Skip to main content

The Juggernaut Jagannath !!




Every year, the devotees from all over the world visit the 400 year Jagannath temple in Odisha. Here the pulling of the chariot heralds the beginning of the the renowned rath yatra. Lord Jagannath begins his journey with his elder brother,(Lord Balabhadra) and sister (Devi subhadra) from their abode, Shreemandir to Gundicha Temple.The three deities, who sit on the bejeweled throne known as the Ratnabedi, go on an annual vacation to their parental place. There is a ritual named the Pahindi Vidhi in which the idols of the gods are swayed rhythmically and hoisted majestically in the air by pandits. Here as the idols are brought outside in a queue,the devotees get a chance to participate in the 1.4 km long yatra. The procession of Lord Balabhadra is pulled first as he is the eldest and hence leads the brigade. While Lord Jagannath(being the small brother)'s chariot is pulled the last. Between the two is Subhadra Devi's chariot. Metaphorically, the sister moves well protected between the two brothers. 

Another interesting fact of this Rath Yatra is the colour of the idols. Balabhadra is white, Jagannath is black and Subhadra is yellow. These are symbolic of the prominent races of the world. Lord Jagannath, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, known to be moving the cycle of conservation. He monitors creation, protection and destruction. All these processes contribute to the transient theory of life.   
As Narendra Modi inaugurated the 135th Yatra this year, he prayed at Lord's feet for the progress and prosperity of his state.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

An exam, after all!

It is an exam, she had been told! Some meticulous planning, scheduling and studying Nothing she hadn't aced before School and college work had been rewarding It is yet another exam, after all! Like always, there shall be no stone unturned Read and write for long stretches Stretches and walks in short breaks Selective study as per the marks it fetches Just an exam, after all! More sweat in training meant less blood in battle Day and night wasn't as per the position of sun anymore Portions of syllabus covered decided its end Notes and questions more important than any chore Exam wont wait for her, it wont! This was the time to make things happen Revise and re-revise till facts form a chain A lot was left to summarise and memorise Till each detail has a GPS pin in the brain Exam was coming close, it was! Questions became black holes with no limits to depth Oh wait, not just the recollection and memory She also had to brush her writing skills How is today's politics affected ...

A girl like you

A frantic nudge on the back was enough to wake me up and disturb my deep peaceful slumber time. Before I realised, it was my sister who had seen a bad dream and wanted me to help her go back to sleep. I hugged her closer to myself and mumbled to her that tomorrow morning will be better than today. Within a few minutes, she was asleep on my arm and I kept looking at her 10-year old face for a long time. I wished, then, that she always remain this close to me as she was at that moment. Till now, my wish has unfolded into an eventful journey.  If I was gentle and all nice, she was all about sass, jazz and spice; If I was reserved and introverted, she was social and ‘Noddy’–incarnated;  If I liked uni-colour cloth patches, she carried shiny dresses with unmatched panache; If I found peace in nature and solitude, she preferred blaring music and lots of DJ dance; If I savoured plain idli and chutney, she gormandized on mysore masala dosa and spicy sambar. The two o...

Carpe Diem !!

Translation of the title : Cease the day!  I remember reading a dialogue from the comic Winnie the pooh which goes like this: Pooh: What day is it? Piglet: Today!! Pooh: Oh that's my favourite day! These cartoons though are meant for entertainment can actually teach us the priceless lessons of life. Pooh tells us all to the cease every moment and every minute! We all have a tendency to peep into the past- either too delighted by our achievements or too depressed by our failures. But we all know that past is history and future is mystery.  This summer has taught me how to have a new perspective of life and know my inner self. A new habit I have adopted is to smile the moment I get up because it helps me to begin my day with a new zeal. I read somewhere that we must all learn to focus on kriyas rather than karmas. Too ideal but absolutely true! Kriyas are the actions we do in the present while karmas are our deeds in the past. Our kriyas decide our future so ...