Nabakalebar is all about
transformation of Puri temple, Odisha lords into the new body. The new wooden
deities of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, Goddess Subhadra and Sudarshan are
welcoming to the temple with great celebration and it is a great occasion for
Odisha people. The new idols are carved and old ones are cremated with rituals
mentioned in the century old Odia scriptures.
Depend on the almanac positions of Hindu
calendar the transformation or the Nabakalebar takes place once in every 12 to
19 years. Usually it is held in that year when the month of Ashadha is followed
by another Ashadha. The previous Nabakalebars were taken place in the years
like 1969, 1978 and 1996 and this year again all devotees are getting the
opportunity to see changing form of lords.
From a religious point of view the temple
management and priest have to identify the holy tree with a group of search
team as prescribed in the temple records. They trace the trees with support of
divine dream, then next they start their stopover at Kakatpur, the abode of
Goddess Mangala. After that carving of the idols, transfer of Bramha from old
to new idol and finally sacred burial of old bodies of Lords are the major
rituals which are combinely named as the process of Nabakalebar.
With the forthcoming Nabakalebar even at Puri to
be held in this year 2015, are in the process. Both age-old complicated
religious rituals leading to preparation of wooden idols to huge preparation on
infrastructure from keeping in view massive transformation of devotees. To do
everything in order, Puri Government is working on crowd management, law and
order, health issues, transport services, parking facilities, safety
measurements to give a hassle free service to meet the deadline well in
advance.
2015 is a great year for
Lord Jagannath devotees as they are going to witness the rare Nabakalebara Rath
Yatra, which almost comes in every twelve years. We all are lucky enough to see
this special celebration on 18th July 2015 in the holy city of Puri, Odisha. In
this special year, along with new chariot, new idols of Lord Jagannath,
Balabhadra, Subhadra and Sudashan are also come in front of every
devotee.
The new idols of Lords are prepared through
special Margo trees which should fulfil the entire extraordinary requirement to
be a part of Devine power. Here are the steps which should be followed by Hindu
rituals before preparing new deities.
· The search party for the holy Margo trees should
be of 1 member of the Pati Mahapatra family, 20 Dayitapatis, 1 Lenka, 9 Maharanas,
16 Brahmanas, 3 Deulakaranas, 30 Police officers and 2 police inspectors.
· The search function will start after Lord
Jagannath's blessings and after the midday meal offering to the deities.
· The procession starts from temple to near Puri
Kings' palace to seek his permission.
· Then the procession continues to the gardens of
the temple known as Jagannath-Ballabha then from there within two days the team
prepares all their arrangements to start their journey towards Kakatpur.
· Because it is a belief that only Goddess Bimala
or Mangala can only say about the exact location of the holy trees. It is
auspicious to stay there before starting their search mission. The Dayitapati
will get dream about the different locations of all four deities.
· It is true that on the exact location there
should be so many Margo trees, but the team has to choose the specific marking
and feature based symptoms on those trees.
· After getting the trees a great holy sacrifice
is performed by inviting all the Gods and Goddess to give their blessings at
that auspicious time.
· The auspicious time actually allows cutting
procedure of the holy trees. The Pati Mahapatra will touch the trees with
golden axe, the Dayitapati will touch it with a silver axe and the maharana
family will touch it with iron axe. At the time of cutting the trees 108 names
of God will be chanted.
· The tree logs will arrive to Puri temple through
wooden cart secretively.
· Nobody is allowed to go to see the sculptures
for 21 days. The carpenters close the main door and work whole day and night
there.
· The ceremony will take place three days before
the car festival. After buring the old deities the new deities are come in
front of their devotees on the Rath Yatra.
·
1996 was the last year
when the Nabakalebara had occurred and after a long gap it is again going to be
organized in this year of 2015. It is going to be a grand ceremony. So from all
around the world, people will come on Rath Yatra day, which is going to be
observed on 18 July 2015. So if you want to get lucky enough to visit and see
new lords in front of your eyes, book rooms at Toshali Sands from now onwards
to be the first one to get the best accommodation for Rath Yatra.
Precise Features of Holy Trees For Nabakalebar
Nabakalebar is the
periodical replenishment of the wooden images of Lord, Jagannath, Balabhadra,
Subhadra and Sudarshan that is happened in Puri temple of Odisha. 2015 is the
fortune year, where Nabakalebar is going to take place. This year Puri Rath
Yatra will be named as Nabakalebar Rath Yatra in 18th July 2015 is going to be
special for world over devotees. Seeing the new avatar of Lords is in itself a
great thing and devotees are waiting rigorously for the final day. Here are the
brief description about the procedure of Nabakalebar festival, which is falls
in every 12 to 19 years based on Hindu calendar.
The deities are going to change their bodies
during leap month. So the procedure is like this, one lunar month of the
Ashadha is followed by another lunar month of Ashadha. The Margo trees are
selected every time for making deities. Any ordinary tree with extraordinary
features can only become the body of the deity or Daru Bramha. The Darus should
be different for each deity. Such as :
Lord Jagannath Daru features
· The holy tree must have 4 main branches.
· The bark of the Margo tree should be dark
colored.
· The sign of Sankha and Chakra should be present
in the tree.
· There should be a cremation ground near the
tree.
· An out hill near the tree and a snake hole at
the roots of the tree should be present.
· It should be that holy tree, which doesn’t have
any birds' nest.
· The tree should be near the river or a pond or a
crossing of the three ways or else to be surrounded by 3 mountains.
· The tree should not stand alone but be
surrounded preferably with the trees of Varuna, Sahada, and Belva.
· There should be a temple dedicated to Shiva in
the neighborhood.
· There should be some hermitage or monastery
nearby.
· The holy tree should be free from Parasite
plants and Creepers.
Lord Balabhadra Daru Features
· The holy tree must have Seven Branches.
· The skin of the tree must be light brown or
white color.
· It should have a sign of plough and pestle etc.
· Nearby tree there should be a hermitage and also
a graveyard.
Goddess Subhadra Daru Features
· The tree should have Seven Branches.
· The skin of the tree should be light brown or
white color.
· It should have a sign of plough and pestle etc.
· Nearby tree there should be a hermitage and a
graveyard.
Daru of Lord Sudarshan
· The holy Margo tree should have three branches.
· The bark of the tree should be barkish.
· The tree should have a sign of Chakra with a
small depression in the middle.
Every year during Rath
Yatra millions of people are visiting Puri; however this year it seems
Nabakalebar Rath Yatra it is going to be overcrowded just to see the
transformations of Lords. So this time to visit Puri and get blessings would be
a difficult task.
Sacred Time Of Nabakalebar
Nabakalebar is the
festival of Transformation of Deities into new bodies from old bodies. Based on
Hindu calendar calculation and date within every twelve to nineteen years this
festival gets organized. On this occasion the wooden images of the deities are
replace by new ones in the Puri Jagannath temple.
During full moons of two Ashadh months
(June-July) this festival has taken place. In every three years a lunar month
is excluded to balance in between lunar and solar years to calculate this Naba
kalebar period. The specific month, which was excluded from the calculation
known as Adhimasa or Mala masa due to be believed as most inauspicious period
for any rituals and religious ceremonies is taken place to conduct this Naba
kalebar festival. Inauspicious month for the sacred renewal ceremony is named
as Purusottama Masa. 1863, 1893, 1931, 1950, 1969, 1978 and 1996 are the
consecutive years within last 100 years for Nabakalebar ceremony. This time it
is this year 2015, July 18th is the sacred date for Nabakalebar.
So I think now you are
known with the term "Nabakalebara" .
Before Rath Yatra begins
there are two important ceremonies which are known as 'Netra utshaba' and
'Naba Jauban' .
Netra Utshaba -In
this ritual the eyes of the deities are finally touched and painted and they
become alive for worship. It is followed by another festivity known as Naba
Jaubana Darshana
Naba Jaubana Darshana- On the eve of the Ratha Yatra the freshly
painted deities are gorgeously dressed and decorated for the ritual.
The chariots of the three deities are have their specialties
and qualities.Let us know about each of them one by one.
