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Lord Jagannathas festivals are designed in such a way that for every
season he has got something special to celebrate. To curtail the
effect of the scorching heat of summer lord Jagannath used to take
dip in the water mixed with chandan i.e sandal wood paste and
favoured with Jasmine and take rounds in the a special pond called
Narendra Sarobar on Swan shaped boats called Chapa. This is called
Chandan Yatra.It is observed in the famous shrine of Lord Jagannatha
at Puri followed by similar other shrines of Orissa. The festival,
starting from "Akshyaya Trutiya", lasts for twenty-one days and is
held in the month of 'Baisakh or Vaishaka' when summer heat is at
its peak in Orissa. In most of the Vishnu as well as Shiva temples
this is celebrated with much pomp and splendor. |
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This festival starts with Akshaya tritiya
and on this day the construction of chariots also starts for
Rathayatra.It is most elaborately observed in Puri and attracts
thousands of pilgrims from far and near. On all the twenty-one days
the entire road from the shrine of Lord Jagannatha leading up to the
"Narendra Sarobar" (a sacred tank in Puri town) along with the
houses on both sides is decorated. At some places, especially in
front of 'Maths' (monasteries) or at cross-roads big 'toranas'
(arches) are erected. Here the idols take casual rest and receive
offerings The representative images of the deities installed in
temples such as "Madanmohana" (representing Lord Jagannatha), "Laxmi"
and "Saraswati" are taken in a richly decorated palanquin by the 'Sevakas'
accompanied by priests, musicians and dancers to the Narendra
Sarobar at night.
The tank is decorated with lights and
flowers. Thousands of spectators jam-packed all around in
expectation of the arrival of the procession of deities. On well
decorated palanquins or Dolis called as Vimanas comes the first set
of deities Laxmi,Saraswati and Madanmohan.In the next set two
deities Rama and Krishna comes and in the third set adorning in five
vimanas comes the five representatives of lord Siva or chalanti
pratimas of Siva named as Panchu Pandav.
After reaching the Narendra Sarobar, the
idols are then placed in small cubical water tanks of about 1 ft by
1ft.These tanks are filled with water flavored in sandalwood paste
and jasmine and some other favoring articles.After resting a while
the deities are placed on different well-decorated boats and they
are rowed for a long time by the Sevakas. During the rowing ceremony
'Devadasis' (temple-dancers) dance and sing on the boat.
Generally, the colours chosen for the boats
are red and white and they are so designed to look like huge swans
floating on water. The peculiarity of the ceremony is that
Madanmohana with Laxmi and Saraswati rides on the white coloured
raft where-as Ramakrishna with "Pancha Shivas" rides the red one.
All the deities on the boat take several rounds in the water, which
continue till early hours of the morning and then retire to the
respective shrines. The last day of the festival is called "Bhaunri"
('Bhramari' or circle) when special elaborate arrangements are made.
Most of the important festivals of Lord
Jagannatha at Puri are also followed in all other important shrines
of Orissa. Following tradition of the Puri the idols are taken out
in procession on palanquins to the nearby tanks and take rounds in
water on boats. In all such temples it is observed only for the last
three days. After the ceremony, which usually takes place at
mid-night, people enjoy performances of dance, drama and music
specially arranged for this occasion.
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