A parable of chariot: Rathyatra, Mahesh, Sreerampur

आत्मानँ रथितं विद्धि शरीरँ रथमेव तु । बुद्धिं तु सारथिं विद्धि मनः प्रग्रहमेव च॥३॥.' –Katha Upanishad 1.3.3

Arnab is one of my oldest accomplice. We have this habit-flow of making last moment undercooked plans, jumping on to accomplish them, succeeding with minor setbacks. Our history consists of 1. A whole night’s walk in Chandannagar during Jagadhatri Puja, when we forgot to plan about dinner and had to find the only open pizza shop at 12 AM, then return at almost 4 AM via a special train which we didn’t know about (we were planning to spend rest of the night in railway station L); 2. A trip to Barasat during Kali Puja’s weekend, where Arnab has studied for four years in college – yet (confidently) followed the reverse trail in search of pandels going towards Sodhpur for almost two hours and then only realizing his mistake; 3. An entertaining trip to Ghatshila with his fellow cult-mates (this one can land me into trouble if the ‘cult’ finds out that I call ‘it’ a ‘cult’ !!!) from Ramakrishna Mission etc.

Another ‘feather’ in our ‘cap’ of achievements was Mahesh, Sreerampur, which is where incidentally 'Masi's (Aunts) of both Arnab and Lord Jagannath lives. The day was 12th July 2019, it was Ulto-Rath.

Celebration and Whatnots :

The celebration of Rathyatra anywhere has some major customary attributes. It is a 9-day long festival. On the day of Rathyatra (second lunar day or Dwitiya, bright fortnight/shukla paksha of the Bengali month Asadh) Jagannath along with his brother Balaram/Balabhadra, sister Subhadra hops onto separate Raths (chariots) and journeys towards his aunt house, called Gundicha Temple. The chariot carrying Lord Jagannath is called Nandighosh, the chariot carrying Balabhadra is called Taladhwaj and the chariot carrying Subhadra is called Darpadalan. They stay there for 7 days and then finally on the day of Ulto-Rath/ Bahuda Rathyatra returns back to his main residence (temple) via Raths again. These two journeys is when the actual celebration takes place.

GUNDICHA and her story

Original Gundicha temple or the ‘Garden House of Lord Jagannath’ is situated in Puri, Odisha, at about 3 K.M. distance from the main temple of Lord Jagannath (Srimandira).

Legend says that Gundicha, queen of Indradyumna, Malava king (son of Bharat and Sunanda, ancestors of Kauravs and Pandavs) was a great devotee of Lord Jagannath. As Lord Jagannath surrenders himself to his devotees. He promised her to come to her house during Rathyatra and call her aunt. This legend while propagating to others parts of India caused some default settings, by which every place celebrating Rathyatra started having a Gundicha temple along with the main one.

Our day under the Sun

Needless to say I skipped office and made Arnab do so, the day being a Friday. It was wholesome TGIF mode for me, mail-storm of my Cognizant days are to be blamed for this. We boarded a train from Howrah at about 11Am or thereabouts. Once at Sreerampur, Arnab (as always) became the road guide saying he is the more frequent traveler there. As assumed we followed the incorrect path again (as destiny would have it) and managed to reach the original temple rather than the local Gundicha. Anyhow, we followed the straight path to reach where the Chariot was standing empty, in the middle of the road, surrounded my less than concerning number of people (Indian standard :D ). The Ulto-Rath procession was yet to start. Roads were brimming with noise, the the environment as a whole was not noisy yet. We visited the Gundicha temple where customary idol worship was going on. The temple ground was filled with thick crowd and it was hot and humid summer. So we decided to spend some time with Arnab's Gundicha (his aunt house).

And thus said the sages :

Aatmaanam rathinam viddhi sareeram rathameva tu|

Buddhim tu saarathim viddhi manah pragrahameva cha || 3-3 ||

The third sloka-string of Katha-Upanishad talks about chariots. Know the Self (Aatmaa) as the master of the chariot and the body (sareer) as chariot itself. Know the intellect (Buddhi) to be the charioteer and the mind (manah) as the reins.

Mostly Upanishads declares body is controlled by Jivatma & Paramatma. This Jivatma is part of Paramatma and is subservient to it. Thus Parmatma is the Self of Jivatma or Mahanatma. Katha-Upanishad as well as Svetasvatara Upanishad say that both Jivatman and Paramatman are seated in the cavity of the heart, where intelligence resides.

The legend of a place called 'Mahesh'

After Puri, Mahesh has the biggest Rathyatra in the world. It is being celebrated since 1396. Legend says, back in the 14th century, Drubananda Brahmachari, a Bengali sage went for Puri pilgrimage to offer bhog to Lord Jagannath and only to be denied by the Temple authority. Broken-hearted, he decided to fast to death. After three days of fasting, Jagannath came to him in his dream, and decreed him to find a place called Mahesh at the bank of Bhagirathi and wait for a Neem trunk (Daru-Brahma) from which he should make idols of Balarama, Subhadra and the lord himself. The sage followed the instruction to the letters and in a scary rainy night, a Daru-Brahma washed ashore. He then made the Idols of the Holy Trinity and established a Temple. Once during his sanyas life Sri Chaitanya left for

Puri and on way reached Mahesh. He lost his senses in Drubananda’s Temple, getting absorbed in deep Samadhi. It was Sri Chaitanya who named Mahesh as 'Naba Nilachal', the 'new Puri'. When Drubananda requested him to take charge of the temple. Sri Chaitanya advised him to make Kamalakar Piplai (5th of his 12 Gopals) in-charge. · Kamalakar was the son of the Zamindar of Khalijuli in Sundarbans. He came to Navadweep to study Logic. Later he became a favorite of Mahaprabhu. After taking the charge of Mahesh Temple, he started the famous chariot festival, more than 600 years ago. Neither the Rath nor the Temple of Kamalakar exists anymore.

The significance of 'Daru-Brahma'

Daru means neem wood, Brahma is the cosmic cause and result of the universe - ever expanding and endless. In Saral Mahabharat, an enraged Hiranyakashipu questioned his son Prahallad about the existence of Vishnu. Prahallad indicated towards a pillar (made of wood) of the palace as his answer. Hearing this , Hiranyakashipu hit the pillar by his sword and Vishnu emerged out of the pillar taking the form of a lion-headed human being Narasimha.

In his invocation, Sharala Das has described Narasimha as Jagannath.

In the Mausal Parva of Odia Mahabharat, hunter Jara fired an arrow to Krishna, killing him. Later, Jara and Arjuna, while cremating Krishna heard from heaven, "set fire to my mortal remains using the log on which you would find the symbols conch, wheel, club and lotus. As per the direction, Arjun placed the body of Krishna on sandal wood and set fire. But the heart did not burn. Again the Heaven resounded, "Immerse the body in the sea, it will be worshipped on the Neelasundar hill." After a lapse of long years, a Daru was seen floating on water on the confluence of river and Bay of Bengal at Banke-Mohan near Puri. King Indradyumna brought the Daru to the shore. King Indradyumna, after offering one offered flower, from the head of the deity, Kakatpur Mangala, on advice of Narad to the Daru Brahma, could facilitate the splitting of wood, into three parts to construct idols of Jagannath, Subhadra and Balabhadra.

The timeline of chariot and temple, Mahesh -

• 1396, first temple was build.

• sometime after 1396, Kamalakar Piplai constructed the first Rath and festivities started.

• Not known, first Rath got destroyed.

• 1755, the current version temple was made by Nayanchand Mallik of Pathuriaghata, Kolkata.

• Not Known, a devotee of Baidyabati donated a Rath to the Temple.

• 797, Ramakrishna’s disciple Balarama Basu’s grandfather Krishnaram Basu donated a Rath.

• 1835, His son Guruprasad Basu renewed the Rath, after some years the Rath was burnt.

• 1852, Kalachand Basu made another Rath, someday later, a person committed suicide inside the Rath, It was discarded.

• 1857, Biswambhar Basu made a different Rath, but it also got burnt.

• 1885, Dewan Krishna chandra Basu ordered an Iron-Chariot from Martin Burn, currently still in existence. The Rath is a Nabaratna temple having 9 shikhars, a steel framework with wooden scaffolding, fitted with 12 iron wheels each measuring 12'' in circumference, 4 storied, measuring 50 feet in height and 125 tons in weight, 2 copper horses attached to the front.

The rituals of Rathyatra, Mahesh (in short) -

1. Snanayatra - It all begins with the 'Snanayatra', held on the full moon day preceding the Rathyatra. Jagannath, Balaram & Subhadra are bathed in milk & Ganga water. Locals belief due to this heavy bath the idols catch fever. As a recourse (pre-defined ritual) three physicians - one each from Arambag, Goghat, Ghatal are summoned. They provide a liquid mixture as medicine. Unlike Puri's Jagannath temple, the idols are not changed every 12 years, the idols prepared by the Kamalakar is used till date.

2. Angaraga - Two days after Snanayatra and two weeks before Rathyatra, three day long 'Angaraga' ceremony is held (once in every 12 years) - to repaint the idols using herbal pigments behind closed doors. The artist covers his face and hairs while painting the idols and has only one vegetable meal a day for three days.

3. A day before the Rathyatra, Jagannath is sworn in as the king.

4. On the day of the Rathyatra, the idols are placed on Rath. A neelkantha bird is brought and made to sit at the topmost shikhara of the chariot. When the bird flies away the procession starts.

5. For the next seven days, Lord goes to Gundicha Temple and remains there.

6. Punaryatra, or Ulto-Rath - On the ninth day from Rathyatra, Lord comes back to his original residence.

An architectural obsession :

I have already mentioned that, the present Mahesh temple is built on the ruins of the older one in 1755 by Nayanchand Mallik. We we went there it was crowded - so we waited to take a snap. When I read about the simple structure of the temple, it turned out to be Rekha Deul style of the Odisha. The word "Deul" in Oriya means a building structure. Rekha in Oriya means a straight line. Sometimes the whole temple is called Deul. Though Deul specifies a different form of temples in Bengal.

There are three types of Deul in general north Indian terminology,- (1) Rekha Deul is the sanctuary and the tower over it, respectively the garbhagriha and the shikhara; (2) Bhadra/ Pidha (flat-roofed rectangular hall or square hall) Deul is the mandapa where the faithful are present; (3) Khakhara Deul (e.g. Shakta temples) is an alternative form of tower over the sanctuary, which in shape resembles temple gatehouses in southern Dravidian architecture.

***Rekha Deul - A tall building with a shape of sugar loaf, looking like Shikhara, covering the sanctum sanctorum (Garbhagriha). Examples : Shikhara of the Jagannath temple in Puri.

Now lets shift our focus to the chariot itself, like Puri - Mahesh does not have three different Raths for different idol. Though is does have different floors. It is a three-storey chariot, which each floor depicting different story. The first storey of the Rath depicts Chaitanyaleela, the second storey depicts Krishnaleela and the third one Ramleela.

Another noteworthy information I found was, the temple has two sets of idols. The original 600-year-old images are not taken out during the Rathyatra, another set is used.

On the eve of Ulto-Rath

Arnab's maternal uncle managed for us a space in one roadside balcony of someone's house he knew. We had the sky view of the crowded procession of Jagannath's return. People were amassed in large number to take turn in pulling the chariot reins. Traffic went haywire, mere 30-40 mins journey took more than 3 hours. But the grandeur was worth the delay. Both sides of the road were filled up with temporary shops of sweets like Mihidanas and Jilapis, shops of toys, utensils and whatnot. Mahesh is famous for its Mihidanas. It has a dedicated folklore which is still played as 'Balabandhak Pala' (Jagannath went to Mahesh from Puri to taste its Mihidanas. Not having any money, he gave his armlet to buy sweet. When he returned to Puri, the priests found the armlet missing. They found out what happened went to Mahesh to return with the ‘bala’).

We returned via train from Sreerampur at about 8:30 PM that night completing a memorable day. As a conclusion I would leave you with these following lines -

"রথযাত্রা, লোকারণ্য, মহা ধুমধাম, ভক্তেরা লুটায়ে পথে করিছে প্রণাম। পথ ভাবে আমি দেব রথ ভাবে আমি, মূর্তি ভাবে আমি দেব – হাসে অন্তর্যামী।"

রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর || ভক্তিভাজন || কণিকা

[As the chariot moves, amidst pomp, / thousand devotees prostrate themselves in its path. / The road thinks, “I must be God”, as does the chariot, / The idol thinks “It is I” - The One within silently smiles.]

P:S: I have never done this before - writing a seemingly related topic after already drawing conclusion, but now I have to - this is a last moment decision. One of my office colleague calls me 'juggernaut' - a word towards which I have immense hatred. It is due to its origin, I thought it is important to discuss the 'why' here.

Why I hate to be called juggernaut ?

Presently, 'juggernaut' describes anyone or anything unstoppable, powerful, dominant. The Marvel supervillain Juggernaut, possesses infinite strength and invincibility. The word is fun to say and connotes an individual bigger than our world. Originally, “juggernaut” is the product of collision between two forces, the English-speaking West and India. It was the Anglicized name for Jagannath. “Juggernaut” entered the English language in the early nineteenth century as colonial Britons in India encountered Jagannath and his chariot and tried to make sense of what they were seeing. Rev. Claudius Buchanan was the British official to popularize “the Juggernaut” in both Britain and the United States in the early 1800s. Buchanan, an Anglican chaplain stationed in India and a staunch supporter of Christian missions to India - took a negative view of Juggernaut. He presented Juggernaut as a dangerous, violent, and bloody religious cult. His letters were reprinted throughout Christian missionary magazines on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1811, he published Christian Researches in Asia, and described devotees throwing themselves under the wheels of Juggernaut’s chariots. He used a biblical reference to the Old Testament’s description of the heathen god Moloch (to whom people sacrificed their children) to explain Juggernaut to his Christian audience. He claimed Juggernaut “smile when the libation of blood is made.” For him, Juggernaut represented everything that was wrong with religion in India that Christianity could solve. Juggernaut, to him, was a symbol of violence, bloodshed, death, and “idolatry.” His influence spread thick and fast. In Protestant missionary circles one magazine from 1813 used Juggernaut as a metaphor for the vice of alcohol.

Over the next decades, as Americans learned more about India, the meaning of “Juggernaut” began to split between its general use as a powerful dangerous force and its more specific reference to the god at Puri. “Juggernaut” continued to be used as a reference to Jagannath. By the 1930s, an anti-communist book labeled communism “the red juggernaut.” In 1963, The Juggernaut made his first appearance as a villain in Marvel’s X-Men comics. By this time Juggernaut had nothing to do with the temple in India, but it still represented power, violence, death, and danger.

From the beginning, “Juggernaut” and “Jagannath” were not the same thing. The process of Anglicization and translation that Buchanan and others engaged in meant that “Juggernaut” was a product of the British and American imagination. To say that Christian missionaries “misrepresented” or “misunderstood” Jagannath would be putting it too softly. They imagined Juggernaut as a foil, an Other, against which they could advocate for Christian missions. The missionary image of Juggernaut in the 1800s tells us more about the fears and values of Protestant missionaries than it does anything about people in India. As “Juggernaut” spread beyond missionary magazines and became the lower case “juggernaut,” the Christian missionary image of an “idol” on a chariot rolling through the Indian streets dropped away, but the sense of a giant, powerful, violent unstoppable force moving ahead endured. For two hundred years, juggernauts have rolled on in American imaginations.

References: Other than those already mentioned -

1. Google Maps, images, Wikipedia.

2. https://indusladies.com/community/threads/rathayatra-at-mahesh-hooghly-wb.61766/

3. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Gold-stolen-from-600-year-old-temple/articleshow/29226429.cms

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rathayatra_of_Mahesh.

5. Michael J. Altman, Assistant Professor, Religious Studies, University of Alabama

6. Manasa Vijaya of Vipradasa by Sukumar Sen(1953)