Documents related to Nabakalebara rituals of Sri Jagannath temple during past century made public for the first time have revealed traditional cultural links of this one of the four dhams of Hinduism in Odisha with the States of southern India.
This revelation came up in a book named Shatabdira Nabakalebara based on documents of Sri Jagannath temple related to Nabakalebara rituals conducted during the 20th Century in 1912, 1931, 1950, 1969, 1977, 1996 as well as the first one of 21st Century in 2015. Sri Jagannath Chetana Gavesana Pratisthan (JCVP), an organisation of researchers of Sri Jagannath cult, has come up with this research-oriented documentation. It has for the first time made public the documentation of past Nabakalebara rituals in the ‘Madala Panji’, still continuing traditional record of Sri Jagannath temple, which is a major source of Odia history. The Karana servitors of Sri Jagannath temple write the details of happenings in the temple in ‘Madala Panji’.
As per the documents of ‘Madala Panji’ revealed in this book, in 1977, administration of Sri Jagannath temple had to seek help of astrological experts from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh to decide whether Nabakalebara was to be held that year or not. Usually Nabakalebara rituals or replacement of new deities in place of old ones is performed in that year of Hindu calendar in which there is an additional ‘adhimasa’ of month of Ashadha. ‘Adhimasa’ concept is used in Hindu calendar to match the months of lunar calendar with that of solar calendar. In 1977, several traditional almanacs of the country had opined that there would be ‘Adhimasa’ of Ashadha that year, while some other almanacs did not agree to it. To settle the dispute Sri Jagannath temple administration had called up a meeting of eminent astrologers involved in almanac preparation. As per the ‘Madala Panji’ records, this meeting had been attended by several astrologers invited from Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
Asit Mohanty, secretary of research and publication wing of JCVP, said this could not have happened unless there were past precedence of similar occurrences. According to him as per history, kingdoms of Odisha as well as Sri Jagannath temple had close relations with southern regions of India. Several great saints of South India were directly related to Puri. Adi Sankaracharya had revived the Sri Jagannath cult and provided it status of one of four revered dhams of Hinduism. Impact of Ramanujacharya was there on rituals of this temple. What happened in 1977, was only continuation of this traditional link. As part of their research regarding historic relation of Sri Jagannath cult and southern states, JCVP has already initiated efforts with support of institutions like Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Tirupati.
Temple administration sought help of astrological experts from Kerala, Andhra in 1977
