Lord Jagannatha and Guru Nanak

Guru Nanak at Puri

After attaining enlightenment, Guru Nanak proceeded on his first udasi (long travel) to eastern India during which he visited Kamrup (Assam), Bengal, and Odisha. Guruji is believed to have walked 50000 miles to visit not only all over India but also Sinhaladvipa (Sri Lanka), Mecca-Medina, Afghanistan, and China. Some assert that he also visited Rome.

Like the holy men of previous eras – Mahavira Jain, Buddha, Adi Shankara, Ramanuja, and others; Nanak travelled far and wide to share with people his simple methods of realising the divine in human life.

Bhai Mardana, Guru Nanak’s disciple and closest associate, accompanied Guruji. After a long and tiring journey, they reached Puri on a summer evening. It was a full moon night.

Let us spend the night on the sea-shore under the sky, said the Guru.

But this is a cremation ground, said Mardana, pointing at the still smouldering piles at a distance. Why don’t we find some other place?

Are you afraid, Mardana? This is Swargadvara in Purushottam Kshetra, and Yama is prohibited from entering this place by order of Vishnu. Have you also forgotten that your name is Mar-Da-Na (one who will not succumb to untimely death)?

But I am hungry, and so you must be. Go and get Jagannatha prasad. That will be our meal for tonight. Tomorrow morning, we will go for darshan.

After sometime, Mardana returned empty-handed. The temple is far away, and no prasad was available around here, he said.

No problem. Maybe, Jagannatha wishes us to keep a fast tonight. Jaise prabhu ki marzi. Let us have a drink of water and sleep, said Nanak. He dug with his bare hands a small hole on the sands, and they drank to their fill the clean, sweet water that the little ‘well’ offered.

An hour or later, they were gently nudged awake. Here is prasad for you, said the courier, and placed before each of them a thali and a few katoris, and bhog in a few earthen pots.

But who are you, and how did you know that we are here, asked Mardana?

I am a sevak, you are our guest, and how could you sleep hungry at Sri Kshetra? said the sevak and hurried away.

Guru and chela relished the delicious, aromatic, and soul-satisfying prasad, after which they cleaned the utensils under the moonlight since it is inauspicious to keep jhootha vartan overnight.

Next morning, the temple store-keepers came looking for the golden utensils for serving meals to Jagannath which had been ‘stolen’ at night. They found all the utensils neatly stacked, and more sparkling and shining than ever before. One look at the meditating Guru with a halo around his head, and the chela singing soft, soulful bhajan; and they realised these were no thieves.

At this time, the king, Jagannatha’s first sevak, arrived with his entourage. Last night, Jagannatha had spoken to him in his dream, and had asked him to personally look after ‘my two devotees who have come from afar and are presently on the sea-shore.’ The king had come to ceremonially welcome the ‘special devotees’ and to take them to Sri Mandira for the morning darshan.

Dhanaasaree Mahalaa 1 Aarati

After witnessing the morning aarati and puja, Guru Nanak composed Dhanaasaree Mahalaa 1 Aarati (Ang 663, Adi Granth) which begins with -

ੴ सतिगुर प्रसादि ॥ (Ik-oamkkaari satigur prsaadi), and proceeds to sing the glory of the spectacular  celestial aarati offered by the sun, the moon, and the stars to the Supreme Being:

‘गगन मै थालु रवि चंदु दीपक बने तारिका मंडल जनक मोती ॥

सम्पूर्ण गगन रूपी थाल में सूर्य व चंद्रमा दीपक बने हुए हैं, तारों का समूह जैसे थाल में मोती जड़े हुए हों।’[i]

Rajni Sekhri Sibal in her book ‘The Guru - Guru Nanak’s Saakhis’ has beautifully translated this hymn, of which the first stanza is:

“Ikk Onkar – O luminous stars

I offer this ode to the one True One: 

The cosmic plate is thy prayer-platter

The radiant lamps are the sun and the moon –

Stars and planets are like offerings of pearls

And thy incense is the aroma of sandalwood

The winds become tender like a gentle breeze

And the Earth offers all the plants in the woods

Fragrant blooms flower and fall at your feet

A veneration exquisite, majestic and sweet…”[ii]

Bauli Math Sahib

Years later, Guru’s devotees constructed a proper well at the very spot where Nanak had dug his ‘well.’ In Odia, a 'well' is called 'bauli', and hence, it was fondly named Bauli Math, now known as Gurudwara Bauli Math Sahib, and a place of pilgrimage for Sikhs and others. It is not far from Adi Shankara’s Govardhan Math near Swargadvara, and can be easily located  on Google Earth or Google Map.

 Mangu Math, also associated with Guru Nanak, is near the Sri Mandira.

Janam Sakhi

Janam Sakhi is the life history of Guru Nanak, of which there are various versions by the compilers.  Guru Nanak’s visit to Puri, as well as Bauli Math and Mangu Math, are mentioned in the Janam Sakhi by Bhai Bala.

A detailed account of Guru Nanak’s visit to Puri, and the related janamsakhi are available at sikhiwiki.org[iii]

Panj Pyare

Puri has another connect with Sikhism. Bhai Himmat Singh of Puri offered his head to Guru Gobind Singh at Anandpur Sahib in 1699 AD, at the time of creation of Khalsa Panth as one of the Panj Piaras.

Jayadeva

Jayadeva, the composer of the famous Gita Govinda, and an earnest devotee of Krishna and Jagannatha, is one of the 15 Bhagats (Sant Kavis) whose hymns and songs are included in Adi Granth, also known as Guru Granth Sahib. Two of Jayadeva’s shlokas are in the Granth.

Koh-i-Noor: Mountain of Light

In 1838 when Maharaja Ranjit Singh was critically ill, he decided to gift Koh-i-Noor to Jagannatha of Puri, as suggested by his astrologer. Many Hindus believed that the Koh-i-Noor was in fact the Syamantak mani that Krishna wore, and hence it was fitting to return it to Jagannatha. However, Beliram, the royal custodian did not comply with the Maharaja’s wishes, and he and his family soon met a tragic death.

‘When the British learned of Ranjit Singh’s death in 1839, and his plan to give the diamond and other jewels to a sect of Hindu priests, the British press exploded in outrage. “The richest, the most costly gem in the known world, has been committed to the trust of a profane, idolatrous and mercenary priesthood,” wrote one anonymous editorial. Its author urged the British East India Company to do whatever they could to keep track of the Koh-i-Noor, so that it might ultimately be theirs.’[iv]

By the Treaty of Lahore, signed on 29 March 1849 between the East India Company and the Maharaj of Lahore Duleep Singh, then a child of 10, the Sikhs lost their kingdom. By Article III of the Treaty, the Maharaj ‘surrendered’ the Koh-i-Noor to the Queen of England!?

The British displayed the diamond at the Great Exhibition at London in 1851 as a symbol of their conquest of India, and later fitted it on the crown of their Queen. It was ‘the single most famous object of loot from India.’[v]

The British lost India in 1947. Maybe, the diamond is indeed cursed!

Nirakar brahma

For Guru Nanak, the Supreme Being is formless and attribute-less. He is represented by Ik Onkara, the primal sound, and that is why the Mool Mantra is repeated several times in the Adi Granth. In the ancient times, Vedic religion also contemplated the divine as formless, and the major deities that Hindus worship today became popular only during the later puranic period.

The Upanishads used OM, correctly pronounced as AUM, as a mystic monosyllable at the beginning of mantras, and the three sounds of which it consists – a, u, and m symbolised the union of the Hindu triad: a for Vishnu, u for Shiva, and m for Brahma.

Shunyavadi Bhakt Kavis of Odisha

Bhakti poets of Odisha concurrently composed devotional songs - prarthanas, jananas, and bhajans – for Lingaraj, Jagannatha, and the other puranic gods and for nirakar brahma. The notable shunyavadi bhakta kavis of Odisha; Achyutanada, Jashobanta, and Shishu Anant; were Nanak’s contemporary, and their bhajans sang of nirakara, nirguna brahma.

Jagannatha Culture

At Puri, as in the rest of Odisha, places of worship for tribal deities, temples, mosques, churches, and gurudwaras co-exist in peace and harmony. Since ancient times, Odisha has been home to practitioners of diverse faiths – the tribals, Buddhist, Jain, Shaiva, Shakta, Saurya, Ganapatya, Vaishnava, Tantric, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, and others. Not surprisingly, several faiths claim Jagannatha as their Supreme Being.

In Satya yuga, king Indrdyumna came from Avanti and constructed the first temple for Jagannatha at Puri. Ashoka, after the unprecedented bloodbath of the Kalinga war that turned Daya (compassion, ironically!) into a river of blood, converted to Buddhism and transformed from Chandashoka to Dharmashoka. King Kharavela promoted Jainism. Adi Shankara came and established the Govardhan Math, Puri. Ramanuja, Jayadeva, Chaitanya, Guru Nanak, Tulasidas, and other sants came to sip the amrit of Jagannatha’s grace, and further enriched the syncretic Jagannatha Culture which is best summarised by the following Rigveda mantra:

एकं सद् विप्रा बहुधा वदन्ति । ऋ. 1.164.46

TRUTH is ONE, though wise men call it by various names.

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[i] https://www.dekho-ji.com/sggs-663

[ii] The full text of her translation is at link: https://youtu.be/ocxwnHKpraQ

[iii]https://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Guru_Nanak_at_Puri#:~:text=In%20the%20Janam%20Sakhi%20of,is%20mentioned%20in%20great%20detail

[iv] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-koh-i-noor-diamondand-why-british-wont-give-it-back-180964660/

[v] Kohinoor: The Story of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond – William Dalrymple and Anita Anand.