Puri Chariot Festival Includes Stop at Mulsim Saint's Tomb

krsna · June 22, 2004

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PURI, ORISSA, INDIA, June 19, 2004: The mammoth wooden chariots of a

Hindu temple in this Indian town Saturday made a reverential customary

halt before the tomb of a Muslim saint. Underscoring the traditional

Hindu-Muslim amity of this temple town, the chariots drawn by thousands

of Hindu devotees on their annual ceremonial journey from Lord

Jagannath temple to another shrine, Gundicha, stopped for a few minutes

before the tomb of Salabeg, a devotee of the deity. Born in the 17th

century to Muslim father and Hindu mother, Salabeg became a popular

Oriya poet singing devotional songs to Lord Jagannath, though he could

never enter the temple to worship the deity as only Hindus are allowed

in. Having been born to Muslim father, he was considered a Muslim. He

spent his last days close to the temple where his tomb was built.

The chariots named Nandighosh, Taladhwaja and Padmadhwaja, reached the

tomb after rolling through the city's street known as Bada Danda or

great grant road. Legend has it that Salabeg who went on a pilgrimage

had fallen sick. He could not return in time to see his lord on the

chariots and cried out in anguish from 750 miles away. He prayed to the

lord to tarry a while on the Bada Danda till he reached back. Devotees

believe the compassionate lord stayed on his chariot, which could not

be moved an inch forward till Salabeg arrived in Puri and joined the

devotees in prayer. Since then the chariots have been making a halt as

a token of respect to the Muslim poet, Niranjan Dev, an expert on

Jagannath legend, told IANS.

A large number of Salabeg's devotional songs popular in the state are

also recited every morning at the temple even today, he said. The

family of Mohammad Jamirullah in Remanda village of Jharsuguda district

has been organising the chariot festival of Lord Jagannath for six

decades. Muslim residents of another village, Narayanpur in Subarnapur

district, 310 km from here, also join Hindus in preparing for the

chariots for the festival that saw a gathering of over one million

people.

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