Kaliya of Puri

[Guest guest]

Kaliya

 

The Lord of Creation condescended to allow us to see His simple but arguably the

most bewitching form in the last week of December 2009.

From the domain of Sri Ranganatha we travelled north east to the Srikshetra or

Sankhakshetra or Purushottamakshetra, choose your pick.

There is a direct train from Trichy that masquerades as an express. We reached

Bhubaneshwar three hours late. The next day we left for Puri which is roughly

two hours by road.

It isn't easy to get good food, sattvika aahara, in Puri. Puri can be called a

binary town. Lord Jagannath's temple and a clean long beach are the two elements

you get there.

We reached His temple late in the after noon. The first thing that strikes one

is the huge road leading upto the temple. It is the widest road we have ever

seen near a temple. Vehicles are not allowed near the entrance and one has to

walk roughly 1.5-2 km from the point of disembarkment.

This the path on which the world famous Rath Yatra takes place. The three

massive chariots of Balabadra, Subadra and Jagannath are pulled by lakhs of

devotees. It is the most amazing spectacle one can see. The word juggernaut : a

massive inexorable force that seems to crush everything in its way, is derived

from Jagannath and His ratha.

It is Vaikunta Ekadasi and the crowd is asphyxiating. Surprisingly no special

events are being held. This temple follows an agama, if one can call that, all

its own. It seems to be a mixture of Pancharatra, Tantra etc etc.

At the entrance there is a exquiste stone pillar, Aruna Stambha. Aruna the

charioteer of the Sun god is Garuda's elder brother. This geenish stone pillar

was at the awesome Sun temple of Konarak and was transported here a few

centuries back. To the best of our meagre knowledge no other Vishnu temple has

Aruna stambha.

Washing our feet by walking through steps were water is kept flowing we reach

the entrance and then climb up 22 steps to the eastern Simhadwara flanked by two

magnificent stone lions. To our right is the world famous(everything here is

world famous!) Ananda bazaar where the prasada is given to the devotees.

Unfortunately the prasada stalls are all closed. There is a stale mate between

the " suars " the cooks, and the priests, the pandas. As always it is about filthy

money. The cooks go to the extent of preventing the officials from opening the

gates. This is unheard of, a first in the history of this much ravaged temple.

It is our bad luck that we happen to be there on that particular day. That too

on a Vaikunta Ekadasi! Lord Jagannath who is fondly called Kaliya by all in

Orissa, is in a playful mood and showcases the cupidity of His servants to the

world at large.

Caveat : The Puri temple is infested with parasites in the form of these pandas.

They are the most hated group of people in Puri. People from all classes be it a

taxi driver or a owner of a swank hotel or state honoured artist all are

unanimous on one point: the avariciousness of the pandas. Most are rich beyond

the dreams of an ordinary person but they are still greedy. Most of the big

hotels on the beach front are owned by these men of God but they pester one and

all for money incessantly in the temple.The paradox is that Oriya people by

nature are very polite and helpful to strangers and are very amiable. Pandas

seem to be the exception that proves the rule.

It seems Lord Jagannath tests us by trying to spoil our equanimity while we try

to worship Him, by making these pandas badger us for a few coins and notes. A

frequent visitor to this temple advised us not to even look at the pandas and to

keep going as the flow of the crowd will surely deposit us at the feet of Lord

Jagannath and His siblings.

As we enter the portal we have the first glimpse of our Lord. He has stationed

Himself at this gate beyond which no non-Hindu can progress. One of the kings of

yore converted to another religion to safe guard our Lord. For his sake Kaliya

positioned Himself here. Here He goes by the wondeful name Patitapavana, one who

emancipates the transgressors.

For first timers this is like a trailer. Here one sees an exact replica of the

image in the sanctum, though much smaller. For the first time one is mesmerised

by the huge round eyes which seem to follow you and which see everything. On

either side Nrisimha and Hanuman bless us.

We enter the temple proper and hurriedly take in the surroundings. The red sand

stone walls have sculptures that are exquisite. We are shoved, pushed and pulled

around a pipal tree and other minor sancta and then enter the main sanctum. We

are pushed to our left and a huge bamboo log impedes our progress. A panda with

thin canes in his hand gently taps us and asks us to wait. We are told that

under trying circumstances these canes are used to lash devotees.

One must thank our Lord for everything, but especially for being tall. Over the

crowd we have our first glimpse, in this life, of the magnificent Lord of all

creation, Jagannath. He seems to be all eyes. We cannot tear our eyes away from

those huge round circles that seem to directly look at one. In the black face

those eyes are hypnotic.

We are still about fifty metres away. The bamboo log is still horizontal. The

path, from where we stand goes steadily downwards. Our Lord is at the left and

is the cynosure of all eyes.Everybody around us are raising their hands, with

the palms facing forwards, high above their heads. We do the same, our first

salute to Kaliya.

Our batch is allowed to go forwards, underneath the bamboo. It seems that we are

on a conveyer belt and soon reach the sanctum sanctorum where the huge " rathna

simhasana " a massive stone platform is to be seen with seven deities on it. Four

of these are huge and the other three small, sure to be missed during the first

visit.

At the right is Balabadra, 84 inches tall and white in color. " ...sempor kazhal

adi selva Baladeva... " as Andal sang in Thiruppavai. He too has huge eyes but

they are quadrilateral not round. He is Balarama the elder brother of Krishna

and is considered an " amsa " of Shiva here in Puri. His two arms project forwards

from just below the huge face and he is without any discernable lower limbs.The

arms project to the sides, the elbow is bent to a right angle and the forearm

extends forwards. Hands are conspicuous by their absence. With a multihued

princely turban He is really handsome to look at. He has an infectious smile.

In the middle between her two awesome brothers is a demure Subadra who is

limbless. She is a few inches short and is doll like and beautiful to look at.

She is dressed as befits a princess and has a lovely smile.Here in Puri, she

represents Brahma.

To her left is Jagannath. He is black and is of the same shape and size as

Balabadra. He has huge perfectly circular eyes, that earns him the name

Chakradhol. We are reminded of the verse from Balamukundashtakam:

Lambalakam lambita harayeshtim, sringara leelankit danta panktim

Bimbadharam charu vishala netram, balam mukundam manasa smarami

His face is shaped like a broad wedge. The base is at the back. The leading edge

slopes downwards and forwards and ends at the tip of the slightly upturned nose.

The huge eyes are on either side of the wedge. Below the nose the edge is no

more and on the downward and backward sloping surface one can see the upturned

coralline lips.

He has an impish smile and is very cute to look at. He has a nose ring that is

shaped like a long inverted tear drop that adds to His charm. With His

outstretched arms it appears as if He is about to come forward and embrace us.

He too has no hands but chakra and sankha are drawn on the circular ends of the

forearm. Out of their own accord our eyes keep going to Kaliya, ignoring

Balabadra and Subadra. This icon of our Lord, believed to have been designed

initially by Vishwakarma himself, is masterfully uncomplicated but immensely

captivating. Here we retreat, running out of adjectives.

Another apt sloka from Krishnashtakam:

Uthfulpadmapatraksham neel jeemooth shobitam

Yadavanam shiroratnam Krishnam vande jagathgurum

At His feet there is a smaller version about 24 inches tall. He too has those

magnificent round eyes.

To the left of Jagannath is a tall quadrilateral wooden column 84 inches high

and ending in a sharp point. This is the famed Sudarshana of Vishnu. Unusually

the divine discus of our Lord is in the form of a staff.

To us from the South, used to seeing idols that are life like, these vigrahas

are a bit confusing. They are almost child like in their simplicity. It is as if

a gifted child has carved some figures from wood. But Jagannath grows on you and

three days later when we are about to leave Puri we find it difficult to tear

ourselves away. Once you hear the stories of Kaliya you realise that He is

indeed Jagannath.

We are lucky enough to get the chance to circumambulate the " rathna simhasana " ,

the huge platform on which these awesome deities are staioned. The gap between

th platform and the wall is very narrow and dark. We come out to the right and

are pushed to the very feet of Jagannath. At such proximity He is really huge

and a bit frightening. The panda allows us to place our heads at the feet of our

Lord only when we deposit the money on his plate. Where else can one get so

close to our Lord?

We are told that when He starts off on His awesome Rath Yatra devotees are

allowed to touch Him and even embrace Him. This seems to be the " kashta " of

" soulabhya " the very limit of affability and accessibility. That then is the

whole point.

Our Lord has taken up a very uncomplicated toy like form and by His size and

those huge eyes can be seen by all from even afar. He is the only Bhagavan on

this earth who discards his old form and is buried and takes on a new body once

in 9,12 or 19 years.The previous instance was in 1996 and the next will be in

2014. It is called Navakelabera. Who can forget His famous discourse on the

battlefield when He explained to Arjuna how the jeevathma discards the old body

and takes on a new one, like a person throwing away his old clothes and putting

on new ones. He demonstrates that here in Puri.

Inspite of being paid in big denominations the panda asks for more. We get into

a tiff with him and it is some time before we are back on even keel. Meanwhile

he pushes us away angrily. We retreat in a huff but like in Tirupati, in reverse

gear. We keep looking at those bedazzling eyes and the playful smile till we are

deposited back in the bhoga mandapa. At the other end is a Garuda stamba and we

look at Kaliya from beneath Garuda. Later on realisation dawns that the argument

was totally needless. We must chant the " kama karishit manyo karishit " more

sincerely, daily.

When we come out it is about 5.45 pm. We notice that a crowd is seated in the

courtyard and seems to be growing by the minute. On asking, we are informed that

at about 6.30 pm two young lads will climb up the 218 ft vimana and change the

flags at the top. This is a thrilling spectacle and is done daily in the morning

and evening. Mind you there are no ladders or stairs. These intrepid lads climb

without any form of support, just by using the hand and footholds on the

intricately carved temple tower, vimana, Whew!

The main vimana over the sanctum sanctorum is shaped like a maize cob with a

doughnut shaped top. Superior to this is the flag staff on which triangular

flags are flown, saffron, white and blue in color. It has the emblem of a

crescent with a huge dot in the middle.Here one can see the 12 feet diameter

Sudarshana chakra called the Nila chakra. The three vimanas have chakras at the

top.

We sit down and are soon hemmed in. Jagannath wishes us to sit amidst His

devotees for a while. The ascent is delayed. Every one looks up eagerly but only

a juvenile monkey is seen and he/she climbs up effortlessly! Suddenly the crowd

exclaims collectively and we spot a young lad climbing up. He has multicolored

flags tied to his waist. He climbs easily making the monkey look clumsy. We wait

to see how he is going to negotiate the convex toroid top. It is childishly

easy(for him that is). There is a huge chain fixed at the top and bottom

spanning the bulge, which we notice only when he catches it. He shimmies up and

soon is at the base of the flagstaff.

The vox populi so to say, exclaims again as a second man is spotted climbing up.

He is to light a huge lamp at the top, as is the custom on Ekadasis. As we

mentioned before nothing special for Vaikunta Ekadasi here at Lord Jagannath's

domain.

The flags are changed and down below the crowd disperses. Pieces of these flags

can be had for, you guessed it pieces of silver, from the pandas. In Orissa

almost every vehicle has these pieces tied to the rearview mirror or the

steering or the front grille, some where on the vehicle.

As we waited for the climbers to arrive one of us went to the nearby office and

got a small box of prasada for 110 rupees. It contained puffed rice and some

sweet fried items. Thats all we got as the cooks are on strike. We enquired and

were relieved to hear that nivedya to our Lord went on as usual.

This is a huge temple(but small compared to Srirangam!) with lots of sancta. It

seems all the main streams of Sanatana Dharma are represented here. Sri has a

separate sanctum to herself and so has Bhudevi in the form of Vimala. Many

Nrisimha sancta are seen, in fact originally it is said that Lord Nrisimha was

the main deity.

Lord Jagannath is considered to be Krishna in the form of a lad. His naughtiness

has been sung by Oriya poets for ages. All the great acharyas of yore have

visited this temple and extolled His supremacy. Like Nammazhvar, Lord Chaitanya

fell down senseless when he came to worship Jagannath.

His favorite is Jayadeva the peerless author of Gita Govinda. In fact our Lord

wears clothes on which Gita Govinda has been stitched in. Like Vadivazhagiya

Nambi impersonated Ramanuja at Thirukurungudi, Jagannath once masqueraded as

Jayadeva when he was hesitating to pen the verse:

Smara garala khandanam

mama shirsi mandanam

Dehi pada pallava mudaram

He was hesitating because he felt that it would be inappropriate to write that a

Gopika placed her feet on Krishna's head. Kaliya came there when Jayadeva was

bathing, wrote these lines, had food served by the great poet's wife and

disappeared.

Out of jealousy a king once banned Jayadeva's songs. Far off in a village a farm

maid sang the nectarine Gita Govinda, unaware of the ban. Kaliya heard it and

mesmerised by the lass's voice followed her as she tended to the garden teeming

with thorny brinjal plants. So immersed was she in that lovely song that she was

unaware of the Lord of creation following her.Should we consider her as lucky or

unlucky?! The next day at our Lord's sanctum in Puri the pandas were horrified

to see that Kaliya's dresses were full of thorns. The Lord informed them as He

could listen to Gita Govinda only in a farm He had gone there. The king at once

revoked the ban.

Stories of Jagannath are many and fill one with awe at the utter simplicity and

friendliness of this form of the Supreme. Legends connected with the Rath Yatra

are countless.

The description and stories connected with Navakelabara are horripilating. A

giant book will be needed to describe these.

One thing is certain. We will visit Puri again and again. Hopefully during the

spectacular Rath yatra at least once.

Only He, Jagannath the Lord of all can grace us. All we can do is but wait...

Dr.S.Sundar Rajan Trichy.