Me and my friend Shri Jagadish Adhikary at #SHAABAR_SRIKSETRA KORAPUT ( #ଶାବର_ଶ୍ରୀକ୍ଷେତ୍ର କୋରାପୁଟ) for the coverage of the Ratha Yatra.
A consolidated Radio Report on the Ratha Yatra Festivals celebrated at Koraput, Jeypore and Nawarangpur will be broadcast from AIR Jeypore on Friday , the 5th July 2019.
Feeling Blessed and privileged to have enjoyed the Festival being celebrated in a unique way since Wednesday, the 12th July 1972 with the "Sabar Culture - the Culture of the Hunters Community" (ଏଠାରେ ୧୯୭୨ ମସିହା ଜୁଲାଇ ମାସ ୧୨ ତାରିଖ ବୁଧବାର ଦିନରୁ ବିଗତ ୪୭ ବର୍ଷ ଧରି ଶବର ବା ଶିକାରୀ ମାନଙ୍କର ସଂସ୍କୃତିରେ ରଥଯାତ୍ରା ପାଳିତ ହୋଇଆସୁଛି )
#HISTORY_OF_SHABAR_SRIKSHETRA
It was some time in May 1972, a Seminar on Shri Jagannath Culture was arranged in Koraput. Then a sleepy small nondescript town Koraput was chosen as the venue for the seminar for its cool & salubrious climate. Many scholars of repute from different parts of India were in attendance at the seminar. At that time there was no Jagannath Temple in Koraput, the nearest Jagannath Temple was in Jeypore.
Among the scholars those who attended the seminar was Pandit Sadashiv Ratha Sharma from Shri Kshetra Puri - an extraordinarily learned orator, researcher and exponent on Shri Jagannath cult & culture. He had brought four deities of Lord Sri Jagannath, Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Sudarshan to the seminar for display. Hundreds of people thronged the seminar to listen to the deliberations and pay obeisance to the Holy Trinity on display.
On a particular Evening some thing strange happened : it was reported to Pandit Sadashiv Ratha Sharma that an old Tribal lady is feeding some fruits to Lord Sri Jagannath. Pandit Ratha Sharma was awestruck & mesmerized at the sight of the old lady offering local fruits brought by her. She was rubbing the fruits on the lips of Lord Sri Jagannath and weeping while humming prayers in her dialects... Pandit Ratha Sharma bowed down to that lady and advised the local organizers of the Seminar to set up a Jagannath Temple and install Holy Trinity. Pandit Ratha Sharma recalled the scene of Ramayan, where a lady of Hunting tribe had offered fruits to Lord Sri Ram while He was in exile. He immediately named the place as SHABAR SHRI KSHETRA - 'The abode of Lord Sri Jagannath in the land of the Hunters.'
Time was running out.. Few weeks were left for Devasnana Purnima. However, few enthusiastic youth got idols of the Holy Trinity from Puri just before the Devasnana Purnima and a makeshift Temple for Lord Sri Jagannath was erected in the campus of the DAV college, Koraput. The then District Collector of the undivided Koraput District requested the local people to cooperate in holding the first ever Ratha Yatra . The Aborigines, the Tribes, the rural people from the different parts of the district participated wholeheartedly in the first ever Ratha Yatra held on the Wednesday, the 12th July 1972 in Koraput. Since then, every year the Ratha Yatra has been celebrated with high religious sentiments and fervour. Till now there used to be just one chariot for all the three deities. This year, for the First Time, three chariots - Taaladhwaja for Lord Balabhadra, Nandighosh for Lord Sri Jagannath and Darpa Dalan or Deva Dalan for Devi Subhadra are built.
As a special gesture, the chariot of Devi Subhadra - Darpa Dalana or Deva Dalana - will be pulled by Ladies only. This is the second such instance after Ratha Yatra in Baripada
Still, the tribes and local people participate in all the rituals connected with this annual festival.
This SABAR SHRI KSHETRA in Koraput in the lap of natural ambience with fantastic weather is No Doubt a wonderful place of Socio-religio-ethnic-cultural importance worth visiting.
#RATHA_YATRA_AT_OTHER_PLACES
This Grand Festival of Lord Sri Sri Jagannath is observed at various places of the world. No one knows exactly, when and how this Festival originated. In Odisha, this Ratha Yatra is celebrated at several Jagannath Temples of historic importance with religious fervour and rituals - at Hari Baladev Jew Temple in Baripada, at Shri Baladev Jew Temple in Keonjhar Garh, at Hari Baladev Jew Temple of Tulasi Kshetra in Kendrapada, at Shri Jagannath Temple in the Patali Shri Kshetra of Bhatli in Subarnapur , at Shri Jagannath Temple in Boudh, at Shaabar Shri Kshetra in Koraput, at the Shri Jagannath Temple in Jeypore, Malkangiri, Nawarangpur etc. and several erstwhile princely states where the rulers were used to be Vaishnavites. Though the basic tenets of the Ratha Yatra remain universal, still, some Rituals and traditions of worship vary from places to places depending upon the genius loci.
💟 JAI JAGANNATH 💟
N.B: The above post is copied from Rajiv Sarangi's FB Time Line.
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