Pilgrimage at Puri – its Retrospect and Prospect

Situated on the eastern region of the Indian sub-continent, Puri the abode of Lord Jagannath, is conferred with the gift of geographical suitability. The temple of Lord Jagannath at Puri, Its architectural grandeur, beautiful stone sculptures and high rise sand dunes in the golden sea-beach with the blue surf-laced water waves at its footwear and above all, its serene and modest climate with spiritual environment, have impressed upon the people at large, to flock to Puri, round the year. It is a place suitable for intellectuals, erudite scholars for religious and spiritual attainments of different religions to interact with the mystery of Sri Jagannath culture. The culture is the most significant manifestation of human culture and is also a most fascinating contribution of Indian culture to the world. It seems to have capacity to nurture to all kinds of human beings with divergent religions. It is mostly regarded as the insignia and of the principal salvation centre of humanism that centuries have not been able to reduce. His greatness in changing times and have not made its importance any way lesser. Thus people of different religions and sects from different parts of the country have been pouring in to Puri to worship Lord Jagannath. Many Hindu sects, the followers of Sankaracharya, Ramanuja, Ramananda, Chaitanya and many others pay homage to the great God. In the Jagannath cult, the primitive folk cult of tree worship, propagation of Tantrism, the contemplative approach of Buddhists, the universal tolerance of Jainism and comprehensive religion of Vedantism as well, are found. But History is silent about the origin of Lord Jagannath.

Puri continues as a place of pilgrimage since time immemorial. It is understood from some epigraphical and literary sources that Puri as a place of pilgrimage may be traced back to some parts of the 8th century A.D. as it reveals from the kailan (Bengal) copper plate (1). Similarly another reference is found in a stone inscription of the Saraswati Temple at Maihar in Satna Dist. Of Madhya Pradesh (2).This inscription is dated back to the middle of the 10th century A.D. in which it is mentioned that Puri or Purusottama Ksetra was a place of pilgrimage. Like this, different stone inscriptions and copper plates in different parts of the country under different regimes, refer Puri as a place of pilgrimage.

Besides all this, Puri or Purusottama Kshetra has witnessed the pilgrimage of great sages like Sankaracharya, Ramanuja, Madhvacharya and others in different times. They have visited this place to propagate their respective sects by establishing the Mathas and monasteries. Sankaracharya (788-820 A.D.), the great propounder of Hinduism, had visited Puri and made darshan of Lord Purusottama. During his stay at Puri, Sankaracharya was sufficiently exposed to Lord and influenced with the spiritual tranquility of Theism. To propagate this philosophy, he established one of his four Peethas known as Govardhan Peetha and Sri Padmapada Acharya was ceremonised as the first Jagatguru of Peetha at Puri. Ramanuja, a great preacher of Vaishnavism, had also visited during some part of 12th century A.D. and established the Emar Matha. Madhvacharya (1199-1278 A.D.), a Vaishnava priest is said to have visited Puri along with his disciples including one Muslim pilgrim and paid homage to Lord Jagannath. Sri Chaitanya (1485-1533 A.D.) the great apostolate of Vaishnavism of Bengal along with his companions visited Puri and stayed here till his death. Chaitanya Gaudiya Matha, Radhakanta Matha are among the most important Mathas that he has established (3). Apart from this, many other sages, saints, Muslim devotees like Kabir and Salabega etc. are said to have visited Puri and interacted with Lord Jagannath both physically and emotionally. Establishment of different Mathas and monasteries at Puri by different sages, have propagated the Sri Jagannath culture in a large scale and attracted their disciples to have a pilgrimage to Puri and provided free accommodation, round the year. The Mathas have certain links with ritual functionaries of the Temple in different occasions.

During the Ganga regime, a new type of administration was introduced by appointing Pandas to take care of pilgrims coming to Puri. To acquaint with the languages spoken by the pilgrims coming from all over the country, a special class of Pandas known as Pariharees, were kept in charge of pilgrims traditionally. They used to contact and control the unit of the pilgrims. They received the pilgrims from different festive occasions. In course of time, other categories of Sevayats and Brahmin Gumastas entered into the pilgrim trade. According to the report of Sri Jagannath Temple Administrative Improvement Committee, there were 447 persons who claim to have pilgrims attached to them separately from different parts of India (4). Now the number may exceed little more. Frequent contact of Pandas with the pilgrims has created a familiar relationship with emotional attachment. The Pandas used to go and send their Gumastas to different parts of the country to disseminate the Sri Jaganath culture and distribute the Mahaprasad among themselves. They also motivated different class of people to have a pilgrimage to Puri and such act as an intermediary coordinating link to the varying multitudes. Through this process, the king of Orissa could learn about the political conditions of those parts of the country. This not only helped the king on political affairs but also propagated the glory of Lord Jagannath in every part of India.

Management of pilgrims by the Pandas has taken the trade and forms of family assets. The Pandas take care of pilgrims starting from their arrival to departure from Puri and hence Pandas are well known for their hospitality towards pilgrims. The pilgrims are also provided with the accommodation either in the residence of Panda or in the lodging hotels. Fooding like Mahaprasad and visit to different worth seeing places are taken care of. The names and addresses of the pilgrims and their pre and post generations are being recorded in a book known as “WARIJA” and pilgrims put their own signature in a register known as “Dastakhati” so that it may be a reference for the future generation of the pilgrim that could recognize the Panda. The pilgrims are persuaded to perform “Sankalpa” and donate their offerings to Lord Jagannath through “Annadana” or “Atika.” The donations offered by the pilgrims either part or full, are also being recorded in a register known as “Khata.” The committed amounts credited are being collected either by the Pandas himself or Gumastas at their (Pilgrim’s) residence or the amount sent back through the money order to Panda and the said amount is deducted from the said Khata.

In view of gradual increase of pilgrims to Puri it was needed to make a provision to levy taxes from pilgrims in order to strengthen the state revenue. Here it may give a clue that during Mughal period to the mid of 19th century i.e upto 1840 AD of British rule, a pilgrim tax was levied from the pilgrims in different Ghats (entry point) like Atharanala on the North and Lokanath Ghat on the south. The pilgrims were classified into different catagories like Lal Yatri, Bhuranga, Nimalal, Bairagi and Panchukosi and taxes were levied according to the condition of the pilgrims while they were entering into Puri. The taxes levied from the pilgrims were considered to be included in the collection of Revenue for maintenance of the Temple (5). The process of collecting taxes from pilgrims continued upto 1840 AD. In pursuance of the recommendation of David B. Smith in the year 1868, Puri Lodging House (Extension) Act-1871 was enacted. Subsequently, to make it more effective, the Puri Lodging House (Extension) Act-1884 and Puri Lodging House (Amendment) Act-1908 were brought into force at different times. In the year 1920, all the aforesaid enactment were repealed and the Bihar and Orissa Places of Pilgrimage Act was introduced in which provision of constitution of a committee to administer the lodging house fund towards medical relief and sanitary improvement in the areas, was made. The said Act was further amended as Orissa Act XIII of 1991 named as Bihar Orissa Places of Pilgrimage (Orissa amendment) Act-1991. All such provisions were made for better convenience of pilgrims under pilgrim management with a view to cover Puri and Gaya in Bihar (6).

Further, the economy of Puri is mainly based on the flow of pilgrims as the Lord Jagannath at the centre, is shrouded with a number of festivals, rites and rituals throughout the year which causes a large congregation of pilgrims in Puri. The floating population of Puri, round the year, has been increasing in a considerable way. Thus various functional linkages and inflow of pilgrims to Puri, has broadened the scope of economic operation in an admirable pace. On the Pre-British Rule, it was very much hazardous journey for the pilgrims while they were visiting Puri and facing a lot of problems on their way to Puri. But in the post British period i.e, in the year 1810, Raja Sukhamaya Ray of Bengal had taken a leading step for construction of the Jagannath Road. This had become very easier for the pilgrims to flock to Puri in a large scale. It is evident from the report of David B. Smith that from 1816 to 1829 the average growth rate of the pilgrims to Puri was 74.37% (7). After opening of Railway line to Puri in year 1901, flow of pilgrims increased steadily. Dr.B.D.Sharma report (1928) speaks of physical growth rate of pilgrims was 37.33% i.e. from 1975 onwards (8) considering the heavy assemblage of pilgrims in different times, there happened the physical growth of the Town especially on the South-West and North-East direction. These spill-over activities necessitated various requisite infrastructures, out of which, some of them have been met out.

The Major problem of the pilgrims was the inadequate provision of Accommodation facilities at Puri. Earlier, rich devotees and apostles of different religions had established different Dharmasalas and Mathas in the close vicinity of the Temple so that the pilgrims could get easy accommodation. Other amenities like drinking water facilities, health and sanitary provisions etc. have been provided to pilgrims to save them from different epidemics. But that was not sufficient according to the need.

In the early part of 1980, it came to a rife when Govt. declared the establishment of Hotels as an industry, to attract both domestic & foreign tourists. As a result rapid and massive constructions went ahead for establishment of Hotels, holiday-homes, lodgings in the beach area. Now there are 8 Dharmasalas, 120 hotels, 2 holiday homes, 115 mathas besides the Govt. based Resorts like Pantha Nivas, Forest IB and P.W.D I.B. etc. available in the Town. It is estimated that around 5000 pilgrims can be accommodated at present. But the average daily pilgrims and tourists coming to Puri is about 7000 and the present accommodation facilities are still not sufficient (9).

From onwards, it is found that the major segment of tourists constitute religious spiritual motivators in the form of pilgrims and physical motivators those who come on health ground. As per the statistics the inflow of pilgrims and tourists was to the tune of 6 lacs 20 thousands and it is estimated that it will be almost double in the year 2001.The economic condition of Puri in toto, is quite depending upon the inflow of the pilgrims. It is more functional with the tertiary sector in the form of trade and commerce. The town is going to achieve the take-off stage of highly urbanized economy as the tertiary sector constitutes 76.17% in the year 1991. The level of Participation is witnessing gradual decrease i.e. from 29.62% in 1971 to 27.78% in 1991. This might be due to inadequate financial support and organized shops in appropriate locations (10).

In commensuration with the increased inflow of pilgrims/tourists, the tertiary activities happens to rise and to meet this vacuum caused by less local participation, there has been migration to the Town from the hinterland. This has helped, to some extent, to generate self-employment to those who were engaged to fulfill the demands of the pilgrims/tourists. The migrant passes through three stages i.e. reception stage (marginally employed), intermediate stage (under employed) and tertiary stage. Flourishing of this kind of trade, no doubt, depends upon the inflow of pilgrims. Thus, promotion of economy and increasing inflow of pilgrims/tourists are very much complimentary.

In the light of above perspective, it is summarized that Puri has tremendous pilgrim potentiality and when it is now substituted with the word Tourism, there it needs, of course, to strike a balance in between the booming economic growth through tourism Infrastructure and future shock of the environmental distortion and interestingly, both these ends, somehow, look inevitable for the further growth of the city. However, the prospective of tourism, the changed form of pilgrims will be well brightened, if sufficient cares are to be looked forward in fulfilling the shortage of tourist amenities and behavioral courtesy.

References:

1. Orissa Historical Research Journal- Vol IV. No.1 P.P. 6-21
2. Puri Gazette- P.P. 813
3. Orissa Review- June’87, P.P. 49-50
4. B.D.Sharma Report- 1978, P.P. 47
5. History of Jagannath Temple- P.K.Mukharjee P.P. 144-150
6. Bihar-Orissa Places of Pilgrimage (Amendment) Act-1991
7. Pilgrimage to Juggernaut- David B. Smith-1868
8. B.D.Sharma Report-1978, P.P. 45
9. Tourist Office, Puri
10. Puri Konark Development Authority, Puri & Bureau of Statistics, Puri
[This article was published in the Sri Jagannath Chetana Research Periodical (1997)]