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Rath Yatra - the Lord takes a bath in Puri

     Puri (Orissa): Thousands of devotees and tourists witnessed the ritual bath of the idols of Hindu deities in Puri on Wednesday. This annual ritual is conducted ahead of the world famous Rath Yatra (chariot festival) dedicated to the Lord Jagannath.The ten- day chariot festival, which begins from July 8, is being celebrated for the last 10 centuries. Amid the blowing of conches and beating of the cymbals, the giant limbless wooden images of three deities - Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Lord Balabhadra and sister Subhadra - were taken out of the temple and given bath by priests of the temple. The priests performed the ceremonial bath "Snanpurnima" also called "Shahi snan" or royal bath, consisting of one hundred and eight pitchers of herbal aromatic water, on the three deities draped in colourful traditional gear. Devotees and tourists witnessed the ceremony, one of country's biggest mass religious events. "This is one of the biggest celebrations we have for Lord Jagannath.

    It is said that we have 13 festivals in 12 months, and "snanpurnima" is our biggest festival. The idol of Lord Jagannath is taken out and bathed."Snanpurima" is very important for us as after this ritual, we cannot see the lord for 15 days," said Brinda, a devotee. Mythology has it that Lord Jagannath and the two other deities fall sick after the bath, so they take rest and only appear two weeks later, during this chariot festival.After the sacred bath ceremony, the three deities led by Lord Jagannath, Subhadra and Balaram are taken around in a procession around the town. The main ceremony of the ten-day event is the pulling of the three giant chariots by devotees. The journey is a round trip from the main temple to another nearby temple where the idols of the deities rest for seven days before their return to the main temple. At the termination of the ceremony, the chariots are broken up and used to manufacture religious relics. Every year, new chariots are made. The Jagannath temple, about 60 kilometres from Bhubaneswar, is one of the holiest places for all Hindus. According to Hindu believers, Lord Jagannath is the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the Preserver, one of the trinity of the Hindu pantheon.The other two are Brahma, the Creator and Shiva, the Destroyer. A special bath of Jagannath takes place on the Purnima of Jyestha month (Devasnan Purnima), to commemorate the appearance day of Lord Jagannath. According to Skanda Purana when Raja Indradyumna installed the wooden deities, he arranged this bathing ceremony. This day is considered as the birthday of Lord Jagannath.

    Held in the full- moon day of the month of Jyesth, this festival is also simultaneously held in all other important temples in Puri. 'Niladri Mohadaya', a religious text written in Orissan (Oriya) records the rituals of the festival. Sriharsa in his 'Naisadhiya Charita' (XV.89) also refers to this festival of Purushottama. This bathing ceremony has a special significance. As this festival does not find mention in the early religious texts, it is believed to be a tribal ceremony. Lord Jagannath in His early form was being worshipped as Nilamadhava by a Savara chief called Viswabasu. The story is narrated in the drama--Jagannath Priyan Natakam. Till now it is the Daitas and Savars (tribals) who have the exclusive right to conduct the festival. The tribals called Saoras (of southern Orissa) still bathe their deities ceremonially on the last day of the month of Jyestha. For this they collect water from remote jungles where it remains untouched even by the shadow of the animals. On the previous day of Snana Yatra, the images of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra along with the image of Sudarshana are ceremonially brought out from the sanctum in a procession to the snana-vedi (Bathing pandal). This special pandal in the temple precinct of Puri is called Snana Mandap. It is at such a height that visitors standing outside the temple also get a glimpse of the deities.
-June 23, 2005