Gods in Quarantine

Deities in Distress

The presiding deities of Srimandira, Puri are currently unwell and in quarantine. On Jyestha Purnima (4^th June, 2023), they enjoyed such a lavish bath that they got fever which will take two weeks to abate. Snana Yatra is an annual festival, and the anabasara confinement and recuperation of the deities are part of an elaborate, time-honoured ritual.

Humans seek medical help for simple ailments, and divine cure for incurable diseases; but in a curious role-reversal the ailing deities of Srimandira need human care for their treatment and convalescence. Possibly, they are the only gods who get fever, and are quarantined for two weeks of medication, restricted diet, compulsory rest, and recuperation.

During this period, they also get a paint job, and are readied for the Naba Joubana Besha (new, youthful attire and visage) and Netrotsava (painting the eyeballs, signalling the new look) as preparatory for Ratha Yatra, the most important of more than a hundred annual festivals in the calendar of Srimandira.

Why do the deities fall ill?

No one knows for sure, but many reasons are suggested.  

Under the scorching sun at the height of summer, they bath in chilled water, and hence contract fever. On Jyestha Purnima, Jagannatha, Balabhadra, Subhadra, and Sudarshana are taken out of the Garbha gruha (sanctum sanctorum), placed on the Snana Mandapa, the bathing platform, and bathed with 108 pots of water drawn from the Suna Kua, the golden well.

Humanised Gods

These gods are so human that every day they  wake up to soft music, brush their teeth with a traditional twig, use a golden tongue-scaler, take a daily bath, look at their own visage reflected from a kansa (bronze) metal mirror, have breakfast and several meals thereafter, enjoy siesta, listen to music, retire to bed, participate in various festivals, change dress several times during a day and don beshas for special occasions, go for boating, fall ill, and die once in about 12 years.

When they fall ill, they are given herbal medication, and a special diet plan. No loud bhajans, only soft tunes are hummed by the Daitapatis, Jagannatha’s kinsmen. Availing annual sick leave of two weeks, they are not required to give darshan to the devotees since morning till late evening (how tiring that must be, entertaining millions of petitions, round the year for about 350 days!), the gods rest and recuperate.

Why only four gods fall ill?

The seven deities (saptadha murti) placed on the Ratna Simhasana in the Garbha Gruha are the principal deities of Srimandira. However, only four of them – Jagannatha, Balabhadra, Subhadra, and Sudarshana are taken to the Snana Mandapa, and 108 pots of fragrant water are poured on the first three; no pot for Sudarshana possibly because he is Vishnu’s weapon, and hence a secondary deity.

Why do only these four deities fall ill, and the remaining deities on Ratna Simhasana – Bhudevi, Sridevi, and Nilamadhava; and the numerous deities of Srimandira – Lakshmi, Vimala, Mukta Nrusingha, Kashi Vishwanath, Ishaneshwar Mahadev, Ganesha, Garuda, and others – do not fall ill?

Is it because only these four deities are made of wood, and the idols having been exposed for a year to saline humid air, incense smoke, and moisture from flowers and food offerings, need an annual inspection for maintenance and repair, and a paint job?

Annual Leave

Further, the thousands of servitors need annual earned leave to mind their domestic responsibilities. Since Akshaya Tritiya, the devotees – most of them farmers in the rural hinterland - get busy ploughing and preparing their lands for the monsoon paddy crop. Thus, lean season for all stakeholders.

De-Sanskritization: Return to Roots

Scholars suggest a deeper motif. Beginning with Snana Purnima till the conclusion of Ratha Yatra, a period of about a month, the custody and management of the affairs of Jagannatha pass from the brahmin priests to the Daitapatis, the progeny of Vidyapati (brother of King Indradyumna’s rajpurohit) and Lalita (daughter of Vishwavasu, the Sabara chieftain and the original custodian and worshipper of Nilamadhava).

It is believed that Jagannatha was originally worshipped by the aboriginal sabaras, appropriated by the Hindus and Sanskritized as Vishnu. But by tradition, the temple affairs are managed by three categories of servitors many of whom are tribals, some have mixed parentage - the progeny of Vidyapati and Lalita, and others are brahmin priests.

The Hindus appropriated their god, but the sabaras did not surrender their claim on Jagannatha, their kinsman, and hence the negotiated arrangement of dual and participative management. A wonderful example of accommodation between two different cultures that decided to peacefully co-exist and collaborate.

Detox and Diet-plan

On a lighter vein, the two-week confinement is an annual detox regimen with a diet plan (only fruits and pana -traditional drink appropriate for patients), medicines (only herbal), and total rest (no work). Much needed since they savour daily chappan bhog - 56 delicacies, and have little opportunity for exercise!

The madhyanha dhupa served at 1.00 PM is an elaborate meal. “In 1910, this mid-day meal consisted of 435 dishes. A feast for divinity!” (indianculture.gov.in)

Anabasara or Anasara?

Though commonly named anasara, this word has no meaning in Odia, unless it is a proper name given to this ritual in the past for reasons that are not known. Prana Krushna Acharya in his Odia book ‘Shri Jagannatha Mahatmya O Itihasa’ suggests that the correct name is anabasara, a conjunction of ana and abasara, meaning a ritualistic service of the deities without any break. The deities are ill, and need looking after round the clock including at night. Who attends the sick in such situations? Only members of the family, and the Daitas claim they are family to Jagannatha. That is why they perform the funeral rites when the deities die prior to nabakalebara festival, and the birth ceremony when the brahma padartha, the core holy substance or element, is transferred from the old idols to the new ones at the dead of night with the chosen daitas blindfolded and their hands wrapped in silken cloth so that they may not see or even directly touch and feel the enigmatic brahma.

On Snana Purnima, the deities are dressed in Hati or Gajanana Besha. Image Source: Wikicommons.

Pati Dion

The Anabasara area is screened off with bamboo mats, and traditional Orissan pattachitra paintings of the deities on starched cloth, called pati dion (literally, gods on mats) are hung on the bamboo mats, and these gods are offered token service daily.  

Significantly, the three principal pati dions are all four-armed (chaturbhuja), and named Narayana, Vasudeva, and Bhubaneshwari. I am not sure if Sudarshana is also portrayed as a four-armed god and worshipped as pati dion.

Get Well Soon

You will be delighted to know that the ailing deities are doing very well, and will soon be discharged from the quarantine; on 19^th June they will grant Naba Joubana Darshana to devotees, and will participate in Netrotsava; on 20^th June they will ride their respective rathas to Gundicha mandira, the premises where they were born.

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