Atul Jore -
I visited the Puri temple when I was in Orissa for a training. The outside pandyas are very irritating and intrusive. We were a large group and they just won't leave us alone. Did not know about the temple much then apart from the English word Juggernaut. Here let me take this space to type about Newembodiment. https://en.m.wikipedia.or
I found it quite interesting. I read about it in Irawati Karve's Marathi book Paripoorti. She says in a span of 20 years when the Hindu calendar adjusts itself with an Adhik Ashadh month, the idols are changed. (An adhik or Purushottam maas - https://en.m.wikipedia.or
She has partly written the essay from the perspective of the old idols which are getting replaced and partly from a philosophical perspective. This question reminded me of that because i had felt quite sentimental when i had read it.
She describes one such new embodiment event which took place. Previous such event had taken place some 12 years before that.
Every year on Jeshtha pournima (snaanpurnima) the temple gets closed for 12 days. The full moon or pournima is the end of that month in the northern states of India as against the no moon day in the state of Maharshtra (Bengali calendar is further different. I don't want to look it up or which one is followed in Orissa because it would break the flow.) The idols which are made of wood get bathed and get face mask and paint. The idols get new saaj ( a word which i guess means new dresses - maha vastra and maybe jewels). Then the rath yatra starts. The pilgrims get to see the newly painted idols a day before the yatra starts.
However when there is an adhik ashadhin a given year, the idols are replaced with the new ones. The process described in the essay occurred like this: on the Vaishakh pournima of that year, the Bhitareccha mahapatra (I guess it is a title for the main pujari) came in. He opened the main door and the garbh gruha door(which roughly means the door closest to the idols). He bowed to the idols. She says she could see tears running down his cheeks. Then he came out of the temple and gave a go ahead to the Dayit people (a group of people who consider that the Lord Jagannath was one of their ancestors. They are in charge of the idols at the time of the snaanpurnima and the rath yatra). It is believed that the Bhitareccha mahapatra dies in the year of new idols. The author says that in 1950 such a thing occurred after the celebrations as confirmed by the Orissa government's ministry of information.
When the dayit people get the go ahead from the mahapatra, they go in search for suitable wood to carve out the idols from. The wood has to be a neem tree with certain marks and qualities. The author describes that they went to the Mangladevi temple in the nearby village of Kakatpoor. One of the temple sevaksthere - the devi entered his body/ soul: the divine possession and he - instructed them as to where to find the trees which would be suitable for the new idols.
The trees were trimmed starting with gold and silver axes. They were brought to Puri in a rath accompanied by music.
The trunks were then handed over to the Vishwakarma people in the temple premises.
The task was to complete the making of new idols by snaanpurnima.
After this description the author takes poetic freedom and describes what Jagannath(Krishna) and Subhadra's idols feel. I won't type those couple of paragraphs here which I found quite sentimental. The author then describes how the news idols get their souls from the old ones, how the old ones are buried in the Kaivalya Vaikunth in the temple premises. But let me end my answer at a different point.
The second paragraph of how the old idols feel ends something like this: But the new idols were just bodies yet. They did not have a soul. A new home was being built for the eternal soul of The Lord. The Lord in his deep state of meditation could see that the time was eternal. Time and again His soul was entering and exiting the transient bodies. There have been countless bodies and there were going to be, for the foreseeable future. Won't I ever escape the transient bodies, He thought. Is there no end to this cycle?
I found it quite interesting. I read about it in Irawati Karve's Marathi book Paripoorti. She says in a span of 20 years when the Hindu calendar adjusts itself with an Adhik Ashadh month, the idols are changed. (An adhik or Purushottam maas - https://en.m.wikipedia.or
She has partly written the essay from the perspective of the old idols which are getting replaced and partly from a philosophical perspective. This question reminded me of that because i had felt quite sentimental when i had read it.
She describes one such new embodiment event which took place. Previous such event had taken place some 12 years before that.
Every year on Jeshtha pournima (snaanpurnima) the temple gets closed for 12 days. The full moon or pournima is the end of that month in the northern states of India as against the no moon day in the state of Maharshtra (Bengali calendar is further different. I don't want to look it up or which one is followed in Orissa because it would break the flow.) The idols which are made of wood get bathed and get face mask and paint. The idols get new saaj ( a word which i guess means new dresses - maha vastra and maybe jewels). Then the rath yatra starts. The pilgrims get to see the newly painted idols a day before the yatra starts.
However when there is an adhik ashadhin a given year, the idols are replaced with the new ones. The process described in the essay occurred like this: on the Vaishakh pournima of that year, the Bhitareccha mahapatra (I guess it is a title for the main pujari) came in. He opened the main door and the garbh gruha door(which roughly means the door closest to the idols). He bowed to the idols. She says she could see tears running down his cheeks. Then he came out of the temple and gave a go ahead to the Dayit people (a group of people who consider that the Lord Jagannath was one of their ancestors. They are in charge of the idols at the time of the snaanpurnima and the rath yatra). It is believed that the Bhitareccha mahapatra dies in the year of new idols. The author says that in 1950 such a thing occurred after the celebrations as confirmed by the Orissa government's ministry of information.
When the dayit people get the go ahead from the mahapatra, they go in search for suitable wood to carve out the idols from. The wood has to be a neem tree with certain marks and qualities. The author describes that they went to the Mangladevi temple in the nearby village of Kakatpoor. One of the temple sevaksthere - the devi entered his body/ soul: the divine possession and he - instructed them as to where to find the trees which would be suitable for the new idols.
The trees were trimmed starting with gold and silver axes. They were brought to Puri in a rath accompanied by music.
The trunks were then handed over to the Vishwakarma people in the temple premises.
The task was to complete the making of new idols by snaanpurnima.
After this description the author takes poetic freedom and describes what Jagannath(Krishna) and Subhadra's idols feel. I won't type those couple of paragraphs here which I found quite sentimental. The author then describes how the news idols get their souls from the old ones, how the old ones are buried in the Kaivalya Vaikunth in the temple premises. But let me end my answer at a different point.
The second paragraph of how the old idols feel ends something like this: But the new idols were just bodies yet. They did not have a soul. A new home was being built for the eternal soul of The Lord. The Lord in his deep state of meditation could see that the time was eternal. Time and again His soul was entering and exiting the transient bodies. There have been countless bodies and there were going to be, for the foreseeable future. Won't I ever escape the transient bodies, He thought. Is there no end to this cycle?
Here are some of the amazing and interesting facts about the place:
1. The flag atop the temple always flaps in the opposite direction of air.
2. From any place in Puri you will always find the Sudarshan Charka (Charka at top of Temple) facing you.
3. Normally during day-time, air comes from sea to land & during evening, the vice-versa occurs. But in Puri it’s totally opposite.
4. No bird or planes fly above the temple.
5. The shadow of the main dome is invisible at any time of the day.
6. The quantity of cooked food inside the Temple remains same for the entire year. But that same quantity of prasadam can feed few thousand people & 20 lakh people, still it won’t get wasted.
7. In the Temple kitchen, 7 pots are kept one on top of another and cooked on firewood. In this process the contents in the top pot get cooked first & then the bottom one.
8. After entering from Singhadwara’s first step (from inside of the Temple), you cannot hear any sound produced by the ocean. But, when you cross the same step (from outside of the Temple) you can hear it. This can be noticed clearly during evening.
9. The Chariot Festival at Puri was initially performed with 2 sets of chariots (A total of 6 Chariots). As there was a river flowing thru in between Sri Mandira and Mausi maa temple, the first set of chariots were used to bring the lords till the river, then the lords had to ferry across the river in three giant wooden boats and aboard the other set of chariots till Mausi maa temple. Amazing but true.
10. Present day structure of Sri Janagnnath Temple Puri was not the Original built up. Originally Indradyumna had constructed only the main temple. Kings and rulers in subsequent times added Meghanada Pacheri, Mukha sala, Nata Mandapa and other assets to the Temple Complex.
Source- indiatvnews
1. The flag atop the temple always flaps in the opposite direction of air.
2. From any place in Puri you will always find the Sudarshan Charka (Charka at top of Temple) facing you.
3. Normally during day-time, air comes from sea to land & during evening, the vice-versa occurs. But in Puri it’s totally opposite.
4. No bird or planes fly above the temple.
5. The shadow of the main dome is invisible at any time of the day.
6. The quantity of cooked food inside the Temple remains same for the entire year. But that same quantity of prasadam can feed few thousand people & 20 lakh people, still it won’t get wasted.
7. In the Temple kitchen, 7 pots are kept one on top of another and cooked on firewood. In this process the contents in the top pot get cooked first & then the bottom one.
8. After entering from Singhadwara’s first step (from inside of the Temple), you cannot hear any sound produced by the ocean. But, when you cross the same step (from outside of the Temple) you can hear it. This can be noticed clearly during evening.
9. The Chariot Festival at Puri was initially performed with 2 sets of chariots (A total of 6 Chariots). As there was a river flowing thru in between Sri Mandira and Mausi maa temple, the first set of chariots were used to bring the lords till the river, then the lords had to ferry across the river in three giant wooden boats and aboard the other set of chariots till Mausi maa temple. Amazing but true.
10. Present day structure of Sri Janagnnath Temple Puri was not the Original built up. Originally Indradyumna had constructed only the main temple. Kings and rulers in subsequent times added Meghanada Pacheri, Mukha sala, Nata Mandapa and other assets to the Temple Complex.
Source- indiatvnews
The Jagannath Temple of Puri is a famous, sacred Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath and located on the eastern coast of India, at Puri in the state of Odisha.
The temple is an important pilgrimage destination for many Hindu traditions, particularly worshippers of Krishna and Vishnu, and part of the Char Dham pilgrimages that a Hindu is expected to make in one's lifetime.[1]
Even though most Hindu deities that are worshiped are made out of stone or metal, the image of Jagannath is wooden. Every twelve or nineteen years these wooden figures are ceremoniously replaced by using sacred trees, that have to be carved as an exact replica. The reason behind this ceremonial tradition is the highly secret Navakalevara ('New Body' or 'New Embodiment') ceremony, an intricate set of rituals that accompany the renewal of the wooden statues.[2]
The temple was built in the 12th century atop its ruins by the progenitor of the Eastern Ganga dynasty, King Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva.[3] [4]
The temple is an important pilgrimage destination for many Hindu traditions, particularly worshippers of Krishna and Vishnu, and part of the Char Dham pilgrimages that a Hindu is expected to make in one's lifetime.[1]
Even though most Hindu deities that are worshiped are made out of stone or metal, the image of Jagannath is wooden. Every twelve or nineteen years these wooden figures are ceremoniously replaced by using sacred trees, that have to be carved as an exact replica. The reason behind this ceremonial tradition is the highly secret Navakalevara ('New Body' or 'New Embodiment') ceremony, an intricate set of rituals that accompany the renewal of the wooden statues.[2]
The temple was built in the 12th century atop its ruins by the progenitor of the Eastern Ganga dynasty, King Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva.[3] [4]
The temple is famous for its annual Rath Yatra, or chariot festival, in which the three main temple deities are hauled on huge and elaborately decorated temple cars. Since medieval times, it is also associated with intense religious fervour.[5]
The temple is sacred to the Vaishnava traditions and saint Ramananda who was closely associated with the temple. It is also of particular significance to the followers of the Gaudiya Vaishnavism whose founder, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, was attracted to the deity, Jagannath, and lived in Puri for many years.[6]
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