the last nabakalebara

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Odisha Review June - 2014

The last Nabakalebara festival of twentieth centuryhad been celebrated in 1996. Apart from beingthe last one of the past century, it was also theultimate Nabakalebara of the millennium. Nowwe have already entered and traversed more thana decade of the new third millennium and twentyfirst century.

Another Nabakalebara of Sri Jagannathis scheduled to be held in 2015. It also bears muchsignificance. It is the first Nabakalebara of twentyfirst century and the new millennium.

Janaki Ballav Patnaik was the chiefminister when the Nabakalebara was celebratedin Puri in 1996. Historians say it was the mostdisciplined and well managed Nabakalebaracelebration in history. Naveen Patnaik now holdsthe reign of State Government as the ChiefMinister. It is obvious that the next Nabakalabaraaround a year ahead would be managed underhis leadership.

Present CM Naveen Patnaik also bearsspecial attraction and respect for Lord Jagannath.Before taking oath as the CM of the State for thefourth time on 21st May, he preferred to fly toPuri from Bhubaneswar and have darshan of theLord of Nilanchal. After bowing down before thedeities in Sri Jagannath temple before 8AM, hehad returned back to Raj Bhawan in

20th CenturysLast Nabakalebara :

The Best Managed OneAsit Mohanty

Bhubaneswar to take Oath of Office. TheNabakalebar of 2015, apart from its chronologicalimportance is also vital for the present CM as itwould be the first Nabakalebara during his rule inOdisha. Peaceful, hassle free conduct of comingNabakalebar can add another feather to the capof CM Mr. Naveen Patnaik.

During planning of the last Nabakalebaraof last millennium, all the problems and aberrationsof past Nabakalebar celebrations had beendeeply studied by the then State Governmentunder Mr. Janaki Ballav Patnaik. Because of itthe stumbling blocks could be removed andNabakalebara could be celebrated in 1996 in adisciplined manner without any major hiccups.Present State Government has also startedpreparations for the coming Nabakalebara.Everyone dreams that coming Nabakalebarawould be of better experience. But for it lessonslearnt from experiences during previousNabakalebara celebrations have to be deeplystudied. It would become a major catalyst tomake first Nabakalebara of twenty first century apeaceful, hassle free, well managed, disciplinedfestivity.

The ritual of Nabakalebara festival canbe well compared to that of the Kumbh Mela atPrayag. The Bhagavad Gita talks of Lord

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Odisha ReviewJune - 2014

Krishnas discourse to Arjuna where hespeaks about the immortality of the soul. Hehad said that the soul is ever lasting whilethe body is transient and that the soul leavesthe old or diseased body to enter into a newbody just as old clothes are replaced by newones. In this context, the famous sloka of theBhagavad Gita goes as follows : Basansi jirnanijatha bihaya, Nabani gruhanati naraaaparani, Tatha sharirani bihaya jirnaNyanyani sanjati nabani dehi.

And Sri Jagannath manifests Himselfexactly in the manner of Krishnas discourse toArjuna, making Himself as unique as He isvenerated. For nowhere else in India is there atradition of an image changing its physical bodyat intervals. Though Sri Jagannath isParambrahma, He has manifested Himselfin the form of daru (wood) in thePurushottam Kshetra to perform His lila asa human being. Hence, Sri Jagannath,Balabhadra, Subhadra and Sudarshanthefour images in the Jagannath Temple inPurirenounce their old bodies at intervalsto take on new bodies. This change of bodiesis referred to as Nabakalebara. TheBhagavad Gita tells us that every living beingon this earth gradually attains youth,becomes old and finally dies. He is reborn inthe world with a new body. The Nabakalebaraof Sri Jagannath establishes this great truth.Itcannot be said for sure when exactly the traditionof Nabakalebara began in Purushottam Kshetraor Puri. But the tomes dealing with the principlesof construction of images tell us about the lives ofimages built with jewel, metal, wood and clay.According to these tomes, images built with jewelhave a life of ten thousand years, metal imageshave a life of one thousand years, wooden imageshave a life ranging between twelve and eighteenyears and clay images have a life of only one year.

Accordingly, the Nabakalebara of the woodenimages worshipped in Puri usually takes placealmost after every nineteen years.The Puranas tellus that Sri Jagannath was being initiallyworshipped as Nilamadhaba, an image carvedout of rock in Nilakandara. Later, He wasworshipped as an image made of wood.According to the stories chronicled in the SkandaPurana and the Brahma Purana, Indradyumna hadbuilt the images with wood that had drifted fromthe western seas to lodge on the eastern shores.Biswakarma, the celestial carpenter, had built theimages as per the orders received in a dream fromLord Krishna. According to the Madalapanji,Raktabahu had attacked Puri during the reign ofShovana Dev of the Bhoumakara dynasty. Soduring that time, the priests had carried away theimage of Sri Jagannath to Sonepur and hid it thereby burying it underground. King Jajati Keshari Iof the Somavansh dynasty had brought SriJagannath back from Sonepur after 144 years andbuilt the new idol according to classical principles.He had placed the Brahma inside the image ofJagannath and placed Him in a new temple whichwas 38 feet high. Thus, it may be concluded thatthe first Nabakalebara of Sri Jagannath had beenperformed in the tenth century.Another tencenturies or a thousand years have since passedby but unfortunately, the years in which theNabakalebara had been performed during theseten centuries have gone unchronicled. PadmashriSatyanarayan Rajguru, the celebrated scholar onSri Jagannath, has written about a Nabakalebarabeing performed in the year 1370. He has alsowritten that the first Nabakalebara of SriJagannath had been performed in the Srimandir(Jagannath Temple) in the year 1308. However,according to verifiable records, the firstNabakalebara had been performed in 1574. Thesecond Nabakalebara of the sixteenth century hadbeen performed in 1593. But in the seventeenth

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century, five Nabakalebaras had been performed,in the years 1608, 1627, 1646, 1665 and 1684.The first Nabakalebara of the next century washeld in 1711 and thereafter, four more were heldat intervals of nineteen years. Once again in thenineteenth century, five Nabakalebaras were held,each after a gap of 19 years from the previousone. Thus, these had been performed in the years1809, 1828, 1855, 1874 and 1893. But in thelast century, i.e., the twentieth century, theNabakalebara had been performed six times, inthe years 1912, 1931, 1950, 1969, 1977 and1996.

And out of the Nabakalebaras performedin the twentieth century, the one held in 1996 wasthe last of the century. And it was this lastNabakalebara that had been the most well-organized. No other Nabakalebara so far hadbeen carried out to such perfection.

Historical records show that many a time,the Nabakalebara had not been performedbecause of financial difficulties. They also revealthat the pilgrims and devotees had to put up witha lot of hardship at times because of administrativebottlenecks in conducting the ritual. RamachandraDev, the son of Mukunda Dev II was the Gajapatiof Puri and the caretaker of the Jagannath Templeat the time of the Nabakalebara held in the year1828, though by that time, he had already lostthe kingdom of Khurda. This led to much financialconstraint. So H. H. Alo, the then Collector, hadrequested Commissioner Pockenham through aletter to sanction funds for the Nabakalebara.Accordingly, though Pockenham had sanctionedRs.5,500, the money was not sufficient to conductthe ritual. It was only after Nimak Mahal ofBalasore donated three hundred gold coins thatthe ritual was somehow completed. Two lakhpeople had gathered at Puri during the time of theNabakalebara in 1855. However, the police had

not been able to manage the crowd and maintainlaw and order. As a result, three men and fourwomen had died in the stampede that took placenear the Singhadwara (Lions Gate). The nextNabakalebara was held in 1874. Considering thefact that during that time Gajapati Dibyasingh Devwas just a minor under the guardianship ofMaharani Suryamani Patamahadei and alsokeeping in view the mishaps of the lastNabakalebara, the District Magistrate hadconstituted a high power committee in 1874 andthe conducting of the Nabakalebara had beenentrusted to this committee.

In 1893, when the time for the nextNabakalebara arrived, Maharani SuryamaniPadamahadei was not willing to perform it givingreasons that it involved a great deal of troubleand a lot of money. As a result, only a partialNabakalebara had taken place that year whereinonly the clothes of the images had been changedand the wooden frames had been left untouched.The authorities had cancelled the ritual of NavaYouvana Darshan fearing that there could be alaw and order problem because of the hugecrowd. However, the authorities had not been ableto control the devotees. They remained rooted atthe four doors of the Temple, as a result of whichthe daily rituals of the deities could not beperformed. It was morning by the time the ritualscould be completed. The Badasinghara Bhogcould not be offered to the deities either. Thepriests had carried the Mahaprasad outsideacross the walls in pots tied to ropes. Most of thepots containing the Mahaprasad broke in theprocess and the pilgrims were put to muchinconvenience. The Vaishnavites and the Nagaascetics had snatched away the Mahaprasadwhen it was somehow being carried outside inloads. Even the Chariots were not ready by theSrigundicha Day (the day on which the Rath Yatrais held). By the time the Chariots were ready and

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the deities were placed on them, it was alreadymidnight. The Chariots were drawn on the dayafter the Srigundicha Day. Though the Rath Yatrawas scheduled to be held on the fifteenth of themonth, the Chariots had not yet reached theGundicha Temple till the nineteenth. BalabhadrasChariot reached on the twentieth while that of SriJagannath reached only on the twenty first of themonth. The next Nabakalebara which had takenplace in 1912 was the first of the twentieth century.Though the Chariots of Balabhadra and Subhadrareached the Gundicha Temple on the day of theRath Yatra, the Chariot of Sri Jagannath reachedonly the day after. In the following Nabakalebaraof 1931, there was a lot of confusion and disorder.In this connection, the newspaper Utkal Dipikahad noted: The Chariots did not move at all onthe Srigundicha Day this year. It was alreadyevening by the time the deities moved out of theTemple (Pahandi Bijea ritual of carrying theLords down the 22 steps inside the Temple,leading to the Lions Gate). People had waitedsince morning on an empty stomach to see thePahandi Bije and thus they suffered a great deal.Moreover, the police acted ruthlessly in order tomaintain law and order.

The atrocities of the police had increasedfurther during the Nabakalebara held in 1950.There was a confrontation between the Sadhusand the police during the Rath Yatra that year.The police beat up the Sadhus mercilessly andthis led to the Sadhus from outside the State toleave Odisha immediately. The Utkal Dipikarecords that about 18,000 Sadhus from fourcommunities had come to the Rath Yatra held in1893 but since the confrontation between theSadhus and police in the Rath Yatra of 1950following the Nabakalebara that same year, veryfew Sadhus came to see the subsequentNabakalebaras. But the mismanagementwitnessed in the next Nabakalebara in 1977 had

crossed all limits. The Rath Yatra of theNabakalebara was held on 18 July. Pahandi Bijewas scheduled to be held at 9 a.m. and theceremonial sweeping of the Chariot (ChheraPanhara) by the Gajapati Maharaja of Puri wasexpected to be completed by 2 p.m. However,Pahandi Bije got started only at 2 p.m. that dayand was completed at 5 p.m. And ChheraPanhara was done at 6.30 p.m. As a result,Balabhadras Chariot was pulled only a few feetjust for the sake of observing the rituals. Lakhs ofdevotees returned disappointed and hungry. As ifthis was not enough, six wheels of BalabhadrasChariot broke after it had been pulled for a shortdistance the next day.

It was eleven in the night by the time thewheels were put back in shape. In the process,lakhs of devotees returned disheartened afterwaiting for two days to pull the Chariots. Thematter had caused much anguish among thegeneral public. The Government had been indictedfor all this mismanagement. The newspapers andmagazines had severely condemned theGovernment for not being able to conduct the RathYatra smoothly and for paying scant attention tothe safety and comforts of the pilgrims. It hadbeen alleged that the indifference and lack ofsincerity which the Government had displayed wasinexcusable.

It was only obvious that such apathy ofthe Government would be raised in the LegislativeAssembly. A great deal of pandemonium waswitnessed when the matter was discussed there.Members of the Opposition as well as theTreasury Benches demanded judicial andadministrative probe into the matter. Eventually,the Government had to bow down to the pressureand a one-man commission constituting JusticeBalakrushna Patra, retired Judge of Orissa HighCourt, was appointed as per the provisions of

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the Commission of Enquiries Act of 1957. TheCommission had taken evidence of 69 personsand come out with a 829 page report. The conflictsbetween the priests and the administrators as wellas other kinds of mismanagement were clear fromthe report.

Evidently, what turned out to be the majorreason leading to all the mismanagement was thatthe bahutas or wooden planks made from thewood of the Baula tree, which were needed assupport at the back to bind the images with layersof clothes before they started on their journey,had not arrived on time. As a result, the imagescould not be made ready for the journey and thePahandi Bije was delayed in the process. Again,the jewels worn by the deities on the foreheadsare removed before the journey and replaced withimitation accessories made of cork. These arebrought from three different places for the threedeities. However, only one music band had beenengaged to escort the materials from the threedifferent places. This too took a great deal of timewhich in turn delayed the ceremonial sweeping ofthe Chariots. The enquiry also revealed aridiculous event that had taken place at that time.Someone had telephoned the office of theJagannath Temple just before the Chhera Panharathat the Gajapati Maharaja would not come toperform the ritual if he was not paid one lakhrupees. So when the Collector of Puri asked himabout it, the Maharaja refuted the chargevehemently and immediately set forth to performthe ritual. But it was already dark by the time theritual was completed and it was not possible todraw the Chariots. The Chariot of Balabhadrahad been drawn only a few paces, just for thesake of the customary ritual.

Keeping in view all the drawbacks of theearlier Nabakalebaras, Chief Minister JanakiBallav Patnaik had taken every precaution from

the very beginning to make the Nabakalebara andthe Rath Yatra of 1996 a resounding success. Hehad initiated preparations in this directionimmediately after taking charge as the ChiefMinister for the third time in 1995. The firstmeeting of the high level Review Committee setup for this purpose had been held on 14 October1995 in the Conference Hall of the DistrictMagistrate of Puri. The Chief Minister hadpresided over the meeting and said, about 20 to25 lakh people are likely to assemble at Puri asthe Nabakalebara would take place after 19 longyears. The priests have to ensure from nowonwards that nothing goes wrong at the time. Allkinds of precautions must be taken to avoid arepetition of the mismanagement that had takenplace during the Nabakalebara of 1977.

The first meeting for the Nabakalebaraof 1996 had been held on 5 August 1995, almosta year ahead of the Rath Yatra. Presided over bythe Gajapati Maharaja, a detailed discussionregarding the Nabakalebara was held in thismeeting of the Temple Administration Committee.Another meeting of the district level officers hadbeen held on 21 August as per the direction ofthe State Government. The District Magistrate ofPuri had presided over that meeting. Twenty threesuch meetings had been held between 5 August1995 and 26 May 1996. The Chief Ministerhimself had presided over the meeting held on 14October 1995 at Puri and later at the StateSecretariat on 25 May 1996. Besides these,several Review Committees had met in phasesunder the Chairmanship of the District Magistrateof Puri, the Revenue Divisional Commissioner, theChief Secretary, etc. to remove all kinds ofbottlenecks to ensure the smooth conducting ofthe Nabakalebara.One of the main reasons forthe delay in the Pahandi Bije in the Rath Yatra of1977 was that the bahutas (planks made fromwood of the Baula tree) had not reached in time.

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Hence this time round, the Chief Minister hademphasized right from the beginning that stepswere to be taken for the procurement of allnecessary materials at the right time. A meeting ofthe priests had been convened by the JagannathTemple Administration on 8 September 1995.And the District Magistrate of Puri had presidedover the meeting. Similarly, two meetings had beenheld on 7 September and 25 December with therepresentatives of the Daitapatis, who were specialpriests. A detailed discussion about thepreparations was held during these two meetings.Extended discussions had also taken place in themeetings of the Administration Committee heldon 8 August, 28 October and 26 December.

Wood is one of the major items neededfor the Rath Yatra and a total of 862 pieces ofwood of different types and sizes are needed forthe purpose every year. However, in the case ofthe Nabakalebara Rath Yatra, the horses,charioteers, brake wood, barricades of theChariots and side deities (Parsva Devata) arenewly built. So a further 128 pieces of Neemwood and 23 pieces of Sal wood are needed forthe purpose. Emphasis had been placed in thereview meetings to ensure that all the wood arrivedat the right time. As a result, 879 pieces of woodhad already arrived by the time the secondCoordination Committee met on 21 May 1996.Only nine pieces of Phasi wood were yet to arrive.The authorities also made sure that no untowardevent would take place because of inferior qualityof wood. The wood pieces had been carefullyexamined and 20 pieces of unsuitable wood hadbeen replaced. The Divisional Forest Officers(DFOs) of Nayagarh, Khurda and Boudh hadbeen requested to provide the 128 pieces ofNeem wood that were needed. However, theyhad expressed their inability to do so. Hence, theDFOs of Athgarh, Sambalpur and Sundargarhwere requested to arrange for the same. But the

DFO of Athgarh alone had intimated that hewould be able to provide only five pieces. Therest 123 pieces had been collected from privateindividuals.

The ropes to pull the Chariots and thecloth to cover them were other essentialrequirements. The Kerala State Coir Board hadbeen requested to supply 12 new ropes eventhough there were 15 ropes in stock. This hadbeen undertaken as a precautionary measure. Inview of the possibilities of a mammoth gatheringat the time of the Rath Yatra, steps had been takento ensure that there would be no problem whenthe Chariots were pulled. Similarly, the OdishaTextile Mills had been requested in advance tosupply quality cloth to cover the Chariots.

Other essential items required at the timeof the Nabakalebara include sandalwood, musk,resin and silk cloth. For the first time, the ForestDepartment of the Government of Karnataka hadbeen requested to supply three kilograms ofsandalwood of the best quality. The ChiefConservator of Forests of the Government ofKarnataka had given written assurance that hewould take necessary steps to supply good qualitysandalwood at a reasonable price.Ordinarily, therewere uncertainties regarding the availability ofmusk at the time of the Nabakalebara. About1100 grams of musk is required for the purpose.Obtained from the musk deer, musk is a fragrantsubstance which also acts as an insecticide andprevents moss. Hence, musk is used to colourand decorate the deities. More musk is neededat the time of Nabakalebara as new images aremade at the time. Traditionally, the royal family ofNepal has had a close association with theJagannath Temple. Therefore, the King of Nepalhad the privilege to offer a special puja in thePuri Temple. The King also provided the muskneeded by the Jagannath Temple over the years.

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Hence, a letter had been written to the King ofNepal to provide the excess musk needed at thetime of the Nabakalebara. However, the King ofNepal had banned the hunting of the musk deeras it was an endangered species. As a result, theKing informed that it would not be possible onhis part to provide the musk. But the priests fromNepal who were residing in Puri had some muskwith them. They had been gifted the musk bypilgrims from Nepal. The musk needed for theNabakalebara had thus been collected partly fromthem and partly from the open market. Similarly,the Tribal Development Cooperative Corporationhad been asked to supply ten quintals of resinneeded for the Nabakalebara. The Odisha StateTussar and Silk Cooperative Society had beenasked to supply eight quintals of Basungi Silk cloth.In this manner, steps had been taken much inadvance to collect all the necessary items. It hadbeen ensured that there would be no problem inconducting the Nabakalebara and the Rath Yatrain a smooth manner.

The Chief Minister was aware of the factthat a proper coordination between the TempleAdministration and the priests was highly essentialfor the smooth conducting of the Rath Yatra. Allkinds of problems had arisen in the previousNabakalebara because of a lack of coordinationbetween the two. However, Chief Minister JanakiBallav Patnaik was in direct contact with therepresentatives of the priests to monitoreverything.

As a result, there were no deviations fromthe time-schedule prepared by the TempleAdministration Committee at a meeting held underthe Chairmanship of the Gajapati Maharaja on29 June 1996. All the rituals connected with theNabakalebara had been completed as per thetime schedule without any interruption. A recordcrowd of 12 lakh people had assembled that day

in Puri to witness the Nabakalebara Rath Yatra.Chief Minister Janaki Ballav Patnaik himself waspresent among the devotees and he had joinedthem in pulling the Nandighosha, the Chariot ofSri Jagannath, from the Lions Gate to theGundicha Temple. All the Chariots had reachedthe Gundicha Temple before sunset. This wassomething that had never happened earlier. Thepilgrims had been extremely satisfied thateverything had gone according to schedule.

And thus, the last Nabakalebara of thecentury concluded with pomp and ceremonybecause of the blessings of Lord Jagannath andthe untiring efforts of all ranging from the CMofficials of different departments and theirsubordinates, the then District Magistrate, thetemple administration as well as the servitors.

People of Odisha expect that the comingNabakalebara would make Odias proud of theirrich tradition, heritage and culture. The lastNabakalebara of last century had become alandmark in the history of management of thisfestival. It is hoped that its celebrations in 2015would extend the standard of Nabakalebarfestivities to new heights. Mr. Naveen Patnaik isagain leading Odisha for the fourth time with agreater mandate and support of Odias. Till nowhe has succeeded in governance. TheNabakalebara of 2015 would surely be a greatchallenge before the CM. We all hope he wouldbe able to meet the challenge and set newstandards of management of much awaitedNabakalebara festival.

Asit Mohanty, 4R, , Unit-3, Bhubaneswar-751001,E-mail: [email protected].

the last nabakalebara

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