<p>The Puri temple in Odisha is currently celebrating Nabakalebara, a grand religious event held once in almost two decades to replace the three wooden idols of the presiding deities of the important Hindu shrine-- Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra -- with new ones. And the budget for the mega religious celebration is pegged at a whopping over Rs 1,000 crore. <br /><br /></p>.<p> However, one would be surprised to know that the same festival under British rule back in 1874 had cost just Rs 20,874. The idols of the three deities of the popular shrine are made of wood collected from sacred neem trees. But very few people would know that the three idols were originally made of copper and replaced by wood in 1312. <br /><br />During this Nabakalebara celebration, the annual rath yatra or the car festival of the three Puri deities will be held on July 18. However, during 1931 Nabakalebara, the raths or the chariots of the deities could not roll on the rath yatra day because of differences among Puri temple servitors.<br /><br />Lakhs of Jagannath devotees in different parts of the globe as well as scholars and researchers would soon get an opportunity to know all these interesting and unknown facts and many more about the Puri temple, particularly on Nabakalebara festival, thanks to the Odisha State Archives, which is publishing an informative book on the event.<br /><br />“Many texts are available on the Nabakalebara festival. But, for the first time, an attempt is being made to bring out an authentic and informative book on the mega religious event. We sincerely hope the book will be a great success. It will certainly be a huge help not only to researchers and scholars but also to common people interested to know more about Puri temple and the Nabakalebara festival,” said Bhagyalipi Malla, the superintendent of the state archives, who is one of the members in the book’s editorial board.<br /><br />The archives authorities and senior officials of the state culture department hit upon the idea o publishing the book after receiving repeated queries about the Nabakalebara festival. And they (the officials) had no proper answer to the questions because of lack of well-researched and detailed information on the event.<br /><br />“As Nabakalebara is an important religious event, we received queries on them from researchers, scholars and students from all over the world. However, we were having difficulties in providing them satisfactory information because we had not compiled and well-researched book on the event. Then, we thought of a single book which will have all information about Puri temple, particularly on Nabakalebara,” the superintendent said. The book will have all information about Nabakalebara held since 1805. <br />“Nabakalebara: a documentary history” will be edited by Arabinda Padhee, senior IAS officer and principal secretary in the culture department, who was a former chief administrator of the Puri temple. The editorial board will also include a number of prominent historians and research scholars of the state like Maheshprasad Das and Raj Kishore Mishra.<br /><br />The information gathering exercise for the important book has already commenced. On June 9, the state archives and the cultural department had organised a national seminar which was attended by many researchers, scholars and writers from different parts of the country who had their own work on the Jagannath temple, its rituals and festivals associated with it. <br /><br />“The seminar was a big success. We have managed to gather many important materials for our book,” said Malla. They would also meet retired bureaucrats and officials who were associated with previously held Nabakalebara festivals.<br /><br />Significantly, the book will also contain the Nabakalebara section of another book on Puri temple and its rituals written by British administrator Charles Groom who served as the Collector of Puri, then known as Collector of Jagannath, during pre-independence <br />period. Articles and reports on previous Nabakalebara celebrations written in old Odia publications and journals like Utkala Dipika and Dainik Asha would be part of the book. <br />The book will carry these reports and articles in its original form. But it will also have their English translated text.<br /><br />The book will have a photo section and it would be divided into three chapters. The first chapter will have photographs of Nabakalebara celebrations during pre- and post-independence period. The second chapter will contain photographs of the temple rituals on palm-leaves paintings that are available in various museums.<br /><br />The third chapter will have the photographs of this year’s Nabakalebara’s Banajoga Yatra -- an interesting ritual to identify the sacred “neem” trees for the making of the three deities. This year the three holy neem trees were found in coastal Jagatsinghpur district. The entire process had triggered a lot of interest among the devotees across the state. <br />People had made a beeline to the spots to see the trees and offer their prayers before they were chopped off and taken to Puri for making idols.<br /><br />The book, which will be published by the Odisha government, is expected to be ready for release within the next few months. The culture department is also contemplating to launch the book on online shopping portals too. <br /><br /></p>
<p>The Puri temple in Odisha is currently celebrating Nabakalebara, a grand religious event held once in almost two decades to replace the three wooden idols of the presiding deities of the important Hindu shrine-- Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra -- with new ones. And the budget for the mega religious celebration is pegged at a whopping over Rs 1,000 crore. <br /><br /></p>.<p> However, one would be surprised to know that the same festival under British rule back in 1874 had cost just Rs 20,874. The idols of the three deities of the popular shrine are made of wood collected from sacred neem trees. But very few people would know that the three idols were originally made of copper and replaced by wood in 1312. <br /><br />During this Nabakalebara celebration, the annual rath yatra or the car festival of the three Puri deities will be held on July 18. However, during 1931 Nabakalebara, the raths or the chariots of the deities could not roll on the rath yatra day because of differences among Puri temple servitors.<br /><br />Lakhs of Jagannath devotees in different parts of the globe as well as scholars and researchers would soon get an opportunity to know all these interesting and unknown facts and many more about the Puri temple, particularly on Nabakalebara festival, thanks to the Odisha State Archives, which is publishing an informative book on the event.<br /><br />“Many texts are available on the Nabakalebara festival. But, for the first time, an attempt is being made to bring out an authentic and informative book on the mega religious event. We sincerely hope the book will be a great success. It will certainly be a huge help not only to researchers and scholars but also to common people interested to know more about Puri temple and the Nabakalebara festival,” said Bhagyalipi Malla, the superintendent of the state archives, who is one of the members in the book’s editorial board.<br /><br />The archives authorities and senior officials of the state culture department hit upon the idea o publishing the book after receiving repeated queries about the Nabakalebara festival. And they (the officials) had no proper answer to the questions because of lack of well-researched and detailed information on the event.<br /><br />“As Nabakalebara is an important religious event, we received queries on them from researchers, scholars and students from all over the world. However, we were having difficulties in providing them satisfactory information because we had not compiled and well-researched book on the event. Then, we thought of a single book which will have all information about Puri temple, particularly on Nabakalebara,” the superintendent said. The book will have all information about Nabakalebara held since 1805. <br />“Nabakalebara: a documentary history” will be edited by Arabinda Padhee, senior IAS officer and principal secretary in the culture department, who was a former chief administrator of the Puri temple. The editorial board will also include a number of prominent historians and research scholars of the state like Maheshprasad Das and Raj Kishore Mishra.<br /><br />The information gathering exercise for the important book has already commenced. On June 9, the state archives and the cultural department had organised a national seminar which was attended by many researchers, scholars and writers from different parts of the country who had their own work on the Jagannath temple, its rituals and festivals associated with it. <br /><br />“The seminar was a big success. We have managed to gather many important materials for our book,” said Malla. They would also meet retired bureaucrats and officials who were associated with previously held Nabakalebara festivals.<br /><br />Significantly, the book will also contain the Nabakalebara section of another book on Puri temple and its rituals written by British administrator Charles Groom who served as the Collector of Puri, then known as Collector of Jagannath, during pre-independence <br />period. Articles and reports on previous Nabakalebara celebrations written in old Odia publications and journals like Utkala Dipika and Dainik Asha would be part of the book. <br />The book will carry these reports and articles in its original form. But it will also have their English translated text.<br /><br />The book will have a photo section and it would be divided into three chapters. The first chapter will have photographs of Nabakalebara celebrations during pre- and post-independence period. The second chapter will contain photographs of the temple rituals on palm-leaves paintings that are available in various museums.<br /><br />The third chapter will have the photographs of this year’s Nabakalebara’s Banajoga Yatra -- an interesting ritual to identify the sacred “neem” trees for the making of the three deities. This year the three holy neem trees were found in coastal Jagatsinghpur district. The entire process had triggered a lot of interest among the devotees across the state. <br />People had made a beeline to the spots to see the trees and offer their prayers before they were chopped off and taken to Puri for making idols.<br /><br />The book, which will be published by the Odisha government, is expected to be ready for release within the next few months. The culture department is also contemplating to launch the book on online shopping portals too. <br /><br /></p>