Rathyatra: the Car Festival of Lord Jagannath

Lord Jagannath, being the master of the Universe, comes out of the temple once in a year along with his elder brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra to make him available to everybody irrespective of caste, creed and religion and to bless them all. This pious event is termed Rathyatra.

Although most of the city's process of devotional ritual is based around the worship of Jagannath with the ancient temple being the prime one of them, everybody celebrates this auspicious event according to their devotion and rituals. Like in Baripada the Chariot of Goddess Subhadra is pulled by only women.

Rath Yatra is the largest Hindu Festival which commemorates Lord Jagannath's annual visit to His aunt Gundicha Mata's Temple along with Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra in three mammoth chariots in Puri, in the state of Odisha.

This world famous event takes place on the 2nd day of the bright fortnight of the Hindu month of Ashadha. In this year 2011, this massive festival will be celebrated on 3rd of June.

Ratha Yatra is also known in the names of Rath Yatara, Car Festival, Ghosha Yatra and Gundicha Yatra.

During this magnificent Celebration lakhs of devotees from far and wide the world flock to Puri to witness the journey of the Gods on the Chariots. The 'darshan' of the deities during this period is considered as full of virtues and provides moskshya, the salvation.

'Rathe tu Vamanam drishtwa punarjanmam na vidyate'. It means a glimpse of the Vamana, an incarnation of Lord Jagannath in the physique of a dwarf Brahmin, is sure to ensure liberation to release human souls from the cycle of birth and death. 

Lord Jagannath is believed to be the incarnation of Lord Vishnu and Krishna. At Puri Jagannath Temple, Sri Krishna is worshipped as ‘Jagannath’. Balabhadra is his elder brother who is known as Balaram during the time of incarnation of Krishna in the Dwapara Yuga and Subhadra is their younger sister. The idols of these three deities are worshipped together in the temple.

As per Hindu epics long after completion of the great war of Mahabharata Lord Krishna also wanted to finish his incarnation. However, to check the misuse of his name by his descendants he arranged to wash out all his relatives. Finally once he was sitting inside the dense bushes and one of his devotees in a wrong estimation fired an arrow which pierced to his feet. Later Arjuna came and he was asked to burn the body.

Arjuna burnt it for long 14 days and the ashes were merged in the sea. Also in spite of great effort a dazzling blue stone found in the heart of the Lord was safe. It was also flown to the water. It was swallowed by a fish which was later fished by Vishwabashu, the Sabar king. That is Nilamani which eventually brought to Puri and today also that Gems stone is very much present inside the wooden idol of Lord Jagannath. It means Lord Krishna is absolutely present today in the incarnation of Lord Jagannath.

Taladhwaja, Darpadalana and Nandighosha are the three chariots of Lord Balabhadra, Subhadra and Jagannath respectively. These huge chariots are the replicas of Bada Deula, the main temple. Nandighosha is 45 feet high, with 16 wheels, each of 7 feet diameters and festooned with a cover made of red and yellow clothes. The yellow color is to certify the name Pitambara of Lord Vishnu. Taladhwaja is 44 feet high, with 14 wheels of the same 7 feet diameter and covered with red and blue clothes. Darpadalana, which means crusher of pride, is 43 feet high with 12 wheels of the same 7 feet diameter and roofed with red and black clothes to represent its association with Shakti, the Mother Goddess. The statues of the parrots on the pinnacle of Nandighosha also bear immense spiritual value.

Each of the chariots is attached with four horses. White ones for Balarama, Black ones for Jagannatha and red ones for Subhadra. Each chariot has a charioteer called Sarathi. The three charioteers of Nandighosha, Taladhwaja and Darpadalana are Matali, Daruka and Arjuna respectively.

The splendidly decorated chariots are pulled with the help of ropes by human devotees along the grand road of Puri, called Badadanda to reach the Lords' aunt's house, Gundicha temple 2 kms away from Shree Mandir.

This is the only day when devotees who are not allowed in the temple premises on the normal days, such as non-Hindus and foreigners, can also get the glance of their esteemed deities.

Gajapati, the King of Puri, who is also assumed as the lively facsimile of the Lord (chalanti Vishnu), performs the pious work of sweeping the chariots with golden broomstick and fragrant virtuous water to offer his reverence to Lord Jagannath which is also a practice before pulling of the chariots.

An atmosphere of utmost devotional happening prevails on this day. Besides the main chariots, some devotees are also seen on the streets carrying minuscule versions of the chariots with little idols installed on them. Deva dasis (the Lord's servants) love to perform dances to offer their commitment during Rathyatra.

Saints and devotees in vibrant orange outfits also dance to the tune of Sankirtana chanting the names of the Gods during this pious festival. The huge processions accompanying the chariots play devotional songs with drums, bells, tambourines, trumpets etc. and create a spiritual environment.

Among the major devotees of Lord Jagannath the legend of Salabega is the famous one. He was a Muslim. However, he got cured by the blessings of Lord Jagannath. Hence in this way turned into a hard core devotee of the Lord. The best numbers in the ancient Jagannath’s devotional songs has been written by Salabega.

There is also a tale that once in a year during Rathyatra Salabega tried to come to have darshan of his acclaimed Lord Jagannath but could not reach on time as during that time communication was very poor and one need to come by walking. Now, to the astonishment of everybody, the Chariots did not move in spite of quite a lot of hard work. Finally when Salabega arrived, witnessed the God and prayed the chariots only moved. Jagannath is so kind towards his devotees in the midst of this Kali Yuga also.

Jagannathah swami nayana-patha-gami bhavatu me.

IAS Gagan Bihari Swain Dies under Mysterious Circumstance

Late IAS Gagan Bihari Swain

Gagan Bihari Swain (58), an IAS officer from Balangir died in a train mishap at Bhubaneswar railway station on 24^th June 2013. He was the additional secretary to the State Planning and Coordination department at the time of his demise.

Swain died under mysterious circumstances. As per the reports he jumped before a moving train (Howrah-Puri Passenger) on platform No. 3 at the city railway station in full view of hundreds of passengers at around 4.30 P.M. on 24^th June 2013. After the mishap GRP rushed to the accident spot and later identified the deceased as Gagan Bihari Swain.

Swain’s mutilated body was recovered from the tracks and was sent to the Capital Hospital mortuary. The reason for the suicide was yet to be ascertained. So far it has not been clear whether it is a case of suicide or not.

According to sources, Swain’s younger son’s marriage was scheduled to be held on June 30 merely within one week. He was living along with his family in Pokhariput on the outskirt of Bhubaneswar. His elder son lives in the US.

Earlier, Swain was the district collector of Subarnapur. Few days back only he was transferred to Cuttack as an MD to the Orissa Small Industries Corporation Ltd. However, he had not taken charge, saying he was not well and had written a letter to the Government in this context. He was the Additional Secretary Of State Planning & Co-Ordination Dept. after promoted from Director Of Textiles & Handloom. Besides being an able administrator he was also a poet, writer and propagator of Koshli language.

A lot of people especially from Balangir, Sonepur and Bhubaneswar including senior journalist Sudeep Guru, journalist Sanjay Mishra and young business leader Bijan Nayak have expressed their sincere condolence and grief with the early demise of this great soul.

Modi to Bring back Uttarakhand Flood Victims

Senior BJP leader cum Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has intimated through his official website that he is leaving for Uttarakhand on Friday 21^st June 2013 to rescue and bring back the Gujarati flood victims. He also shared that the Gujarat Government has organized special aircrafts to get back people who were stranded in Uttarakhand in the wake of the devastating flood.

Modi tweeted, “Will be leaving for Uttarakhand today.” About the special flights he wrote, “Gujarat Government is organizing special flights from Dehradun to Ahmadabad to bring back those affected by floods, giving preference to women & children.”

The posting says that a 17-seater airplane sponsored by Gujarat government will bring back Gujarati families from Dehradun to Ahmadabad without any charge on Friday 4:30 evening. If necessary, the plane will also take a second flight.

As per the reports, another 135-seater plane will also fly on Saturday 7:30 morning to bring back Gujarati families from Dehradoon to Ahmadabad. If necessary, such flights will be continued further.

Earlier, Shri Modi had announced an assistance of Rs. 2 crore from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for the flood victims. He had also spoken to the Uttarakhand Chief Minister Shri Vijay Bahuguna and offered all possible support to cope with this disaster. In addition, a team of five senior officials from Gujarat is already in Uttarakhand to coordinate relief work there.

In the meanwhile it has also been reported that the rescue teams in Uttarakhand are troubled by calls from influential people including politicians, bureaucrats and other government officials to rescue their kin first even though their kin were not caught in an emergency situation.

An officer overseeing rescue work in Uttarakhand said "We are receiving messages that such and such person is staying in a particular room in a certain hotel at Badrinath or Yamunotri and needs to rescued urgently. If you are in a hotel room, getting food and sleep, why do you need to be rescued urgently? We can understand the panic among family members caught in such situations, but there are people dying in Kedarnath valley with no food, water or shelter. They are our priority," reported ‘Times of India’.

Proposed Medical College in Balangir gets fresh nod from Centre

A ray of hope has been seen in the matter of the proposed medical college and hospital at Balangir. As per the reports, the centre has lately intervened in to the issue and given fresh nod to complete this long-awaited project along with 3 other medical colleges.

Popular discussion on the proposed medical College in Balangir is that the political parties and bodies actually don’t want the project, rather they just crave to gain political mileage out of the issue, telling big about it.

The said project started in 1999 and the foundation stone was laid at the spot in Gandhrel on November 27, 1999 by then Union minister Sharad Yadav when Giridhar Gamang was the Chief Minister and Narasingh Mishra was the chairman of the WODC.

After the plinth, pillars were erected there meant for the administrative building but  the project was abruptly stopped in 2004.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik again laid the foundation stone for the project in 2004 but no progress has been seen so far.

In the mean while the state government has reportedly tried to engage a private party to take up the project and signed MoUs with at least four numbers of companies/Trusts one after another, but in vain.

On the other hand, the place has turned in to a safe heave for petty crimes. A number of criminal activities have been reported in that uncompleted edifice in these years.

However, recently Centre has reportedly asked the State Government to identify land at four places in the State in Balangir, Baripada, Balasore and Koraput for setting up of medical colleges and hospitals there. It is further reported that while the State Government’s contribution will be 25 per cent of the required fund, the Centre will provide 75 per cent of the funds to complete the project.

For Balangir, the State Government has reportedly identified the same land where the medical college and hospital was started by the WODC.  However, time will say whether the development is just part of the election assurances, or is a reality.

Daitari Panda debuts in Odia Film ‘Lal Pan Bibi’

Daitari Panda

Daitari Panda, which is perhaps the most popular name of Jollywood, the Jatra world of Odisha, will be seen on the big screen in upcoming Odia movie ‘Lal Pan Bibi’. But this veteran Jatra actor deserves appreciation since he feels now as a student on the set because he is new to pose before camera.

Daitari will play the main antagonist of the film. As per reports he had earlier got offer from films but rejected the same since those were not at par with his genre of acting talent. But for ‘Lal Pan Bibi’, he was working along with director of the film Abhisek Behura for last two years and the script has been developed to suit Panda. This will be the debut project of Panda.

Panda knows well the difference between acting style in a Jatra stage and acting for a film. In Jatra, the actor is required to do overacting because there are no close-up shots or camera tricks to exhibit the audience what only exactly the director wants them to see. Thus Panda is trying to adopt the new style and so thinks him as a learner on the set.

‘Lal Pan Bibi’ is not a remake of the Prashanta Nanda directed Mahasweta Ray starrer film of the same name released in 1985. It is a completely different movie but director Behura describes the film to be a tribute to Prashanta Bhaina, the legendary director/ actor of Odia films. Mahurat of ‘Lal Pan Bibi’ was held on 14 February 2013.