Nerve Endings Firing Away

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or email alerts. Thanks for visiting!

This will be the last in the series describing my wedding at Bhubhaneshwar although I’m resisting the urge to stretch it out and make it an even ten. Also, I wanted to write on my other experiences in India including the stereotypical what-has-changed, and of course, our other wedding reception in Thane which was held jointly with my brother’s reception. Probably I will write on those at a later time. I have been pestering Ash to write her version of India and wedding experiences but she simply refuses to citing lack of inclination or motivation. Or is there more to it?

After wrapping up our Konark Temple visit, we were already running late for our lunch. Ash’s four aunts had collaborated on that front and were supposed to meet us near Ramchandi Temple which is located right at the spot where river Khushabhadra meets the sea. Legend has it that when the Muslim invader, Kalapahad invaded this region he tried breaking into this temple to break the idol when he was met at the entrance by a maiden who offered to open the door. But she wished to wash her feet before doing so and as Kalapahad waited for her, she sneaked away and guess what, she in fact was the goddess. I am not sure if the idol sprang into life and ran away or the so-called goddess took the idol with her but these stories are always highly exaggerated but nevertheless fun to hear. Anyway, I didn’t enter the temple so I can’t tell you how it is from the inside. I was more interested in its scenic location and spent time taking photographs of the beach and other sights.

Before others went to the temple, we had the typical picnic lunch with a large mat spread out on raised platform. Ash’s aunts had brought lunch in this huge tiffin box which was in fact an outsized version of your regular steel tiffin box that every officer-goer in India is familiar with. Everyone was delighted that we even had chenna pod petta as dessert at the end of yet another scrumptious lunch. The Oriya khatirdari was certainly exceeding all expectations and even nitpickers couldn’t find much to complain. With hunger satiated, everyone was ready for Jagannath’s darshan.

Orissa’s flagship temple, the Jagannath Temple at Puri is actually a huge temple complex with more than 108 smaller temples within its boundaries. The gods, Jagannath, Subhadhra, and Balbhadhra are revered all across the state with intense devotion and you can see them depicted on almost every sign and banner in Puri. The story of the idols, which in fact are quite unique and different from other idols in India is quite interesting. Vishwakarma was chosen by King Indradyumna to sculpt the three idols from driftwood found on Puri beach, as instructed by Vishnu. Vishwakarma asked not to be disturbed for 21 days when he would sculpt the idols. The noises of his work ceased on the 20th days prompting the king to break into the inner chamber and he found Vishwakarma had vanished with the idols incomplete. Hence even to this day, the idol look incomplete especially as they just have outstretched stumps instead of arms. Given the form and nature of the idols, I believe the origins of the idols lie in the tribal worshiped areas of the states. The resemblance to other tribal and folk art is unmistakable. Also, the resemblance to those gigantic statues on Easter Islands is uncanny. This temple, like other major temples in India was also targeted many times by Muslim invaders (hence the ‘non-Hindus not allowed’ rule, we are told. Yup! That should stop them). More on the temple here.

Anyway, we couldn’t directly go to the temple as we were supposed to meet some people who would escort us inside. The guides were sent by Ash’s grandfather’s friend who was a judge in the High Court. So you see, knowing people in the right places is the key to hassle-free tourism in India. We would later realize the importance of these guides. Due to its popularity, wait times can be insanely long and even then, the pondas i.e. the ill-behaved priests trouble (and fleece) you a lot especially if you are non-Oriya. We spent our evening at Puri beach and I was actually surprised to see the sun set near the sea albeit a corner of the coast because this was the East coast (you don’t see the sun rise over the sea in Mumbai, do you?). The beach was clean and had your regular share of camels, crowds in water, muddhi-sellers (Oriya chaat), and other assortment of hawkers selling all kinds of goods.

Finally as it got dark, we headed toward the Puri Temple. It turned out that our bus was parked in the wrong direction and turning it around in the narrow crowded and congested streets of Puri would be a problem. This is where those ‘influential’ guides came in handy. Couple of them talked to the cops who promptly stopped all traffic on both sides of the road and let our driver turn the bus around. Lots of honking and slapping of couple of errant two-wheeler drivers who tried to sneak by got us going in the right direction. Yup, I know I would be maha-pissed at the high-handedness of those outsiders who are causing me trouble in my own town by violating traffic rules with the cooperation of the police. But then, yeh hai India meri jaan.

No bus could go within two kilometers of the temple but thanks to our guides, we could go at least a kilometer more after which we parked bang next to a police station. The ladies went ahead in SUVs while the menfolk walked it out the rest of the way. This approach road although quite wide is packed to capacity during the Rath Yatra festival. I’m sure you must have seen glimpses of the Rath Yatra either on TV or through photographs and might know the background story so I will not go into that now. But I’m sure, it must be a spectacular sight with three gargantuan chariots taking the three gods to the other temple down the road. It is said that people even willingly toss themselves in front of the chariots and give their lives as a way to get to heaven. And since the chariots cannot stop (hence the word ‘juggernaut’) and unless people manage to pull you away, it can be one bloody mess. I’m not sure if that is a true story though. However, it is considered extremely auspicious to help pull the Lord’s chariot.

We arrived at the entrance and we told to keep our cell phones, leather objects, shoes, cameras in the car as we could take none of those inside and if caught, we would be roundly thrashed by the pondas. And of course, non-Hindus are not allowed in this temple either. We held hands of our partners and dove into the crowds and entered the temple complex after a quick frisk by the security guards. Since we weren’t supposed to go inside the temple for another 30-40 minutes, our guides took us around the other ancillary temples around the main temple. We couldn’t stop staring at the immense height of the shikhara and could only marvel at the grandeur of the temple with hundreds of people milling around. After the requisite darshan of the other temples, we waited a while before we entered the sabha griha of the temple and could finally see the much-famed idols from a distance. It was insanely crowded and my poor mom who suffers from certifiable claustrophobia couldn’t wait to get out and we didn’t have much choice either as you cannot linger around much anyway.

So I thought that was it. But nope, our guides promised us that they could get us closer but we could have to wait. and wait we did. For more than an hour and half near the end of which even the most devout member of our group was contemplating forgoing the closeup darshan. I couldn’t care less as I was not there for religious reasons anyway. But just as we were about to leave, we heard a commotion in the distance signaling the opening time of the closeup darshan and our guides quickly marshalled us through the crowd and past the barricade into the innermost sanctorum right at the base of the idols. We were so close that we could actually touch them. People were simply awestruck at the size of the idol and overwhelmed by the experience of being in such close proximity of the revered idols. When we were told, we would be going closer I thought just a wee bit closer with the gods still within the sanctum sanctorum (garbagriha) where only the priests can enter. This was certainly quite a privilege, as we later learned. Everyone in our group was immensely thankful to Ash’s dad for having given them the experience of a lifetime. Of course, we couldn’t stay there much longer as well and were bundled out in equal speed amidst the howls of protests of other people who were standing in line for probably hours before us. I really felt sorry for them.

Although dead tired, everyone suddenly seemed strangely refreshed after this unique experience. Ash’s dad told me that there is no photograph of the real idols in existence (the image below is of miniature idols we got as a gift from folks in Puri; the real idols are less decorated than these) and all the pictures are merely artist’s depictions. Hmmm…I wondered if it would be worth sneaking a tiny camera in to get a scoop but guess with a billion people baying for your blood wouldn’t make it worth it.

Another aspect of the Puri Temple is its large kitchen, purported to be India’s largest. Everyday, a 56-course dinner (chappan bhog) is prepared for the gods and distributed amongst the devotees. This food is considered mahaprasad and is said to be extremely delectable (remember the scandal from last year?) We were told that this prasad had been procured for us and we would be served that as dinner at the local PWD Guest House. We picked up some traditional sweets from the local temple market on our way out and headed for our dinner.

Everyone was tired and famished and wolfed down the prasad which in fact was more like a dinner feast consisting of several types of vegetables and rice. We washed our hands and sat down for dinner but later realized that the people serving us food were doing so with their bare hands. Oh well! Of course, we didn’t get the full chappan bhog treatment but even with the ones we got, we couldn’t have eaten any more. Tired and sleepy, we stumbled into our vehicles and were off to Bhubhaneshwar.

The next day, we packed and left for Mumbai by the afternoon Indian Airlines flight. Overall, it was an eventful trip and although extremely hectic, was efficiently managed by Ash’s relatives and everyone in our wedding party had a blast. Most of them told me that thanks to this trip, they would never forget my wedding ever. Personally for me, it was also a satisfying trip and although I was a bit nervous at first, everyone got along great and I like to think every one on Ash’s side approved of me and had an equally nice time.

by Patrix | on Friday, February 8th, 2008 at 5:34 pm | Art and Architecture, Personal, Religion, Travel . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Article Tags >> god | Hinduism | Jagannath | Orrisa | Personal | Puri | Religion | Travel | wedding