycle of birth and
death.
Jatra is an essential part of the ritual of the
Hindu system of worship. Jatra literally means travel or
journey. Normally, it is the representative deities of temples
more popularly known as Utsava Murti in south and Chalanti
Pratima or Bije Pratima in Orissa, partake in these journeys.
It is rarely that the presiding deities come out of
the sanctum for such ritual journeys. The Jatra for the Ritual
Journey take two forms – one involving the short
circumbulationm around the temple and other involving a longer
journey from the temple to some other destination.
The
Jatra is considered as an important part of festivities and
ceremonies of each temple and is considered as a special and
sacred occasion.
Rath Jatra being unique among all
Jatras is the grandest festival of the supreme divinity who
has manifested himself in the Kali Yuga to emancipate humanity
and to relieve them from their sufferings.
Lord
Jagannatha is identified fully with Vishnu and Krishna. In his
original manifestation as Nilamadhaba, he was worshipped in a
sacred Nyagrodha Briksha or banyan tree. The branches of the
tree had spread for several miles and any one entering this
area was instantly emancipated and was relieved of the
travails of the birth and re-birth. In fact, the influence of
Yama, the God of Death, is supposed to have been curtailed in
the sacred city of Puri – Srikshetra on account of the
presence of Lord Jagannatha and therefore it is also called
the Yamanika Tirtha.
A glimpse of Lord Jagannatha on
the chariot is considered to be very auspicious and saints,
poets and scriptures have repeatedly glorified the sanctity of
this special festival.
The sanctity of the festival is
such that even a touch of the chariot or even the ropes with
which these are pulled is considered enough to confer the
results of several pious deeds or penance for ages. In fact,
there is a famous Oriya song which says that on this occasion,
the chariot, the wheels, the grand avenue all become one with
Lord Jagannatha himself.
The concept of the chariot
has been explained in the Kathopanishada in the following
words.
Atmanam rathinam viddhi sareeram rathamevatu
Buddhim tu saarathim viddhi marah pragrahameva cha.
The
body is the Chariot and the soul is the deity installed in the
chariot. The wisdom acts as the charioteer to control the mind
and thoughts.
The Skanda Purana glorifies the sanctity
of the Rath Jatra in the following words.
Gundicha
mandapam namam yatrahamajanam pura Ashwamedha sahasrasya
mahabedi tadadvabat.
Those who are fortunate to see the
deities of the Srimandira in the Gundicha Temple, the final
destination of the procession of the chariots, derive the
benefits of a thousand horse sacrifices, an immensely pious
deed. Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja in his famous Vaidehisa
Vilasa mentions that the Lord comes out from his sanctum for
participating in the Gundicha Jatra, another name of the
Festival of Chariots, only for redeeming the fallen, the
patita jana who get the opportunity to behold their dearest
good at close quarters on this occasion. Similarly, saint poet
Salabega waxes eloquent in praise of his dearest dark darling
and says that the Lord swaying and moving like a wild elephant
arrives at the Grand Avenue and rides his chariot and destroys
in a flash all the sins of his devotees, even if these may be
grave or unpardonable.
The Chariots:
The three
chariots of Balabhadra, Subhadra and Jagannatha are newly
constructed every year with wood of specified trees like
phassi, dhausa, etc. customarily brought from the ex-princely
state of Dasapalla, by a specialist team of carpenters who
have hereditary rights and privilege 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.
The three chariots, newly constructed every year and
decorated as per the unique scheme prescribed and followed for
centuries stand on the Bada Danda, the Grand Avenue. Covered
with a bright canopies made of stripes of red cloth combined
with those of black, yellow and blue colours, the huge
chariots are lined across the wide avenue right in front of
the majestic temple close to its eastern entrance, also known
as the Sinhadwara or the Lion Gate.
Lord
Jagannatha Chariot is called Nandighosa. It is forty-five
feet high and forty-five feet square at the wheel level. It
has sixteen wheels, each of seven feet diameter, and is decked
with a cover made of red and yellow cloth. Lord Jagannatha is
identified with Krishna who is also known as Pitambara, the
one attired in golden yellow robes and hence the
distinguishing yellow stripes on the canopy of this chariot.
The Chariot of Lord Balabhadra, called the Taladhwaja,
literally one a with the Palm Tree on its flag, has fourteen
wheels, each of seven feet diameter and is covered with red
and blue cloth. Its height is forty-four feet.
The
Chariot of Subhadra, known as Darpadalana, literally trampler
of pride, is forty-three feet high with twelve wheels, each of
seven feet diameter. This Chariot is decked with a covering of
red and black cloth, black being traditionally associated with
Shakti and the Mother goddess.
Around each of the
chariots are nine Parsva devatas, painted wooden images
rep[resenting different deities on the chariots’ sides. Each
of the chariots is attached with four horses. These are of
different colours – white ones for Balabhadra, dark
ones for Jagannatha and red ones for Subhadra. Each chariot
has a charioteer called Sarathi. The three charioteers
attached to the chariots of Jagannatha, Balabhadra and
Subhadra respectively are Matali, Daruka and Arjuna.
Chandan Jatra, the Sandalwood Paste Festival:
The construction of the chariots starts on Akshaya
Trutiya, the third day of the bright fortnight of Vaisakha,
with ritual fire worship. This takes place in front of the
palace of the King of Puri and opposite the main office of the
Puri temple.
On this day, the new agricultural season
starts and farmers start ploughing their fields. This day also
marks the beginning of the summer festival of the deities,
also known as the sandalwood festival or Chandan Jatra, which
lasts for three weeks.
In this festival, the
representative images of the presiding deities are taken out
in colourful processions and given a ceremonial boat ride in
the Narendra tank everyday.
In an interesting
demonstration of the assimilative character of the Jagannatha
cult, Madanmohana and Rama Krishna, representing Jagannatha
& Balabhadra partake in the festival with the
representatives images of the presiding deities of five main
Shiva temples of Puri.
These are curiously known as
Pancha Pandava, the five brothers of the Mahabharata story.
Later the deities have a ritual bath in a small temple in the
middle of the tank, in stone tubs filled with water,
sandalwood paste, scents and flowers.
This sandalwood
festival culminates in the Snana Jatra, the Bathing Festival
on the full moon day of the month of Jestha. On this day, the
presiding deities descend from their seats on an elevated
platform in the sanctum sanctorum, the bejewelled throne. They
are bathed in 108 pots of water brought from the suna kua, the
golden well and assume the elephant form on the special
bathing platform, close to the Eastern boundary wall of the
temple.
From that day the deities remain in symbolic
and ritual convalescence for about two weeks. They are barred
from view of the ordinary devotees. Only three special patta
chitras, traditional Orissan paintings of natural colours on
cloth stiffened with starch, known as Anasara Pattis, are
strung on a bamboo screen hiding the deities from public view,
can be seen by the public. During this period, the deities are
given only roots, leaves, berries and fruits to cure them from
their indisposition.
This ritual is a reminder of the
strong tribal elements in the genesis and evolution of the
Jagannatha cult. The progeny of Lalita, daughter of the
original tribal worshipper Biswabasu, chieftain of hunters,
and the Brahmin priest Vidyapati, are known as daitapatis or
daitas. They have almost exclusive privilege of serving the
Lord during the convalescence and through the entire period of
Ratha Jatra or the Festival of Chariots.
Nava Jaubana
ând the Renewal of Youth:
The day immediately
preceding the ceremonial stepping out of the temple precincts
by the deities marks the formal ending of the period of
sickness. The deities are given a fresh coat of paint and
finally, as per the traditions for preparing of divine icons,
the eyes are painted in a ritual called netrostava.
The deities are now fully recovered, and their
reappearance for public viewing is known as the Nava Jaubana
Darshana, a celebration of the renewal of youth. Hundreds of
thousands of devotees deprived of the sight of their dearest
dark darling throng the temple to participate in this
festival, which typically begins in the afternoon and lasts
late into the night.
The Festival and the Journey:
At last the appointed day for the great Festival of
chariots arrives. It is Asadha Shukla Dwitiya, the second day
in the bright fortnight of the first monsoon month of the
Indian seasonal calendar. It is typically in late June in
normal years but every few years, after adjustment of the
solar and lunar calendars, with a double Baisakha, this occurs
in July.
The presiding deities of the temple Lord
Jagannatha, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra, in a unique
reversal of roles of the seeker and the sought, set out from
within the sanctum of the temple to mingle with millions of
their devotees.
Pahandi, stepping out of the temple
precincts:
The journey of the deities to the world
outside, starts with an elaborate royal ritual called Pahandi
- literally, going forward in a step by step movement to the
accompaniment of several devotees beating the ghanta, kahali
and telingi baja.
The ghanta is a type of a gong,
shaped like a flattish hollow bowl, and is made of kamsa, bell
metal, an alloy of brass and zinc. A small baton like stick
made of a hard but flexible piece of cane, is used to beat the
simple musical instrument. The ghanta is made by traditional
artisan groups – kansaris, who live in villages not far
from Puri.
Kahali is a type of trumpet while the
telingi baja is a simple drum, a percussion instrument played
on both sides with canes.
The famous saint poet
Salabega has immortalised the feelings of the devotees as they
wait every year for fulfilment of their desire to see their
dear dark darling, Kalia Dhana seated on his resplendent
Chariot – Nandi Ghosa. Salabega had gone on pilgrimage
and had fallen sick.
He couldn’t return in time to
see his darling Lord on the chariots and cried out in anguish
from 750 miles away. He prayed to the Lord to tarry a while on
the bada danda, the Grand Avenue till he could reach back to
see the Lord. The compassionate Lord, stayed on his chariot
which could not be moved an inch forward till Salabega reached
Puri and joined the devotees in prayer.
As Lord
Jagannatha and Lord Balabhadra are quite heavy, an wooden
cross is fixed to their backs and thick silken ropes are tied
round their heads and waists for their ceremonial procession -
a ritual known as Senapata lagi.
The deities during
the anasara period are actually placed in the audience hall
– Jagamohana and not in the sanctum – or deul on
the elevated platform, their normal seat. From there the
deities are moved first on to the sata pahacha or seven steps,
outside the northern door of the natamandapa or the dancing
hall. During the outward movement from the temple to the
chariots, the procession of the deities is in a row and is
known as dhadi pahandi or a group movement. All the deities
move simultaneously. At first Sudarshana, the celestial wheel
of Krishna-Vishnu, is brought out and placed in the chariot of
Subhadra followed by Balabhadra, Subhadra and finally
Jagannatha.
The blowing of kahali, the clang of the
ghanta, and the beating of the telingi baja in a unique
rhythmic movement slowly rising to a crescendo herald the
beginning of their movement.
The two brothers,
Balabhadra and Jagannatha are decorated with large, elaborate
floral decorations called tahia. These are like huge crowns or
tiara but are fixed at the back of their heads. These are made
of a variety of white, orange and lotus flowers, leaves and
pieces of cork fixed to a semi – circular heart shaped
bamboo frame.
The two brothers decorated with the
tahias are carried forward in a slow, swaying movement, giving
the illusion of a huge elephant gracefully and gently stepping
out. The privilege of providing these tahias is with the
Raghavadasa matha- a monastery associated with the temple.
Hundreds and thousands of devotees eagerly await a glimpse of
the deities.
As the deities step out of the main
entrance of the temple, the Sinhadwara – Lion’s Gate,
the teeming devotees, bhaktas go wild with ecstasy, chanting
the name of the Lord in a loud chorus. The chant Haribol
– literally means to utter the name of Hari, the Lord.
First comes Sudarshana who takes its place on the
chariot of Subhadra. He is followed by Lord Balabhadra. Much
smaller, Subhadra, the yellow-golden coloured younger sister
of Jagannatha and Balabhadra, follows soon after. Short and
slim, in contrast to her two brothers and much lighter, the
lady is carried on the shoulders in a supine state.
Her movement is much faster and the daitas carrying
her almost rush through the process in a running movement. At
last comes Lord Jagannatha, darling of the devotees, in a
regal procession. Dancers perform traditional Odissi dance to
the accompaniment of mardala and mridanga, traditional Orissan
percussion instruments, as the procession moves forward.
Devotees also perform sankirtan, ritual group chanting of the
names of Lords with rhythmic jumping movements.
Chhera
Pahanra –Emperor as Sweeper of the Chariots:
The
second phase of the festival is an equally colourful and
elaborate ritual is known as Chhera Pahanra. The Raja, King of
Puri, Gajapati Divya Singha Deva is informed of the deities
having taken their places on the chariots through a messenger
specially deputed by the temple officials.
The young,
handsome King, clad in spotless white, carried in a silver
plated palanquin leaves his palace and comes in a small
procession on the grand avenue led by a caparisoned elephant.
He climbs the chariots one by one. He first offers his prayers
to the deity seated on the chariot. He then cleans the
platforms with a golden broom, sprinkling flowers and fragrant
water on the surface of the chariot.
The ritual goes
back several hundred years and is a symbol of the subjugation
of the temporal to the spiritual.
The emperors of
Orissa, beginning with the valiant Anantvarman Chodagangadeva
in the 12th century, had declared themselves to be the rauta,
servant of Lord Jagannatha and ruled the land as His
representative. The ritual is also a public demonstration of
the unique philosophy of integration and unity symbolised by
Lord Jagannatha. There is no distinction of caste, creed or
any other barrier during the entire festivities. After
cleansing of the chariots by the Raja and his departure to the
palace, the wooden horses, brown, black and white, are fixed
to the three chariots. Thick ropes made of coconut fibre and
250 feet long are tied to the individual chariots.
The
pulling of Chariots:
The final ritual in the
celebration is the pulling of the chariots. The chariot of
Lord Balabhadra is pulled first followed by that of godess
Subhadra. At last the grand moment and the climax of the
day’s celebration is reached when the chariot of Lord
Jagannatha, Nandighosha starts its spectacular journey to the
Gundicha temple.
Thousands of devotees who patiently
wait the whole day for this blessed moment are ecstatic with
joy and pull the chariots with a sense of fulfilment.
In ancient times, the Ratha Yatra of Puri employed six
chariots as compared to the three at present times. A river
once flowed between the Gundicha House and the Jagannatha
temple. Three chariots stayed in readiness on the other side
of the river to receive the deities from the three chariots
that transported them from the main temple.
Bahuda,
the Return Festival:
There, in their Garden House,
adapa mandapa, also known as their place of birth, the deities
stay for seven days. On the ninth day of the festival, Bahuda
Jatra, the grand return journey takes place. On the way back
they stop for a short while and partake of poda pitha, a type
of cake made of rice, lentils, jaggery and coconut, offered by
their aunt, mausima. On reaching back the main temple, the
deities, on their chariots, don the golden attire or the suna
besa, with hands, arms and crown made of solid gold.
They are also offered sweet drinks, adhara pana, on
huge cylindrical earthern pots reaching up to their lips. They
are taken down from the chariots in a ritual descent to enter
the temple. The temple gate is however shut upon Lord
Jagannatha by his celestial consort Laxmi. Her anger, jealousy
and frustration is articulated by her companions, represented
by a group of servitors from inside. Another group
representing Lord Jagannatha respond with entreaties and
endearments. After re-enacting this drama of daily domestic
tiffs of mere mortals, the celestial couple finally make up,
and the temple door is opened and the deities return to their
bejewelled throne, the ratna sinhasana.
© Subas Pani.
The author, a scholar researching on Sri Jagannatha, Sri
Jayadeva
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