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by Patitapavan Dasa

“O unborn one, learned Vedic scholars who are advanced in spiritual knowledge certainly know that this material world is perishable, as do other logicians and philosophers. In trance they realize the factual position of this world, and they preach the truth as well. Yet even they are sometimes bewildered by Your illusory energy. This is Your own wonderful pastime. Therefore, I can understand that Your illusory energy is very wonderful, and I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.”  Srimad Bhagavatam 5.18.4

That the Supreme Lord who is birthless and deathless, also takes rebirth, must be astounding! Yes, this indeed is the transcendental, divine pastime of the archa-vigraha – the deity form of the Lord in the temple. The temple city of Puri, in Odisha, known the world over for its annual car festival (the oldest and biggest festival in the world), is also known for celebrating Navakalevara, with as much religious fervour, if not more.  Nava means new and kalevara means body, thus Navakalevara is a ceremony in which the old deity forms of Lord Jagannathaa, Baladeva and Subhadra are replaced by new deity forms. This however does not, like the car festival, occur every year, but only once every 12 or 19 years. This year Their Lordships will thus, after ‘rebirth’, grant Their first audience on July 17^th   to tens of thousands of devotees who assemble from everywhere for this purpose. We invite you to join us in this glorious festival and receive the Lord’s blessings.

Significance of Navakalevara

As Srila Prabhupada explains, although God is inconceivably great, He appears visibly in forms made of stone, metal and wood, to mercifully receive the devotees’ service. As nothing is impossible for the omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient Lord, if someone out of impudence or sheer foolishness considers the deity form to be just a statue or a doll, he is the most condemned, unfortunate individual.

The scriptures prescribe replacement of metal and stone deities if and when they are damaged. Wooden deities however are replaced regularly as they wear out faster. Once in 12 to 19 years, an extra month appears called ashadha, and this time period is recommended for observing Navakalevara. As there are 365 days in the solar calendar and 354 days in the lunar, an extra month is added to the latter once in 32 months in order to sync both. This extra month is called the adhika month. The last Navakalevara happened in 1996.

The Navakalevara ceremony consists of 4 principal stages: 1. Search for the Daru (divine wood), 2. carving of the forms, 3. consecration, and 4. giving final shape to the deities. The scriptures and previous experience serve as guides at every stage.

The Great March

The great march in search of Daru commences on the 10^th day of the bright fortnight of the month of Chaitra, more than 2 months before the Snana Purnima (bathing festival). The party usually consists of Daitas – descendants of Vishwavasu, Pati Mohapatra – descendant of Vidyapati (see separate description), 4 Viswakarmas (carpenters), the Lenka (carrier of Vishnu disc on long wooden shaft), brahmana priests for performing forest sacrifice, temple functionaries, and various others to look to the party’s worldly needs. Before proceeding on the journey the party obtains ajnamala – blessing of the Lord. The temple management gives sandal paste and vermilion in consent. The whole party then moves out of the temple to the accompaniment of conches, drums and gongs and proceeds to the palace of the King of Puri. Through the Rajaguru, the King gives coconut, arecanut, rice and gold to the party and sees them off. After obtaining blessings of spiritual as well as temporal power, the party proceeds on their sojourn in a joyous mood. The journey being full of hazards and tasks extremely onerous, only those who are found mentally and physically equipped to handle the job are selected as members of the group, and once selected they undertake their respective jobs to the best of their ability. The party proceeds to Kakatpur – 50 km from Puri – barefoot, taking only one frugal meal a day.

Camp at Kakatpur

On reaching Kakatpur, the party sets up camp and stays there till the last Daru – the Daru of Lord Jagannatha is sent to Puri. The presiding deity of Kakatpur, Goddess Mangala, is worshipped extensively, seeking her favour in the search. It is said that the Goddess appears in the dream of one of the devotees and reveals the locations of the Darus. If no instruction is received in 3 days, another extensive worship of the Goddess is performed in which the deity is completely bedecked with flowers. The first fall of flower from the body of the Goddess gives the clue as regards the direction the Darus are to be searched. Thereafter the members of the party move out in that direction to search out the Darus.

Selection of Daru

Although neem wood is used to carve the deity forms of Jagannatha, just any neem tree will not do. The trees must fulfill certain criteria in order to qualify as ‘Daru Brahman.’ Some of them are as follows:

• Lord Jagannathaa’s tree must be blackish.
• There must be four principal branches indicating Narayana’s four arms.
• There must be a cobra snakehole near the tree.
• No birds should have built nests in the tree.
• There must be natural impressions of shankha-chakra.
• Lord Shiva’s temple must be in the vicinity.
• No creepers must have grown on the tree.
• No branches should be broken/cut.

Baladeva’s tree must be light brown in colour with 7 branches like the hoods of a snake. Moreover, there should be natural impressions of the plough and other weapons Lord Baladeva carries. Subhadra’s tree must be yellowish, have 5 branches and a natural impression of a five-petalled lotus. Lord Sudarshana’s tree must be reddish with 3 branches and an impression of the chakra. In the order of tree selection, Sudarshana comes first, followed by Baladeva and Subhadra. Lord Jagannathaa’s tree is obtained last. The Daru is transported to Puri, also in the same order.

Vanayaga and Tree Cutting

As soon as the first Daru in the order noted above is found out, the place surrounding the tree is swept clear, sanctified with water, cowdung and clay. Sandal paste and vermilion are then applied to the tree and the tree is wrapped with a piece of new cloth and ajnamala of the Deity brought from the temple is placed on it, thus symbolizing the identity of the Deity and its Daru.

Before cutting the tree, a forest sacrifice, vanayaga is performed. Ankuraropana, sowing of seeds for germination, is an important rite, which is almost invariably observed in every significant religious ceremony. After a 3- day fire sacrifice, the trees are cut. The trees are cut a bit by the Pati Mohapatra with a golden axe while chanting the Sudarshana mantra. The Daitas then cut a little more using a silver axe, and the carpenters next use their iron axes to fully cut down the trees, all the while chanting the holy names of Hari. After the Darus are cut, the trunk of the tree as well as thick branches are transported to Puri for fashioning of the images.

The Darus are transported in carts constructed indigenously with the wood of kenda, vata and tamarind trees. The Darus are covered with coloured cloth pieces and tied up with silken cords firmly with the carts. The carts are pulled by devotees and brought to the Puri temple in the same order as they are collected and they reach the temple before the annual bathing festival, Snanayatra.

Carving of the Deities

Before the Darus reach the temple, the administration constructs special structures for housing the Darus and carving the Deities. This work is performed in the first two weeks following Snana Purnima. The processes of carving the images, as well as measurements of different parts of the Deities, are considered closely guarded secrets. No one is allowed to see the fashioning of the images or even hear the sound. The fashioning is done within a closed enclosure and nobody except the Daitas and Pati Mohapatra are allowed entry.

Parallel to the fashioning of the images, the brahmana priests of the temple, the Rajguru and some others selected by the temple administration undertake the ceremony of consecration, pratistha. The pratistha ceremony starts from the second day of Ashadha. Since the construction of the deities is not yet over, the consecration ceremony is performed on a piece of wood cut from any one of the four Darus, known as Nyasa Daru. After an extensive ceremony of consecration lasting for 2 weeks, the Nyasa Daru is cut into four pieces of prescribed size and each one of these four parts serves as lid to cover the cavity in the belly (or heart) of the deities after the Brahmapadartha has been inserted into it.

Brahmaparivartan

By the 14^th day, the consecration of the Nyasa Daru, as well as fashioning of wooden deities being over, on the night of that date, the Nyasa Daru is taken in a small cart to the temple and handed over to the Daitas, and then it is cut into four pieces according to the measurement laid down in the shastras. On the next night, i.e. new moon night, the wooden deities are taken around the temple, subsequently brought inside, and placed in front of the old Deities. In the illumination of small ghee lamps the mysterious Brahmapadartha is transferred from the old to the new Deities. The person entrusted with this job is blind-folded and his hands wrapped up to elbows so that he can neither see nor touch the Brahmapadartha. This work is done at dead of the night after ensuring that no outsider remains present during this ceremony.

After the transfer, the cavity of the new Deities is covered with one of four pieces of the Nyasa Daru which was consecrated earlier. This year Brahmaparivartan was observed on June 15^th.

Purificatory Rites

One of the finest features of the Jagannatha culture is the feeling of oneness of the devotees with the Deities. After the Brahmapadartha is removed from the old Deities and the images are buried inside the temple premises, the Daitas and their family members mourn the loss and observe purificatory ceremony for a period of 10 days. They take one meal per day and observe all the obsequies mentioned in the shastras. Their houses are given fresh coat of colour, and on the 11^th day they wear new clothes.  On the 12^th day they feed the brahmanas, poor, co-sevayats and others who attend. This year on June 27^th, the Daitapati Niyog and the Puri temple administration fed prasadam to over 2 lakh pilgrims.

Giving Final Shape

After Brahmaparivartan, the Deities are still not complete and Their bodies are compared to skeletons over which various limbs are added with the help of silken cord, resin, sandal paste, perfumed oil, camphor, musk, etc. The process of infusing ‘flesh’ and ‘blood’ in the new Deities starts after the asaucha (ritual impurity) period is over, i.e. from the dark fortnight of the extra Ashadha. Since the wooden Deities are identified with bones, perfumed oil is rubbed which represents the marrow inside the bones. Strips of coloured cloth representing blood and veins are wrapped around the Deity. A thick paste of resin with oil, camphor, musk and sandal paste is then applied to represent the flesh. Strong cords of cloth are wrapped up, representing the skin. In the process due care and attention is given to bring out specific features and contours of each Deity.

Next, They are made over to the chitrakaras (painters) for colouring using indigenous material according to the prescribed specifications. The painters are not allowed to paint the pupils of the eyes of the Deities, which work is left to brahmana priests to be performed on the auspicious day of Netrotsav – the most auspicious of all rituals performed during Navakalevara, carrying a great deal of sanctity and religiosity. This Netrotsav ritual is also performed every year after the termination of the anavasara period.

After the Netrotsav, the Lord gives first darshana in His Navayauvana vesha. This year this event is on July 17^th.  On the next day, July 18^th, is the Ratha yatra of Lord Jagannatha.

Conclusion

The merciful Supreme Lord has thus been manifesting His ‘rebirth’ pastime and blessing His devotees. The essence of this mercy is mentioned in the Uttarakhanda of the Narada Purana. There, Lord Narayana speaking to mother Lakshmi, says, “In that great abode known as Purusottama-kshetra, which is rarely achieved among all the three worlds, the Keshava Deity, who was fashioned by Me, is situated. If men simply see that Deity, they are easily able to come to My abode.” Let us offer our respectful obeisance to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

 Jai Jagannatha!