The great Rath Yatra
festival of the Puri Jagannath Temple is celebrated in June or July, in the
Indian month Ashadha.
The three deities
Balarama, Krishna, and Subhadra are put on a specially-made carriage drawn by
the puja pandas, and is taken to a nearby lake for a ritual bath; this
naturally attracts a very large number of pilgrims who pull the image to the
nearby sacred lake on a specially constructed chariot (the word juggernaut
originates from this procession). There was a myth that ardent worshipers flung
themselves under its wheels, believing that to die in this fashion ensured
instant entry into heaven; but in fact such deaths were usually accidental. If
such an accident occurred, the procession was stopped, and a ritual
purification was carried out. Once again we are confronted with the duality of
Hindu worship: extreme spirituality combined with a highly physical approach.
On the one hand, we have pilgrims who retrace the steps of the great teachers
and holy men, engaged in meditation and spiritual exercises; on the other, we
have the uncontrolled physical ecstasy of the enthusiast.
Puri is a place where the
rigor and conservatism of the Hindu religion are set aside as Hindus of all
castes and creeds dine together without any distinction of high and low.
The million or so
pilgrims who visit Puri each year almost all use the services of the priests,
who act as pilgrim guides, the pandas or puja pandas mentioned earlier. Each
puja panda has his own area of the country to look after; if there is a
shortage of pilgrims, he or his agent may visit the area in question to arrange
for pilgrimages. The puja panda instructs the pilgrim in the rituals of the
temple and arranges for the purchase of flowers, food and lights which are
offered to the god; the pilgrims prostrate themselves before the images.
Normally respect or darshan is paid to the gods during the hours when the
temple is open, but it is possible, on paying a fee, to make a private visit to
the shrine; other symbols of devotion are the placing of a banner or name-plate
in the temple to record a visit or as thanks for a successful prayer.
The rituals at Puri are
particularly extensive; five main services marking the events of the god's day
are divided into sixteen stages, with appropriate chants and hymns, but for the
ordinary pilgrim it is his or her personal contact with the deity that is
important. There are separate pujas or forms of worship for each of the three
gods, and for the three lesser gods in the sanctuary, so that the temple is
continuously busy, and pilgrims often have to content themselves with a distant
bow towards the sanctuary rather than a full length prostration before the god.
The great festival of Jagannath is in June or July, in the Hindu month Ashadha,
when the god is put on a specially-made carriage drawn by the puja pandas, and
is taken to a nearby lake for a ritual bath; this naturally attracts a very
large number of pilgrims.
Courtesy-www.allaboutbharat.org
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