Puri as a place of Pilgrimage and Lal Moharia Panda
[Image Source: puriwaves.nirmalya.in]
The Temple of Shri Jagannatha in Puri is considered as one of the premiere places of pilgrimage in Hindu cosmology and a principal salvation centre, Mokshyapuri of the Hindus. Alternatively known with various names like Purusottamkshetra, Neelachal etc., Puri is one of the four Dhamas in India. A Dhama in common parlance translates into abode of God. And it may be described as both the location and the refraction of the divine, a place where it manifests its power and where one experiences its presence. Hence Puri being popular as abode of Shri Jagannatha, Shri Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Chakraraj Sudarsana, it draws countless pilgrims from every nook and corner of the country and abroad. Innumerable references are being found on the sanctity of Puri and the sacredness of its presiding Deities in different puranic, tantric and other literary works like Skanda Puran, Brahmanda Puran, Bramha Puran, Padma Puran, Narad Puran, Kapila Samhita and many more. Through ages, Puri has been a meeting ground of various religious sects and movements. Pilgrims in large scale resort to Puri to worship Lord Shri Jagannatha. In the words of William Hunter, a British scholar, “…that the name of Jagannatha still draws its faithful from hundred provinces of India to the Puri sands xxx xxx day and night through out every months of the year, troops of devotees arrive at Puri and for 300 miles along the great Orissa road every village has its pilgrim encampment.”
The Sthala Mahatmya of Puri that includes the legend of Shri Jagannatha can be found in the Puranas as mentioned above. The legend narrates that King of Malawa, Indradyumna, a devotee of Vishnu, had come to Utkal following a divine providence. He had constructed the Temple and began the worship of Jagannatha which was later adopted by the kings of the province. King Indradyumna got the information of this Holy place from a group of saints’ pilgrimage from this Kshetra which is considered as the first reference as a place Pilgrimage.
Legend has it that during Tretaya Yuga, Shri Ramachandra on his way to Shri Lanka, visited this holy Place and worshiped Shri Jagannatha. At that time, there was a sabar palli and it is believed that Shri Lokanatha who is regarded as the 2nd most famous Temple after Shri Jagannatha, was established by Shri Rama Chandra.
Dandi Ramayan written by Balaram Das speaks that Satrughna, the younger brother of Shri Ramachandra had also visited this place to guide and protect the Yagya Ashwa and had a privilege to have darshan of Shri Jagannatha,
There is a reference found in Vanaparba of Mahabharata that the Pandava Brothers being accompanied with great sage Lomash Maharshi had been to this place and had darshan of Shri Jagannatha and took bath in the Mahodadhi and offered Pinda to their ancestors. Therefore as a mark of visit of the Pandavas to this place, the five Mahadevas are being worshipped in the name of Pandavas in and around the Temple.
The veracity of the legend is un-tested. But what can be said with certainty is that Puri became a place of importance from around 7th century AD as understood from various epigraphical and literary sources.
In many inscriptions, Shri Jagannatha has been described as Purusottam. Shri Jaganatha, earlier was known as Purusottam, the primal Purusha of Rig Veda and supreme person of the Bhagabata Gita. He is the Supreme Deity in which all religions are represented. Reference is found from Kailan (Bengal) copper plate of the 2nd half of the 7th century, issued by King Sreedharana Rata, the chief of Samanta, who was a Param Vaishnava, declared himself as a worshipper of God Purusottam.
The next reference to Puri as a place of pilgrimage is found in a stone inscription of the Saraswati Temple on a mountain at Mahihar in the Satna Dist. of Madhya Pradesh.
The Kaladindi grant of the middle 11th century refers to worship of Purusottam of Sridhama by the eastern Chalukya King Rajaraj. The Pujaripali inscription of Gopaldeva, perhaps of the Naga pilgrims from the Indo-Gangetic basin to Puri, gives a list of holy places where we find the name of Purusottam (11th century). From the Nagpur stone inscription of the Rulers of Malawa of the Bikram year 1161 or 1104 AD, we learn that pilgrims from Malawa were regularly visiting this place.
The literary source also throws light on Puri as a place of Pilgrimage from remote past. It is revealed from the book “The unknown life of Christ” written by Nikolav Notovich that Jesus Christ had spent 4 years in this Holy city out of his 12 years stay in India. Other eminent sages of different sects like Adi Sankaracharya, Ramanuj, Srimant Shankardev, Ballavacharya, Shri Chaitanya and many more had visited Puri and had darshan of Shri Jagannatha during their pilgrimage to Puri. Murari Mishra’s Anargharaghav Natakam, Narapati Bisaldev-Raso (1212 AD), Poet Mallik Mahammad Jaisi in his Padmavat, Abul Fazal in his report and Gangabansanucharitam and many more have given the reference of Puri as a place of Pilgrimage. Hence, after visiting of such eminent sages and establishment of Mathas and monasteries of their sect by them, Shri Jagannatha Chetana propagated across the country and flow of common people to Puri increased gradually in a significant way.
To manage such crowd and their management, there has been a well thought pilgrim management mechanism that has been adopted, which is also unique by itself and unparalleled in nature and the priestly community otherwise known as Panda of Jagannatha Temple have taken such responsibility. During the Imperial Gangas, a new type of administration was introduced by appointing several Panda for taking care of the pilgrims. The pandas studied the diverse languages spoken by the pilgrims coming from all over the country, as well as the diversity of their culture and developed the character and personality for working as a coordinating link to the varying multitudes. Thus the pandas became an important agency for the religious unification of the country. This management lead to giving of a new identity to the Pandas who latter came to be known as TIRTHA GURU of their respective areas.
One of the most important duties of these Pandas was to visit the various parts of India, spreading Shri Jagannath Chetana among the Hindus, gather the pilgrims and escort them to Puri. They are also taking care of the pilgrims from their entry to exit from Puri and maintain records of their arrival with their signature and comments. Such unique social system prevails only at Puri compared to other parallel places of pilgrimage.
The present paper deals with the Pandas responsible for taking care of the pilgrims coming from Nepal as Nepal was the only Hindu Country. The Panda of Nepal is known as Lal Moharia Panda being awarded with a Red Badge with silver seal inscribed with an image of Lord Pashupati. The-then king of Nepal His Majesty Maharajadhiraj Shri Shri Shri Maharaja Rajendra Vikram Shah Bahadur Samser Jungh through a copper plate grant which is dated Samvat 1891 Chaitra 4th day corresponding to 1833 had made a declaration that the Lal Moharia Panda will make necessary arrangement for stay and Darshan of Shri Jagannatha for all the people coming from Nepal. Subsequently another sananda issued by His Majesty Maharajadhiraj Shri Shri Shri Maharaja Tribhuvan Vir Vikram Jung Bahadur Shah Bahadur Samser Jungh on the date Samvat 1969 Falguna 8th day which corresponding to 1911 appointing Shri Bhimsen Shri Kison as the Panda for Nepal kingdom.
Since the present records reveal that the Lal Moharia Panda were in charge of Nepali pilgrims from the year 1833, but the fact remains that this practices have been continuing much prior to that. After outbreak of fire, many records under the custody of Lal Moharia Panda have been destroyed. According to the source of Nepal Panda, pilgrims are usually coming to Puri from the month of Bhadraba up to the month of Margasira. They used to come to Puri after having darshan of Badrinath, Gaya, Dwaraka etc. Around 4 to 5 thousand pilgrims used to come to Puri every year. Many royal families of Nepal Kingdome e.g. Rana and King and their sojourns were visiting Puri and had darshan of Shri Jagannatha being accompanied by their Panda, as evident from the records of Napal Panda.
The age old practices of pilgrim management by the Pandas of Shri Jagannatha is unique in nature and time tested which needs to upgrade its skill for inter communication abilities for better focus on Shri Jagannatha Chetana and its propagation in a meaningful manner.