(This post is not about Sarala Mahabharata. It is about a ritual in Shri Jagannath Temple in Puri and the story associated with it. The ritual continues but the story is all but forgotten.
The inspiration for this post has come from some observations of Ms. Sewa Bhattarai regarding some fading worships in Karnali and the stories and the festivals connected with them.)
For a month, from the eleventh day of the
waxing phase of the moon of the month of Aswina till the tenth day of the
waxing phase of the moon of the month of Kartika, both days inclusive, a
special ritual is conducted in Shri Jagannath temple (“Shri Mandira”, as it is
also called) in Puri. After the daily ritual of abakasha (washing face, bathing, etc.) the Deities, Jagannath,
Balabhadra, Subhadra and Sudarshana wear a special besha (dress) called “Radha Damodara besha”. Then after the ballava
dhupa (the first food offering of the
day, called ballava) and the sakala (morning) dhupa (the second food offering of the day), which are daily
rituals, an additional food offering or dhupa
is held. This dhupa is called “baala dhupa”.
While the puja of this dhupa takes place, the devotees, assembled in the presence of the
Deities, repeatedly recite a simple couplet, containing a few names of the Supreme
god Narayana as Krishna. One of these names is Damodara. The first line of the
couplet is of interest here: jaya raadhaa
daamodara gobinda (Victory to Radha and to Damodara, and to Govinda, who is
also known as Damodara). Noticing that I was not reciting it, a servitor, an
old person, came up to me and asked me to repeat it. Say it, Babu (a polite
address and reference term in Odia), it’s a mahaamantra,
great mantra, he told me. I noticed that though most were saying “raadhaa daamodara”, a few were saying “raai daamodara” instead. Later when I
asked one of these devotees, he told me that the right word is really “raai” not “raadhaa” and that Rai was not Radha. He didn’t elaborate; neither
did I ask him to do so. I do not remember why I didn’t; I must have thought
that he really didn’t know. I knew that in colloquial spoken Odia, Radha sometimes
becomes Rai and she is occasionally mentioned as Rai in Odia Vaishnava
literature as well. In any case, standing in front of Jagannath, who would care
what is the right word!
Far away from Puri, after many Kartikas, one
day I recalled what that devotee had told me and tried to find out if Rai is
different from Radha. What I found was that Rai and Radha are not indeed the
same and this is Rai’s story, so tender and sweet:
One day the bada
panda (one of the chief servitors) invited Jagannath home. He had performed
the sraddha ritual for his forefathers and had cooked special food. Jagannath went
to His great devotee’s house and the servitor and his wife offered Him food with
utmost devotion. He was very pleased. What did he want from Him, He asked him.
The servitor said that he wanted Him to marry his daughter, Rai. The Supreme
god obliged; she was born with the attribute of goddess Lakshmi, He told him -
thus the great tradition of the classical narratives appropriated a local tale.
After a while He wanted to return to the Big Temple. The servitor folded his
palms and said that he was poor and had nothing to give Him as dowry and
implored him to forgive him and accept his surrender to Him.
One day the Supreme god asked the pregnant Rai what
she wished to eat. She wanted to sit on His lap and receive worship and eat
coconut, banana, moong sprout, khai
(fried paddy), kora (a coconut-based
sweet), etc., she told Him. For that she had to please goddess Lakshmi, He said.
When, He told her, the goddess would grant her a boon, she must tell her that
she wanted to sit on His lap and receive worship in the month of Kartika. Rai
served the goddess well. Very pleased with her, one day she told her that she
wanted to grant her a boon. Rai asked for Damodara. Lakshmi was stunned. She
was not angry; she did not feel that the girl had been clever and had trapped
her, so she did not want to punish her for her unfair request – she was only
deeply perturbed and sad. How could she ask for Him, she asked her. The
generous girl told her not to worry, it was for just one month, the month of Kartika,
she told her. Lakshmi was relieved. But Kartika is a special month, the most sacred
month; give me five days of Kartika, she requested Rai and she readily agreed. If
not then, later the goddess realized that it was His wish. Thus Jagannath’s
special raadha daamodara besha and
the additional baala dhupa come to an
end one day before the ekadasi of the
waxing month of Kartika. On the day of ekadasi,
the Deities wear what is known as thia kia besha, known also as Lakshmi Narayana besha. Jagannath has returned to Lakshmi.
Rai’s is a local girl’s tale. She did not love
Him; she was not His devotee and marrying Him was not in her mind. Neither was
she in His mind - but who knows about Him. They were married because of her
father, who was His devotee. The bhakta offered and Bhagawan accepted. Rai expected
nothing from Him, did not ask Him for anything. It was only when He wanted her
to ask Him for something that she expressed her desire. What she asked for is
so very childlike, innocent and sweet - sitting on His lap, she wanted to enjoy
the festive dignity and the serene grandeur of the food offering ritual and share
the food with Him. This is what a child could ask of her father. She was not
possessive about Him. She was not
jealous of goddess Lakshmi; neither was she afraid of what would happen to her
when she would find out. She surely knew what He had told her father about
Lakshmi - she was “ati dusta” – very
wicked. With the goddess, she did whatever He wanted her to do. Her attitude is
outside of navadha bhakti (nine types of devotion); it is perhaps surrender in
one form. As Jara’s is, in Sarala
Mahabharata.
The above could just not be Radha’ story. She and
Krishna longed for each other with great intensity. Virtually each couplet of
the immortal love poem, the Gita Govinda,
celebrate their longing, as have innumerable shastrik (roughly, scholarly and
philosophical) texts and kavyik (literary) creations. Lakshmi or Rukmini, viewed
as a form of Lakshmi in dwaapara yuga
(aeon of Dwapara) never entered the Radha narrative. Radha was very possessive
and jealous with respect to Krishna and could certainly not have accepted a
situation in which she would have or would have had to share him with anyone:
gopi or goddess. The avatara left her and later married Rukmini but innumerable
legends and practices and worships have ignored her and celebrated Radha’s and
Krishna’s togetherness. In any case that’s different and is not our concern here.
As for Lakshmi, in puranic literature (at least in Odia puranic literature) she
may not be openly possessive about Bhagawan Vishnu but there is no episode in
which she shared her Spouse with any one, either willingly or forced by
circumstances, without feeling anger and hatred towards that other. In the
Jagannath Temple in Puri, a floral garland of Jagannath (called “adhara” by the servitors) which He wears
in the bada simhara besha (the “big
dress”, which is the last dress the Deities wear for the day and which is a
flower - and tulsi - -based dress) is ritually offered the following morning to
goddess Lakshmi but before it is offered to her, every single tulsi leaf is
taken away from it. Because she cannot stand a sautuni – the other female, with whom she shares her husband.
And Jagannath? No one knows His origins. So
call Him swayambhu. When He entered the discourse of Sanatana dhama is a matter
of interpretation - in the Rig Veda? Or in the puranas? Not resembling any
Vedic or puranic god, He came into this rich discourse with no story of His
own. As different sects of Sanatana dharma embraced Him, stories got attached
to Him - some of these were Vishnu’s, some others were of Vamana’s, Krishna’s
or Rama’s, for example. Those were the
stories that celebrated the doings (or the leela) of Krishna, Rama, etc.
Jagannath had no doings; there was no leela of His, so no stories of His own.
The Odia bhaktas created a few, some of these being of Dasia Bauri (the
low-caste Dasia), Manika Gauduni (the milk maid called Manika, whose story is
not reminiscent in the least of that of the gopis), Bandhu Mohanty, the hungry
devotee to whom He carried food, Salabega, for whom He waited on His ratha till
he returned, Karama Bai whose khichri
He loved to eat, the nameless girl who sang couplets from the Gita Govinda as she plucked brinjals
from the field and of course Rai. As Jagannath was incorporated into the “great
tradition” of Sanatana dharma, much that happened to Him includes His acquiring
attributes, doings and a family. His Rai became the Vaishnavite Radha - for
those who prefer to see Him in terms of Sanatana dharma, Rai was “elevated”
into Radha. Radha, who belongs to the “great tradition” has a highly visible presence;
Rai, who belongs to the local loka katha
(folk tales) is faceless. No literary
work, major or minor, in Odia language has celebrated her. Neither has any
painting. (Or the girl who was plucking brinjals. We will tell her story
another day.) Today a few might remember Rai’s story but a couple of
generations later, she would be entirely forgotten. Radha would have
substituted her in the mind of the people. Today, the established paanjikaas (almanacs) that inform about
the rituals in the Big Temple use the word raadhaa,
nor raai in this context. It wouldn’t
of course matter to Rai. Let her name be lost. Because come Aswina sukla ekadasi, for a whole month from
that day, Jagannath will dress beautifully for her, have a special dhupa, at which she will sit on His lap
and receive worship.
(4.11.16)
