Chariot Festival in Mahesh

The beautiful and refreshing rainy season reminds us the famous Rathayatra Festival of our country India. It is an important religious festival of Eastern India specially of Orissa and West Bengal. The most famous and colourful Rathayatra ( A colourful procession of chariot with idols of Sri Jagannath, Sri Balaram and Subhadra, three God and Goddess in Hindu mythology) takes places in Puri of Orissa. The chariot festival of other places originated subsequently following the pattern and tradition of Puri Rathayatra. The Rathayatra of Mahesh in the Hooghly district of West Bengal is more than 600 years old. It is the second most famous Rathayatra only next to that of puri. Nearly two to three lakh people assemble in Mahesh every year to witness Rathayatra. Lord Jagannath goes to the Gundicha temple and take rest there till return journey which is called ‘ULTARATH’.

Famous Bengali novelist Bankim ch. Chatterjee gave reference of the Rathayatra of Mahesh in his novel ‘Radharani’. Many renowned personalities of Bengal like Srichaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Ramakrishnadev, Dramatist Girish ch. Ghosh, Natyacharya Sisir Bhaduri and also Rabindranath Tagore came to this holy place on the occasion of Rathayatra.

Jagannath, Subhadra & Balaram

Jagannath temple

A brief history of the Mahesh Rathayatra is as follows:

Nearly about 614 years ago a saint named Drubananda went to Puri from West Bengal and wanted to offer ‘Bhoj’ (cooked food) cooked by himself to Lord Jagannath. But priests of the Sri Jagannath temple denied him the permission to do so. Infact, he was thrown out of the temple. The saint felt extreme pain in his mind and he decided to end his life by starvation. On the third night of his fasting Lord Jagnnath came into his dream and told him to break his fast and asked him to return back to Mahesh. Lord Jagannath also told the saint that he would get a Daru-Brahma (Neem-trunk) to be carried in by the current of the holy river the Ganga. Drubananda came back to Mahesh and on one stromy night he spotted the neem-trunk floating on the Ganga. He collected the wood and made the idols of Sri Jagannath, Sri Balaram and Subhadra from that neem-trunk. Temple of Jagannath was founded in Mahesh on the bank of the Ganga and Rathayatra began from that time. After his death the charges of the temple was handed-over to Kamalakar Pipolai a disciple of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprobhu. Infact, Srichaitanya Mahaprobhu came to meet Drubananda in his death bed. From that time the decendant of Kamalakar Pipolai family have been serving Lord Jagannath.

Chaitanyalila is depicting here

In every year in the month of July, two days after the new-moon Lord Jagannath come out of the temple to go to ‘Masibari’ by Chariot with a colourful procession. Many devotees pull the chariot. Initially the chariot was made of wood. But accidentally one day it caught fire and was destroyed. The present chariot made of steel with wooden deck was donated by a rich man Krishna ch. Bose of Shyambazar of North Kolkata. Till-date this Bose family of shyambazar bear the whole expenditure of the annual Rathayatra. This four-storied chariot is 50ft in height and it has twelve iron wheels. The chariot is decorated with colourful paintings. In the ground floor you can see the pictures depicting chaitanyalila. In the first-floor one can find paintings of Krishnalila. The second floor is decorated with paintings of Ramalila and in the third-floor the throne of Lord Jagannath is placed.

Gundicha temple

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu explained to his devotees about the significance of Rathayatra. Lord Krishna killed his maternal-uncle ‘Kansa’ and became the prince of the Mathura. Once Gopinis of ‘Braja’ (Vrindaban) came to Mathura to meet Lord Krishna. They were very much surprised seeing the wealth of Krishna. They were also dissapoint for not being able to interact intimately with their beloved Krishna. Lord Krishna noticed the feelings of Goppinis. In order to pacify the anger of Gopinis Lord Krishna came out of his palace and went to the house of one of his Gopinis ‘Purnomasi’ and stayed at Vrindaban for nine day with all other Gopini’s. During this period Lord Krishna was called Gopinath, the master (Nath) of Gopini’s. After nine days Lord Krishna returned back to his palace in Mathura. This mythological story is repeated every year through the festival of Rathayatra of Lord Jagannath.

I visited Mahesh in this July 2011 just a day before ULTARATH (return journey). I could not see the procession of the Chariot. Mela ground was also closed at that time. But I saw the preparations of “UTARATH” and visited Gundicha tempel, Sri Jannath temple and also Sri Jagnnath Ghat.

Old Jagannath Ghat

 

Kali temple in old Jagannath Ghat

Shiva temple

New Jagannath Ghat