PRAGATI PRAVA
Lord Jagannath is worshipped in a form which is singularly distinctive for being truncated – a deity sans feet and forearms. However, in the sleepy village of Jaguleipatna in Khurda district, the Lord of the Universe appears with His lotus feet and ‘sankha’ (conch) and ‘sudarshan chakra’ (a disc-like weapon) in hands – a symbol of protection for devotees.
Naaham teesthaami vaikunthe,
yoginaam hridaye na cha
Madbhaktaa yatra dhyaayanti
tatra teesthaami naarada…
This hymn from the Bhagavad Gita holds true for Lord Jagannath. It means “Neither do I live in paradise nor in the hearts of saints. I reside in that place where my devotees pray.” The Lord resides at the place of worship of His devotees and can change His form according to the wishes of devotees. Jaguleipatna, a not-so-famous-village, feels blessed in the presence of the Lord with the limbs – a unique form which appeared in the dreams of His ardent follower, King Dibyasingha Deb. It is a form that symbolises the Lord’s human traits and the fact that He is approachable.
The devout king
According to Surendra Kumar Mishra, research officer with Sri Jagannath Sanskrit University, “The kings of the Ganga dynasty who ruled ancient Orissa from the 11th to the 15th century were devout followers of Lord Jagannath. King Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb III was tricked by the British and sent on exile to the Andaman and Nicobar islands. The ardent devotee gave up food and water as he couldn’t have ‘darshan’ of the Lord which was his regular practice.
Even after starving for several days, the king’s desire for ‘darshan’ of the Lord remained unfulfilled. One morning, he managed to flee from the clutches of the British and arrived on the sea shore. He was surprised to see a huge wooden plank floating on the waters. The king lost consciousness as soon as he clung on to the plank. When he gained sense, he found himself on Puri beach – a part of his own kingdom! As he tried to recollect, he felt like he had slept in the Lord’s lap who guided him across the deep sea and guarded him against all threats.
However, as soon as he reached Puri, the British caught him and confined him in Cuttack jail. The king’s hope to catch a glimpse of the Lord was shattered inside the darkness of his cell.
It was a dark stormy night, when the king suddenly woke up from sleep hearing a bang on the door. He found the door of the cell open. As he came out, in a sudden flash of lightening, he could see a man with swords in both hands who ordered the king to follow him. Even though only the man’s silhouette was discernable in the dark, the king felt an ecstasy inside him and an urge to follow the man. The monarch walked and walked just behind the man and it was dawn when he felt he could walk no longer and lost consciousness. In the morning he found himself inside a hut owned by Raghubara Dasa, a saint. The king realised that the man whom he had followed was none other than Lord Jagannath.
Raghubara, however, failed to recognise the king who had become lean and looked untidy with a long-grown beard. The king introduced himself as Babaji Dayanidhi Dasa and expressed his desire to become Raghubara’s disciple.
The divine form of the Lord with His limbs, as he escorted the king out of jail, kept haunting the king. Later, the full-limbed Lord with his ‘sudarshan chakra’ again appeared in a dream one night and asked the king to consecrate his idol in the shape in which it had appeared on that fateful stormy night. He also ordered the king to collect the ‘daru’ (neem tree) from the backyard of a washerman’s residence at neighbouring Beruhan village to the south of Jaguleipatna. The king immediately called Maharana servitors from Puri to make the idols of the Trinity.
Once the idol-making was over, the king invited local Brahmins to consecrate the idols. However, the Brahmins, who by that time were aware of the king’s identity, were reluctant to perform the rituals fearing that a small mistake might cost them their lives. The king was pained due to the delay in consecration. As his pain became unbearable, the Lord once more appeared in his dream and told him that a Brahmin family from Kerala was destined to consecrate the idols.
To the king’s utter surprise, a few days later, the family of Prana Kaula (a Brahmin from Kerala) reached the place and sought the king’s permission to complete the task.
“It is nothing but a divine prank of Lord Jagannath, without whose divine will not a leaf falls from the tree. Prana was not even aware of the existence of a state like Orissa, till he saw the Lord in his dream. The Lord appeared in Prana’s dream and ordered him to travel to Orissa with his family, to establish Him in a full-limbed avatar,” said Baikunthanath Mohapatra, former secretary of the temple management committee.
Abode of saints
Away from the hustle-bustle of the daily world, the abode of the full-limbed Trinity was nestled in a dense forest. It had been an abode of seers, who aspired for and performed rigorous meditation for social wellbeing, said Kamala Lochan Dasa, a saint residing in the shrine. The serene spot amid dense greenery had been the home to over 500 seers, who used to perform mass prayers and meditations. Remnants of a laterite stone compound bear testimony to the prayer ground. The yoga capital of the area was dotted with a number of huts occupied by hermits, said Kamala Lochan, adding that the number has now reduced to five.
While Puri is considered to be the ‘Bhoga Kshetra’ – a place for enjoyment – Jaguleipatna is the ‘Yoga Kshetra’, a place of perseverance where saints attain the discipline to pursue spiritual goals.
Unique mutt
The shrine is a mutt, not a temple and the structure too looks like a mutt. Being a Yoga Kshetra, Mahaprasad is not offered to devotees. The temple priest said that as Goddess Bimala is not worshipped here, Mahaprasad is not prepared.
The Lord of the universe takes the form of Nagarjuna, Gaja, Harihara, Bamana, Raja, Radha Damodar and other divine forms throughout the year, depicted in 32 ‘beshas’. Such rituals are not practised in the temple. The Lord and His siblings oblige devotees with ‘darshan’ during ‘Suna Besha’ – the Lord’s gold-adorned costume – which falls on the day following Bahuda Yatra, the day of the Lord’s return to Sri Mandir.
The secret ritual of ‘Brahma Paribartana’, or changing the soul of the Lord’s idol, which takes place once in around 20 years, is not performed here. As Lord Jagannath is worshiped as ‘Ananta Purushottama’ (the eternal being), there is no need to change the soul, stated Arjuna Maharana, chief carpenter of the shrine.
The 18 acre plot on which the shrine is situated belongs to Rankanatha Deba (the Lord himself), said Mishra.
Mohapatra, who has deep faith in the culture of Lord Jagannath, said Amrutalal Banerjee, a divisional forest officer during the British era, was childless. Having lost all hope, he prayed to the Lord who granted his sincere prayer of becoming a father. To express his gratitude, Banerjee allotted 18 acres surrounding the shrine in the name of the Lord.
Sacred well
As one peeks into the Karunya Kunda, the well near the temple, one encounters a spectacular view. According to Mohapatra, the water here behaves differently than in the other wells: It spins in a clockwise direction since the excavation of the well. Further, as the name suggests, the well signifies the Lord’s grace. It is believed that the Lord gives ‘darshan’ to genuine devotees who are lucky to witness the spectacle of the water in the well heaving upwards (locally called ‘habuka’). It is believed that the desires of these devotees get fulfilled. Infertile women who take bath in the holy waters of the well are believed to be blessed with children. Earlier, hermits used water from the well to prepare food and perform the daily rituals of the deities.
Indestructible deities
In 1980, a deadly fire engulfed the Trinity’s abode and the cottages surrounding it. Everything around was reduced to ashes and the copper and brass utensils melted. Surprisingly, the wooden idols of the Trinity were left unscathed. Also, the fire failed to destroy the Paduka and the wooden stick. According to Mohapatra, who witnessed the massive conflagration, a huge rising-sun-like sphere moved around the deities protecting them.
A huge banyan tree behind the temple covering around 5 acres of land not only signifies the serenity and antiquity of the place it is also home to hundreds of chirping birds and squirrels. A huge pond adorned with lotuses, adjacent to the tree, is a soothing and refreshing sight.
The ‘Tulasi Vana’ (garden of basil plants) nearby has at least 10 varieties of holy plants. The leaves of the plant species, locally known as Rama Tulasi, Dayana, Karpura, Kala and Dhala, are not only dear to the Lord, but they also purify the air.
The shrine houses the samadhi of Raghubara Dasa, the spiritual mentor of the Gajapati King. His ‘Paduka’ (wooden shoes), ‘Kamandalu’ (brass jug used for begging) and ‘Asha Badi’ (wooden stick), are worshipped in the space.
During the British era the Trinity used to give ‘darshan’ to devotees on their chariots during the Car festival. The yearly festival was discontinued due to lack of funds but resumed again in 1980, with the Trinity atop one huge chariot. Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Patsani has been performing the ‘Chhera Pahanra’ ritual since then.
Not on tourism map
Although it is steeped in uniqueness and mystery, Jaguleipatna is not widely known due mainly to the government’s lack of interest in promoting the place. It was accorded the status of a tourist destination only as late as 2013 and awaits much-needed development. Located alongside the Khurda-Bolangir National Highway, Jaguleipatna is 5 km from Khurda town, yet a majority of tourists and Jagannath devotees are unaware of its existence.