On the full moon day of the month of Jyestha, something peculiar happens – a god falls ill. For the 15 days of his sickness, a painting substitutes him. Therein lies the origin of the ancient Pattachitra art of Odisha.
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A God’s Mother : Karama
It was when the King Nrupa Keshari ruled over ancient Odisha. Historians think that the years are 852–857. Karama, the old Marathi woman lived in one of Puri’s mutts. It had been a long time since she’d been there. She had come to Puri to search for her missing husband and look at Jagannatha, but hadn’t […]
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A Pangram in Odia
A pangram is a sentence containing all the letters of the language it is written in. I tried making one in Odia.
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Missionaries and Jagannatha
I recently came across a book called ‘The Wesleyan Juvenile Offering’. Multiple editions of this book are on Google Books, in case you would like to have a look. Curiously, there’s a bit about Jagannatha and the Dola Jatra of Puri. Without further ado, here’s what he says. Note that the author hasn’t actually said anything […]
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Raghunatha Besa
Jagannatha has many Besas (special attires), somewhere around thirty. Some of them are done on a daily basis. Others are done on a special day each year. Yet others are done based on specific astronomical conjunctions- in which case the Besa may be done every five years or every ten years. By this point, we have only three […]
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Witness Krishna
At half an hour’s distance from Puri is the town of Satyabadi, dense with Bakula trees. Almost a decade ago, Shilpa Shetty had landed in trouble here. A century ago, a school established in these forests revolutionised Odisha’s education scenario. A few millenia ago, a temple built here gave the place its identity. The quite […]
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Bira Singha and Odia mysticism
The mystic Bira Singha and his metaphorical chautisa.
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Teaching a God
Jagannatha, although god, has a teacher.
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Where the garland fell
Nemala, Kendrapada Achyutananda, one of the Pancha-Sakha (the five great saints in 15th century Odisha) wanted to establish an ashrama. Hence, it was decided that Achyuta would be given an agyāñ–māla of Jagannath as per the ancient tradition. Where the garland fell would be the chosen spot. And so, Achyuta was given a lotus garland of Jagannatha. He took […]
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Tale of a Tantric
What happens when a seer uses his occult powers to violate the rules of the Jagannatha temple? When Lord Jagannatha is bathed with a hundred and eight pots of sacred water on the occasion of the Snana Jatra, he falls ill with a fever. And so he is unable to grant his sight, darshan to his […]
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The Elephant Attire
Every year on the full moon day of the Odia month of Jyestha, the Jagannatha triad come out of the temple’s inner sanctum for the annual Snana Jatra. After the ritual bath, the deities are dressed in the Gajanana/Hati Besa, the elephant attire. The story behind this costume has been recounted in the ancient text of Dardhyata […]
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The Lotus Attire
Odisha was a land of great rulers- great kings, warriors and patrons of the arts. Towards the last part of the tenth century, ruled the King Udyota Keshari. During the period of that great ruler, lived Manohar Das, a great sadhu. He had spent his entire life meditating on the Mahendra range. He lived in the village of […]
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Price of a Paan
A millionaire wants to offer a single food worth a lakh, but a single paan ends up being too costly for him to bear.
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At the Break of Dawn
How the ancient temple of Jagannatha wakes up and springs to activity each morning.
Champu or Champu-Kavya (ଚମ୍ପୂ) is a genre in Indian Literature originated from Sanskrit. It consists of a mixture of prose (Gadya-Kavya ଗଦ୍ୟକାବ୍ୟ) and poetry passages (Padya-Kavya ପଦ୍ୟକାବ୍ୟ) with verses interspersed among prose sections. In simple words, a typical and unusual form of words, which is partly prosaic and partly poetic is known as Champu. In the Odia Champu composition, a […]