Snan-yatra festival of Lord Jagannath (Simantadwip)

[Guest guest]

Snan-yatra or the Lords' bathing festival takes place 14 days before

ratha-yatra. During the 14 days period the temple remains closed for darsana

on the plea that jagannatha Swami has caught a cold. It also enables the

Deities to be repainted, or renewed. Still others say that the reason that

Lord Jagannatha feigns sickness is to take a break from the thousands and

thousands of people who visit puri everyday, most of who are asking, " Lord

Jagannatha,please fulfill my desires, give me this, give me that." So Lord

takes it easy for couples of weeks, and along with his brother and sister

they peacefully enjoy fine sweet preparations and nectar drinks made

cream,molasses and invigorating herbs.

 

Once, before this temple came to our care, one Gaudiya math devotee from

Puri came to visit the birthplace of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and while in

Mayapur he inquired if there were any Jagannath deities in the locality. He

was directed to Simantadwip where he had darshan of these wonderful deitys.

That night the Lord appeared in the dream of that fortunate devotee and

submitted " they don't give us much food to eat here, if you could arrange

for a feast for us, atleast once a year, snan yatra is coming is coming soon

that would be a suitable day". So since that time a big feast has been

offered on that day. Actually it was the biggest festival of the year and

since ISKCON has taken over the management of the temple, we decided to

increase the festival by taking a procession from Mayapur Chandrodaya

Mandir. Many hundreds of devotees take their bath in the Ganga and fill up a

clay pot, then balancing it one their heads proceed to walk to the Jagannath

Mandir being led by our elephant "Gulab Kali" and a kirtan party. As soon as

the devotees arrive, the Deities are placed on a marble "snan-vedi" bathing

platform which has been erected in Their garden The whole area is covered by

a pandal to protect from the hot sun, and hundreds of devotees bath Them

with Ganga water or milk. This goes on for a few hours until the Deities go

back to Their temple, where They are dressed in the hati-vesha (elephant

dress), and offered a sumptuous feast and aroti ceremony.. After aroti,

mahaprasadam khichari, subji and sweet rice is served in the mango grove to

the many thousands of devotees and visitors who keep arriving, and the

serving goes on and on until the darkness of night brings to a close.

 

Because many people are curious to know why Lord Jagannath, Baladev are

dressed in elephant costumes, we add this story. Ofcourse anyone you may ask

in Puri, will give a slight variation or even a completely different one

from this.

 

One time a great devotee of Ganesh was visiting the king of Puri, but was

reluctant to visit Lord Jagannatha's Temple as his principle was to only

worship Sri Ganesh. Lord Jagannath is non-different than Lord Visnu, Who is

the origin of all devatas coaxed the king, who finally persuaded him to

visit the temple. It was snan-yatra day, and as he stood before the Deities

he asked Lord Jagannath, "If You are what they say You are, Daru Brahman

(wooden Brahman), then kindly show to me that form of Ganesh, whom I

worship." Deciding to bestow His causeless mercy, Lord Jagannath transformed

Himself into the form of Ganesh, to the great astonishment and delight of

His most fortunate devotee.