The Jagannatha Temple of Puri in India - Coursework Example

How the Form of the Hindu Temple is Related to its Ritual Function JAGANNATHA TEMPLE OF PURI, INDIA Introduction The Jagannatha Temple is situated in Puri, Orissa on the east coast of India. It is a holy place of pilgrimage lying in the fertile river delta of the Mahanadi, on the shores of the Bay of Bengal (Starza, 1993: 2). Among the Hindus, the temple is where God may be approached and divine knowledge imbued. It is central to all aspects of everyday life: religious, cultural, social and educational. Hindus believe that the temple helps to transcend the world of man towards ultimate enlightenment, through devotion to God and performance of rituals (Batchelor, 1997). There are distinctive regional differences in the architecture of temples for different deities in the Hindu pantheon of Gods and Godesses. Besides religious and aesthetic significance, form is related to various rituals associated with paying obeisance to the presiding deity/ deities. Hindu religious practices believe that a devotee can acquire certain merits by performing various rituals and undertaking pilgrimages. The iconography, sculpture and temple building facilitate worship through the performance of rituals (Dallapiccola, 2003: 9). Thesis statement: The purpose of this paper is to determine how the structural form of the Jagannatha Temple of Puri, India is related to its ritual functions. Discussion The Hindu temple’s structural form is considered to represent the universe, God, as well as the divine abode. All aspects of the Hindu temple: its design, construction, architecture, decoration, symbolism and rituals are based on ancient texts called shastras, and are focused on the goal of man’s enlightenment and liberation. The vastushastras, similar to the Chinese feng shui constitute the science of architectural conventions. These ancient principles when used in temple design ensured the convergence of structural form with its functions and rituals of deep religious significance (Batchelor, 1997). From ancient times, religious rituals are performed to propitiate, secure wish fulfilment and obtain favour from the Gods. In Vedic times, from 1500 to 300 B.C., a sophisticated ritual practice developed under the direction of a priestly class, the Brahmins. Ritual and sacrificial offerings were believed to bridge the gap between the human world and that of the Gods, who were identified with the forces of nature (Elgood, 1999: 1). The Jagannatha Temple, Puri The Jagannatha Temple in Puri is situated inside a high-walled enclosure which only Hindus may enter. The deity’s name means “Lord of the World”. The temple tower dominates the landscape extensively. The construction of the Jagannatha temple began in A.D. 1136 and was completed around the end of the twelfth century. For the people of Puri Lord Jagannatha is a special God. “The various nuances of Jagannatha worship and the folk and sanskritik traditions” (Ring et al, 1994: 697) that have been built around it, have pervaded all aspects of life here. Fig. 1. Jagannatha Temple, Puri (Blessingsonthenet, 2008) All over the state of Orissa, there are numerous shrines dedicated to Lord Jagannatha. However, reverence for the deity is historically strongest in Bengal, while the shrine is important to Indian Hindus as a whole. The Jagannatha temple (Figure 1) continues to play a very important part in the religious and cultural life of Orissa and other parts of Eastern India. The Layout of the Jagannath Temple The plan of the temple is similar to others in the Orissan style. A central complex of four structures is surrounded by smaller shrines and two enclosure walls. This includes a sanctuary with tower, assembly hall with pyramidal roof, a dancing hall and a hall of offerings. These four buildings stand in a line and face the east. Originally the sanctuary and the assembly hall which had constituted the initial temple, were so placed that the rays of the morning sun could penetrate into the depths of the shrine through the eastern doorway of the assembly hall. Of the vast number of subsidiary shrines, the most important from the architectural point of view are those of Narasimha, Lakshmi, and Vimala the tantrik consort of Jagannatha (Starza, 1993: 20). There are two prakaras or enclosure walls, which is not commonly found in North India. The additional wall may have been included for protection from Muslim raiders, or inspired by the use of prakaras in the South. The area between the enclosures is partially paved, with gardens, kitchens and other utilities located in the space. The inner enclosure consists of a raised platform on which the principal shrines are placed, and is considerably higher than the road level outside the prakaras, with about twenty-two steps leading up to the central platform. This is believed to represent a small hill, a feature more commonly found in South Indian temples such as the Varadaraja Temple in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu State. In the twelfth century the devadasis danced before the deities in the dancing hall, and plays were performed on the raised platform outside which was later transformed into the hall of offerings. The central platform was also most likely used for ceremonies such as royal anointings and coronations in accordance with Vedic ritual (Starza, 1993: 33). The Relationship Between Structural Form and Rituals at the Jagannatha Temple Jagannatha is worshipped in his temple along with Balabhadra and Subhadra, the brother and sister respectively of Lord Krishna who is re-incarnated as Lord Jagannatha. Jagannatha is believed to be also related to the man-lion or narasimha form of Lord Vishnu, who is another re-incarnation of Lord Krishna. The main temple is extensive in size, made of solid stone, and has been added to over the centuries by numerous kings and devotees. A series of three halls facilitate the passage of visitors towards the inner sanctum sanctorum, for obtaining darshan of the Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and their beloved sister Subhadra, wife of the heroic Arjun in Hindu mythology (TourTravelGuide.com, 2008). Fig. 2 The Deities of Jagannatha, Subhadra and Balabhadra (Blessingsonthenet, 2008) The idols of Jagannatha, Balabhadra and Subhadra have bodies made of uncarved, painted wood blocks and large circular eyes dominate the faces. The deities have two stumps suggestive of human arms protruding from the sides of the thick, massive heads, except in the case of the Subhadra icon (Figure 2). Their seemingly primitive iconography is believed to have been derived from tribal groups such as the Sabaras of northern Orissa. From the time the deity wakes up in the morning till the time he is put to bed at night, detailed rituals of worship or puja are undertaken by a special class of temple priests (Ring et al, 1994: 697). The worshipping of Jagannatha and the celebration of festivals form important rituals at the temple. The day starts at the temple at 5 am. when the deity is woken up, followed by the offering of lamps consisting of camphors lighted in silver salvers. The chief priest and two others perform the worship of Jagannatha and the other two deities. The deities are offered twenty-one candles and lamps made of rice flour and water in which wicks are lighted, and the lamps are waved before the deities. The idols are bathed and dressed in fresh silken garments and jewellery. The priests next perform the fire offering in the kitchen, worship Jagannatha in the five-fold manner, and offer food to the deity consisting of sun-dried rice mixed with grated coconut, cheese, curd and butter. This becomes the sacred mahaprasad only after it is offered to the Godess Vimala. Then, the prasad is shared by all, irrespective of caste. However, the rules of purity and impurity apply in other matters among the different castes, that is, certain castes considered less pure cannot be permitted particular tasks related to the deities, and these rules are observed strictly in the temple (Starza, 1993: 13). To understand the rich symbolism of Hindu ritualism, it is essential to comprehend the most elementary levels of structure in Hindu religious action. There is strong emphasis on purity in puja or the ceremonies related to worship. To honour a Hindu deity, devotees perform ritual worship known as puja. This includes providing the deity with an elaborate bath, new clothes, jewellery, flowers, incense, lamps, music, food, and water. Hindu worship directs all the senses towards the object of devotion, and puja includes admiring the fully adorned deity, smelling the incense and flowers, hearing the chiming of bells and the chants of devotees, and tasting food blessed by the deity (Dehejia, 2002: 4). In this connection, it is seen that in Blurton’s (1992: 21) view of Hindu art, there is a predominance of religious and iconographic figures, myth and ritual. There are two basic components to any ritual sequence, which are related to the purity-pollution contrast and hierarchical distinctions between the deity and the devotees. The first is the creation of a physical zone of purity within which the deity may be approached, and the second which constitutes the core of puja consists of an offering of food to the deity which is later shared as prasad by the devotees as it is considered to be blessed. The superior food that was offered is retrieved as symbolic leftovers or jutha of the God. This is believed to pay God for past or future favours without dishonour, and it also establishes a hierarchical opposition between the deity and the devotees as a group. By this ritual with strong congregational emphasis, the normal rifts among the group are obscured since the group forms a single unit, standing lower in the hierarchy to God (Babb, 1970: 302-303). At the Jagannatha temple, at about 10 am, the ritual of serving breakfast to the deities begins, with mantras and prayers chanted to Jagannatha. The main ritual consists of offering sixteen items including cooked food, and twenty other different dishes. While breakfast is served to the Gods, a devadasi or temple dancer dances an antiquated measure to the sound of drums, in the dancing hall. After the food offering is completed, the doors are opened, and the public can witness from behind a wooden bar the offering of betel nuts and camphor lamps to the divinities, after which the dance stops. The ritual of the mid-day meal offered to the deities is even more elaborate, followed by an afternoon siestas for the idols. The Gods are dressed once more. The ceremonious evening meal between 8 and 9 pm again consists of different dishes, and is followed by a second and final public viewing in which the pilgrims are allowed into the inner sanctum. This is followed by a further ritual of food offering, after which the deities are ceremoniously retired for the night, while a devadasi sings sacred songs (Starza, 1993: 14). Besides halls for food offerings, for religious dance and song, another important link between form and function is the provision of three halls for devotees to move through, to channelize the crowds, and the access given for darshan to the area just outside the inner sanctum sanctorum of the presiding deities. Barriers are provided for keeping pilgrims waiting for darshan, at a distance away from the sanctum and moving through the barricaded passage, to avoid the snowballing of crowds. Darshan is the visual interaction between the devotee and the deity. In Hindu temples, this is one of the most important rituals that is performed by pilgrims, as the main part of their worship. “Seeing” brings both the one who sees and the one who is seen, into actual contact. The worshipper is thus able to absorb by means of vision, part of the inner virtue or power of the deity (Babb, 1981: 387). According to Eck (1998: 1), the central act of Hindu worship for the lay person, is to stand in the presence of the deity and to behold the image with one’s own eyes, to see and be seen by the deity. It is translated as “auspicious sight” of the divine. Its importance in the Hindu ritual context is because of the belief that the actual deity is present in the image, and by beholding the image, one gains the blessings of the divine. Another equally important ritual is circumambulation of the shrine in which the deity resides. For this, the temple has a spacious courtyard around the shrines, facilitating pilgrims’ movement around the deity. The rituals of the Chariots’ Procession, Sandalwood and Deities’ Bathing Festivals are conducted by all castes, with religious and ceremonial fervour for fertility and prosperity. The Ritual of Rathayatra or Procession of the Deities in Chariots Each year, in the months of June and July, the deities of Lord Jagannatha and his two associates are taken in a religious procession, in their respective chariots which are fashioned according to prescribed measurements and colour, to the Gundicha temple about one-fifth of a mile away. After the appointed period of about nine days, the deities are brought back in the chariots. During this processional ceremony also known as the rathayatra, chariot/ car festival (Figure 3) the pilgrims and devotees who pull the chariots by ropes, are believed to accumulate great religious merit (Ring et al, 1994: 697). The car festival and the preceding seasonal rituals are conducted for the coming of the monsoon and the restoration of fertility (Starza, 1993: 128). Fig.3. The Rathyatra or Chariot Procession of the Jagannath Temple, Puri (Blessingsonthenet, 2008). Conclusion This paper has discussed the importance of religious rituals in Hindu temples from ancient times. It has been determined, to what extent the Jagannatha Temple at Puri, its layout and buildings relate to the ritual functions performed at the temple on a daily basis as well as those performed less frequently in a year, such as the Rathyatras. It was found that structural form does contribute and facilitate the exacting and distinctive rituals which are performed at the Jagannatha Temple in Puri. The three halls for channelling the pilgrims in orderly fashion towards darshan of the deities, the different halls provided for performing ritual food offerings and devotional dance and song by the devadasis, the central high platform on which the main shrines have been built which has also served as a stage for royal coronations and anointings, the wide courtyard around the shrines facilitate the circumambulation performed by the pilgrims, and the religious ritual of Rathyatra or ceremonial procession of the deities have all been examined. References Babb, L.A. (1981). Glancing: visual interaction in Hinduism. Journal of Anthropological Research, 37 (4): 387-401. Babb, L.A. (1970). The food of the Gods in Chhattisgarh: some structural features of Hindu ritual. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology. 26 (3): 287-304. Batchelor, A. (1997). The Hindu temple. TempleNet. Retrieved on 8th December, 2008 from: http://www.templenet.com/Articles/hintemp.html Blessingsonthenet. (2008). Jagannath temple. Retrieved on 8th December, 2008 from: http://www.jagannathpuri.blessingsonthenet.com/ Blurton, T.R. (1992). Hindu art. London: British Museum Publications. Dallapiccola, A. (2003). Hindu Myths. London: British Museum Press. Dehejia, V. (Ed.). (2002). The sensuous and the sacred: chola bronzes from South India. London: American Federation of Arts and University of Washington Press. Eck, D.L. (1998). Darsan: seeing the divine image in India. 3rd Edition. New York: Columbia University Press. Elgood, H. (1999). Hinduism and the religious arts. London: Cassell. Ring, T., Salkin, R.M. & Boda, S.L. (1994). International dictionary of historic places. England: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Starza, O.M. (1993). The Jagannatha temple at Puri. London: Brill Publishers. TourTravelGuide.com. (2008). Jagannath Puri temple. Spiritual India. Retrieved on 8th December, 2008 from: http://www.tourtravelguide.com/holy-places/jagannath-puri.html Read More