Jay Jagannath
(Copy right protected by Dr. G.S. Tripathy)
Introduction: As the epitome of their tradition million of Hindu devotees have reposed their faith and belief on the ancient temple of lord jagannath at puri, since its inception which has been an institution of unique importance.
By the successive Hindu ruling dynastic of ODISHA for whom Shree Jagannath Maharabhu had come to be regarded as the state deity, the affairs of Sri Mandir at Puri were looked after with great devotion and care. For managing the affairs of the temple, the famous Ganga Monarch Chodoganga conferred the old endowment of Shree Jagannath after constructing the present edifice in the 12th century AD. He made new endowments and laid the foundation of a sound administration for managing the affairs of the temple.
Madala Panji eulogistically records the extensive endowments in land and fabulous gifts of gold metal made by Anangabhim Dev. For organizing the Chhatisa Nijoga, he is also credited with.
The suryavansi rulers were great devotees of Sri Jagannath who succeeded the Ganga vansis. From some inscriptions it is evident that they enriched the coffers of the temple by their numerous gifts. They also looked to the strict and punctual performance of the rituals (rites) of the deities regularly.
From the time of Gajapati Pratap Rudra Deva political power of ODISHA fast declined. Specially with the death of Mukund Deva, the last independent Hindu king of ODISHA in 1568 A.D., for a time span the governance passed in to the hands of Afgans.
As a cruel iconoclast desecrated and plundered the temple of Jagannath in 1568, the bigoted Afgan-General Kalapahada earned a great deal of notoriety in popular tradition.
Sri jagannath had been removed from the temple and hidden according to Madala Panji. But cruel Kalapahada found out the deities and taken away to the bank of Gangas where the murties were consigned to flames.
In disguise, a devotee by name Bisara Mohanty who had followed Kalapahada, somehow could succeed in recovering the Brahma from the charred remains and kept in custody of the Khandayat of Kujang.
On the ruins of the vast Gajapati empire with its capital at khurdha, King Ramachandra Deva (1) of Bhoi dynasty head curved out a small Hindu kingdom. He lost no time in retrieving back to puri the Brahma from kujanga gada and performed nabakalebara ceremony of Sri jagannath after stabilizing his powers and position in the new kingdom. In 1575, the deities were installed in the great temple at puri. The king also re-established the sanctity of Mahaprasad after the deities were reinstalled in the temple.
Raja Rama Chandra Deva (1) 0f khurdha was popularly called as “Abhinava Indradyumn” after reviving the worship of Jagannath at Puri after the temple was desecrated by Kalapahada and started offering of Mahaprasad which had been stopped for about a decade. He was proclaimed as the Gajapati ruler of Khurdha in 1590 by Raja Manasingh, the great Mughal general of the Mughal emperor. Also he was designated as the superintendent of Sri Jagannath temple. Since then the Rajas of Khurdha continued to be the hereditary Superintendents. Till ODISHA passed into the hands of Marathas, the temple affairs were managed under their direct supervision only.
In 1751 a treaty between Raghuji Bhonsla of Nagpur and Nawab Alivardi Khan of Benqat was concluded. According to this treaty the province of Cuttack which was the then Orissa (ODISHA), was ceded to the Marathas over which they became the de-facto rulers. In their own hands the Marathas kept the management of Sri Jagannath temple at Puri. They encouraged the worship of Sri Jagannath as they were Hindus. Ceremonies & festivals of the temple were properly conducted by them. The deficit between the receipt and expenditure was made good by them only. The Parichhas were managing the day to day affairs of the temple appointed by Maratha Government. There were three types of Parichhas who were responsible for the interior management of the temple. Any complaint or disagreement against anybody was referred to EKADEE Pandit at Cuttack for his final decision. During the time of Maratha government, the authority of Rajas of Khurdha was very limited.
To the Marathas, Gajapati Dibyasingh Deba II was very loyal. The temple was plastered during his period. In the temple Jhulan Yatra was introduced. In front of the main entrance of the Jagannath temple, Arun Pillar was brought from konark and installed.
From the tax they collected from the pilgrims, the Marathas were defraying the expenses of the temple regularly. For the worship of the lord Jagannath, they also set apart some lands in addition to this in the praganas of Lembai, Rahang, Sirai, Chebiskud which they received from the khurdha Rajas in lieu of payment for rendering military services. Gradually during Maratha period administration and the discipline were deteriorated.
British Occupied ODISHA in 1803. The management of the temple was taken over by the East- India company. The then governor general Lord Wellesley had particularly stressed the need for respecting the great sanctity attached to the temple of Jagannath at Puri.
Lord Wellesley had instructed specifically as follows to the British army.
“Our arrival at Juggernaret, you will employ every possible precaution to preserve the respect due to the pogada and to the religious prejudices of the Brahmins and the pilgrims. You shall furnish the Brahmins with such guards as shall afford perfect security to their persons, rites and ceremonies and to the sanctity of the religious edifices, and you will strictly enjoin those under your command to observe your orders on this important subject with the utmost degree of accuracy and vigilance.
To consolidate and prepare a record of rights and duties of Sebaks, Pujaris and such other persons connected with seva, puja and management of the temple and for the endowments of the temple, the Government of ODISHA as a preliminary step towards undertaking a comprehensive legislation passed the Puri Sri Jagannath temple (Administration) Act 1952 providing for the appointment of a special officer for the better administration of the temple and the endowed properties. Accordingly a special officer of the rank of a district judge was appointed. He submitted his report on the 15th March, 1954 that disclosed the serious management of the affairs of the temple. In consequence Sri Jagannath temple Act, 1954 (Orissa) Act – II of 1955 was passed. In Nov, 1955 the act became law. Challenging the validity of the Act, Raja Ramachandra Deva, the superintendent of the temple filed a writ petition in the Orissa High Court.
Discussing the writ petition the High Court delivered judgment on 30-4-1957.
In four volumes describing the rituals duties and responsibilities of as many as 119 categories of Sebaks and including individual seva, the temple record of rights was prepared.
The chief administrator shall be responsible for the custody of all records and properties of the temple.
The crux and basis of the Hindu spiritual culture remains basically autochthonous whatever might be the Sanskritists argue and speculate.
With their scholarly and logical acumen the scholars built a grandiose superstructure over it and immense benefits have been reaped.
The legend of Lord Jagannath bears an imprint of the past. The foundations of the Hindu spiritual thought have been laid basically by the autochthonous visionaries. From the autochthonous seers and savants even the concept of soul is borrowed. That originally a deity worshipped by aboriginal “Sabars came to occupy the highest position in the Hindu pantheon is the uniqueness of the Lord Jagannath which is a fact. He came to be known as Purushottam which had swept the Indian sub-continent which is unique in character that has evolved a syncretism.
In the highly sophisticated cult this small treatise isolates the tribal strands that have highlighted the Nathasiddha cult and other various cults like the Buddhist Tantric, the SAKTA the Saibe and various denominations of the vaishnavities. All the absorbing aspects of the cult of Jagannath, which make it so universal, while this work seeks to achievenothing new.
The ODIA culture has been intimately influenced by the all embracing liberation of the cult of Jagannath.
Gana Dharma which is the religion of the masses is Sri Jagannath Dharma of ODISHA. It embodies the principles of secularism, religious tolerance, equality of caste and creed, co-existence and socialism with in itself. Culture of the Lord Jagannath is the religious culture ODISHA.
Jagannath is the great institution with the great myths and rituals that have revolved round the great God along with ODISHA concentrically by having shaped the religiousculture of ODISHA.
