PURPOSE IS NOT TO REACH YOU ONLY; BUT ALSO TO SAY WHAT TO KNOW YOU HAVE THE RIGHT

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Two relevant books that I have already placed in Internet are in print editions brought out by Shabdasparsha, Bhubaneswar.

One is ORISSA PRADESHA SRUSTIRE GANAMADYAMA that I had authored to tell the friends of my fraternity about how our motherland Orissa could get her modern shape because of the media campaign to establish our mother tongue Oriya as the official language in the British days. The sole purpose of this write-up was to wake them up to the painful reality of how the unique era Orissa’s media had created is going astray as the Official language status of our motherland is getting ruined by our own government due to continuous contravention of Orissa Official Language Act, 1954 by the Chief Minister himself. It was aimed at reminding the members of my fraternity of their responsibility.

The other book is NABAKALEBARA: LEGENDS AND REALITY.

When the world was eager to know the significance of Nabakalebara in the philosophy SriJagannatha epitomizes, the State Government was dancing to the tune of the real antagonists of the Cult of SriJagannatha on the platform of concocted legends. To me, it was my duty to tell the world whatever best was possible on my part on the reality of Lord Jagannatha.

Both these works were available to the netizens the world over. To help non-netizens know of it, Shabdasparsha has produced the print-editions.

With pleasure, I am conveying you its invitation to the launching ceremony of both the books to be held at Red Cross Bhavan on December 29 at 6 pm.

The purpose is not to reach you only, but also to say what to know you have the right.

 

 

IT IS TIME TO KNOW HOW FAR DURGA IS FROM DURGA

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Come Dasahara, the profiteers are diverting people from the essence of this unique reminder of agro-matriarchal-militancy to their network of exploitation under festivities of no relevance to the real concept of Durga. Two decades ago I had analyzed the issue on 25 September 1995 which was published in the Dasahara issue of Dharitri on 01 October 1995 under the caption: DURGA THARU KETE DURA DURGA?

Foul play of the avaricious profiteers having had the strongest ever support from the plutocratic rulers, the cult of Durga needs be studied by whosoever has any concern for the common man. Hence, I am putting it here, by scanning the article published in my book Singhavalokana (Bharata Bharati, Gajapati Nagar, Cuttack). It is in Oriya and addressed to the people of Orissa.

Past comes alive with Netaji files: His ashes were immersed as Gandhiji’s despite warning!

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Declassification of any numbers of Netaji files will not help us condemn the wrongful immersion of his ashes as Gandhiji’s by Tusar Gandhi, when a Bengali manager of the State Bank of India at Cuttack tampered with the Urn and created a climate of confusion that made the judiciary issue such a direction in 1996.

Whosoever knew Netaji intimately, had known three things:
(1) He had taken birth in Cuttack of Orissa;
(2) Cuttack, the City of the Barabati Forte, had injected valor into his veins, as he had spent his first sixteen years, acquiring a character that was never to change;
(3) Despite modern outlook, he was a Hindu where body after death is consigned to fire and the ashes collected after funeral returns to the birthplace for immersion.

Therefore, after his cremation, a portion of his funeral ashes was preserved in the Rankoji temple in Japan and another portion was delivered to Chief Minister of Orissa, his birthplace, in hope of its respectful disposal.

The great Gandhian Nabakrushna Chowdhury was then the Chief Minister. The urn containing Netaji’s ashes was given to him in November, 1950. It was highly sensitive a matter. People in general were considering the central leadership responsible for the debacle Netaji was subjected to and were deeply disturbed over the news of his death. Neither Netaji’s family nor Government of India had confirmed his death. To tell the people that his ashes had arrived was to invite a totally uncontrollable disturbance. Hence Sri Chowdhury thought it prudent to keep the urn containing Netaji’s ashes temporarily in the safe custody of the Imperial Bank of India, which eventually became the State Bank of India. And, he had handed over the urn, as circumstantial evidences convince us, personally to the manager of the Bank on 20 November 1950, where, it was safely kept till the Bengali manager of SBI, Treasury Branch, Cuttack tampered with the records and created the misguiding commotion in 1996 through another Bengali photojournalist. It was not that the Bank manager had not known the Cuttack based regular journalists; but he relied upon a Bengali photojournalist to spread the news that Gandhiji’s ashes were left abandoned in an urn in the locker of the SBI.

I had interviewed the said manager and his faltering answers had convinced me that he was telling deliberate lies.

I had discussed the issue and warned that the ashes should not be disposed off as that of Gandhiji till it was decided that the same did not belong to Netaji.

I had given enough reasons in support of my argument that the ashes, if at all the urn contained that, were of Netaji, and could never be of Gandhiji. I had insisted that the same be determined forensically before any further steps were taken.

Published in the most advanced daily of the State ‘Sambad’ on 18 April 1996, it had reached massive numbers of readers in the general public and who’s who in political, executive and judicial administration. Neither the people nor the State in its above three branches bothered. I was not a litigant to prefer any case in the Court. And, the blunt-heads whom Netaji cannot be accepted to have died, enjoyed the ugliest turn the urn had to take, as Sri Tusar Gandhi was handed over the urn for immersion wherever he deemed proper.

When a Cuttack-based publisher ‘Bharata Bharati’ produced a 740 page mega-compilation of my column ‘Singhavalokana’ in 2010, this discussion captioned GANDHARBA PRAYANA, CHITABHASMA: GANDHIJI O NETAJI occupied the first position in the said book. Most of the men who matter have obtained the book and the topic has a calling position before their eyes. Nobody has countered my argument; but none of them has dared to approach the truth. It is unfathomable for me to know, as a people, what have we become.

In the circumstances, I deem it proper to post the published article here for my visitors who belong to Orissa and speak, read and understand Oriya, specifically as it was written 19 years ago. Those who were in High Schools then, must have become 35 years or so old by now. Let them visit/revisit what I believe to be the truth in order to accept or reject it in quest for truth.

Rasagola has at least a 500 years old history in Orissa

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

I thank my dear friend Asit Mohanty for his focus on Rasagola. He has very convincingly shown that if it was innovated anywhere in the world, then it was only in Orissa.

I would like to supplement him only in matter of its age. In trying to do so, I am bound to recall my childhood days.

My Piusi (sister of my father) was married to Radhasyam Pattanayak of Gopalpur, Banki. My uncle (father’s younger brother) was also married in Banki Garh. Come a vacation, either my cousins from these two places in Banki come to my house in Tigiria or I go there. It was great fun.

There was no direct road connection between Tigiria and Banki. We were using road to Cuttack, then a boat to cross the river Mahanadi and from the Ghat at the other side, again a bus to Charchika, the nerve center of Banki between both the above villages. It was a long root.

The other road connection was to Sunthipal fron Tigiria Nizgarh via Bindhanima on bullock cart, from where to Banki in a boat over Mahanadi.

But for my family it was more convenient to go walking from my house on ridges of agricultural plots. The distance this way from my ancestral home to Mahanadi river bed was maximum four kilometers via Sunthipal.

Once my father’s Khamari (regular paid worker in charge of cultivation and storage of crops) Subala Majhi of old Tigiria accompanied me under orders of my father. He was just like a family member and we the children were respecting him as an elder brother. I was calling him ‘Subala nana’. He was an excellent story teller and it was always a pleasure if his company was available.

On the ridges, only one person behind another could move. Naturally, I was following him. But he missed the proper ridge and walked on another ridge that took us to Bandala of Banki on our home side bank of Mahanadi, instead of Sunthipal. Banki is situated on both the sides of Mahanadi; the side adjacent to Tigiria is spread from Bandala to Ansupa spangled with a few villages of Tigiria and Athgarh.

Reaching Bandala on the ridge was a bit longer than the root to Sunthipal. The sand bed of the river was also wider than the bed at Sunthipal. We were feeling hungry. Subal nana found a thatched ‘Gudia Dokan’ (snack stall) on the Mahanadi embankment where we were to enter the sand bed to walk up to the river stream. The stall owner said that all the snacks he had prepared were finished except a few Rasagolas. I found them of pretty big size in a big Glass Jar.

Smaller size Rasagola was priced Rs.2/- per piece in my village. I imagined that such big size Rasagola must be of Rs.5/- per piece. My father had given me only Rs.10/- for “Bhoga” at Charchika. We were not to pay any money to the ferrymen, as they were my family’s ‘Berttan Bhogi’ persons, to whom a plot of our ancestral land near the river had been given for free ferrying of our family members as and when we were to go to and fro Banki.

But, despite being hungry, I could not dare to take even one of the sweet balls, lest the money would be more than that I can afford. I was sure, howsoever big the cost, at least two Rasagolas could be paid for with the money I was possessing. So, I asked the snack shop owner to give Subala nana two pieces of Rasagola. Subala nana querried, should I not take any! I refused, pretending that I do not like the Rasagolas.

The Rasagolas were really of such big size that Subala Nana could not take more than the two pieces given to him.
As I gave the shop owner the ten-rupees note, he said, “Ede notute! Reja Kai’n? (A note of such big amount! Wherefrom shall I get the changes?)

And, thus saying, he went running to his village to procure the changes. He returned me a sum of Rs. 8/- and when in blatant surprise, I wanted to know the price he was charging per piece, he said, it was only Re.1/- per piece.

It would have been embarrassing for me to ask for Rasogola, as I had already said that I do not like them. I repented for my foolishness.

However, I asked him, when Rasagola of very small size was charged Rs.2/- in Tigiria Nizgarh, how was it that he was selling bigger size Rasgolas at Re.1/- only?

He replied, “babu, adhika kahinki nebi? Jhiati ta baha hoi shahughare bhalare achhi. Pua chakiri kari bohu saha bahare. Ame Budha Budhi Dijana; Gaee jeuin kshira deuchhanti, sethiru khai pi balakaku chhena chhidei sata purusara beparati chaleichhun. Mo pare beparati budi jiba” (My daughter has married and is staying happily with her in-laws. Son is in an outside employment and my daughter-in-law and grandchildren are staying with him. My wife is making the cheese from the milk the family cows give and thus I am maintaining the seven generation old family trade. After me, the tradition would end).

I was curious to know how it could be a trade of seven generations old. He said, “Thare Saa’nte e pariki bije hoithilabele Rasagola khai khusi hoi Mo jejebapanka budhajepanku sata mana jami deithile O niskara bhogibaku kahithile. Sei dinathu eha chalichhi”. (Once while inspecting this side of his State – the King of Banki had entertained himself with Rasagola prepared by the great-grandfather of my grandfather and being happy over the treat, had gifted him seven Mana of land free of tax. Since then we are using the land.) It may be mentioned that in our area, a Mana is around one and half acres of land.

When I was a student of nine at that time, the shop owner was, I believe, in his 70s. He was in possession of the land gifted by the king of Banki for Rasagola for six generations by then. If one generation is of minimum sixty years, then that history covers at least 360 years and as the man whom the King of Banki had gifted the land, was in inherited trade of the family, Rasagola was surely a 400 years old family trade of the Bandala family.

Keeping this story here, I would like to recall my accidental visit to the family of K.C.Das of Kolkata. My esteemed friend Barendra Krushna Dhal has profound friendship with this family. On reaching Utkal Bhavan, Kolkata on a day, I found Barendra babu was lodged there for two days. A few hours later, journalist Pradyot Bhatt arrived and announced that he had come to invite us to a dinner in the residence of Mr. Das. I was reluctant to accept the invitation, because I did not know that family. But finally I had to agree, as, after Pradyot babu left, I got the request from the son of Mr. Das through my room telephone. Obviously, Barendra babu must have asked the host to invite me and in order not to embarass Barendra babu, I went there with him. The evening was tremendous. I had gathered from there that by then their family trade of Rasagola had reached the third generation.

The Bandala experience continued to strike me. If the Bandala family was producing Rasagola for seven generations, how then the Das family of Kolkata could be the inventor of Rasagola, being in the trade for three generations?

Once while talking about this, I attracted attention of my revered teacher Pt. Narayan Dash. He instantly recited a Sankrit Shloka that depicted how  Rasagola was being offered by Laxmi to SriJagannatha on his final entry to SriMandira after the car festival.

The tradition is in vogue before arrival of Sri Chaitanya at Puri, he had said.

I believe that he was not wrong.

It is Gajapati Purusottama Dev during whose time most aggressive steps were taken to change Jagannatha from Buddha to Vishnu and all sorts of legends were created to bring in the Laxmi concept.

In original Srikshetra tradition Bimala, the Shakti of Bauddha Tantra was the Kshetradhiswari of the citadel of Jagannatha (Bimala Sa MahaDevi, Jagannathastu Bhairabah), Laxmi was never.

In order to replace Bimala with Laxmi, so that people may take Jagannatha as Vishnu – he being Laxmi’s consort – this legend of Laxmi trying to please Jagannatha with Rasagola was contrived. And, Purusottama Dev must have encouraged that.

Chaitanya had come to Orissa after the end of the reign of Purusottama Dev, particularly after Prataparudra Dev was well settled. He had spent the last 18 years of his life from 1515 to 1533 A.D. in Puri. This shows that, Rasagola is in use in Puri before 1515 A.D.  and thus, for at least 500 years.

Thus, Orissa’s claim as the place of origin of Rasagola is certainly justified.

Sankaracharya should be arrested to ensure smooth performance of Ratha Yatra

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Sasnkaracharya Nishchalananda Saraswati has again spewed venom at the State administration in a press conference at Bhubaneswar.

He has been insisting that management of SriJagannatha should vest in him and the Temple must run under his direction. He claims to be the supreme authority on Temple administration and by not consulting him, the chief administrator of the Temple has generated all the chaos.

He has tried to create panic in public mind by predicting severe disaster, as Daru selection to Brahma Paribarttan having generated wrath of the God Almighty, the Ratha Yatra would bring in catastrophe.

He has come down heavily on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik over his silence on popular demand to punish the Daitas for irregularities in Brahma transfer. He has been demanding that the law of Jagannatha Temple Administration be amended obviously to quash the primacy of the Daitas in the Lord’s most important function spanning from Snana Yatra to Ratha Yatra including Navakalebar.

We have exposed in these pages the modus operandi of Nishchalanand and how for fulfilling his ambition, agent provocateurs were engaged to mar the sanctity of Brahma transfer. But Nishchalananda is silent about the agent provocateurs.

Daitas have been subjected to humiliation and motivated media reprimands so that environment to hand over SriMandira to Sankaracharya could be easier.

Religious revivalists’ demand for handing over the responsibility of SriMandira to Sankaracharya makes the matter clear. Wordy arsenals used against the Daitas in television and social media, read with Sankaracharya’s statements so far, provokes us to fear that Nischchalananda is the main designer of the Navakalebara fiasco. He can go to any extent in his design to grab SriMandira in order to promulgate rabid Brahminism to oblige religious revivalists.

The temple of Jagannatha has remained till date a citadel of applied Buddhism where the Brahmins have secondary role and Sankaracharya has no role to play. But eliminating Jagannatha’s Buddhist relevance is the only purpose of Sankaracharya.

Sri Kedarnath Mohapatra in his Khurudha Itihasa has clearly noted that the sole purpose of Sankara in establishing Gobardhana Matha at Puri and appointing his chela order in the said Matha is revival of Brahminism. To quote him: SE BRAHMANYA DHARMARA PRATIPATTI O PRASARA BRUDDHI NIMITTA PURIRE GOBARDDHAN PITHA PRATISTHA KARI TANKARA PRIYA SHISHYA PADMAPADACHARYANKU EHARA PRATHAMA PITHADHISHA RUPE NIJUKTA KARITHILE. (Page 287 of Khurudha Itihasa, 1969, published with the funds granted by Government of Orissa). Roughly it means: Adi Sankara had established Gobarddhana Pitha at Puri and appointed his dear disciple Padmapadacharya as the first chief of this center of his order in order only to revive the supremacy of Brahmanism and spread it in Orissa.

The only work of this Matha was to train the Brahmins in how to vitiate Jagannatha’s worship with Vedic method to eliminate the original method of his worship in Sabari Tantra or Bouddha Tantra.

In recording this evil design, Prof. K. C. Mishra has noted, “The priests of Jagannatha Temple learn the art of ritualistic worship from the (Sankaracharya) Matha”.

Needless to say that, the priests are the Brahmins appointed by patron kings of Brahminism, whose training was vested in Sankaracharya. One of these kings had even cooperated with the Brahmins to establish the statues of Adi Sankara and his first chela Padmapada on the Ratna Singhasana of Jagannatha. Those two statues were being worshiped along with the Lord in naked assertion of the authority of the caste-supremacists. People of Orissa had revolted against this mischief and had dragged those statues out of the Ratna Singhasana and had thrown them to the street for people to pulverize them to dust under their feet.

Though Khurudha Itihasa attributes this to Chaitanya’s movement (page 288), the fact that, under autocratic rule of the then Gajapati king, this deracination of Sankaracharya-statues from Jagannatha’s Ratna Singhasana had happened, is no small admission of history that people of Orissa had freed the Jagannatha Temple from the evil design of Sankaracharya in a heroic fight against their own king.

Since then, Sankaracharya has been kept out of Srimandira.

In recording this, Prof. Mishra writes, “The system (of training priests by Sankaracharya) is no longer in vogue in the temple” (K.C. Miashra, The Cult of Jagannatha, page 125)

This being the reality, Nishchalananda’s claim of authority on Jagannatha system is nothing but impudence.

He and the Brahmin officials in nexus with him have cunningly created chaos in this Navakalebar. Gajapati has acted a patron of Brahminism by being hand-in-glove with Nishalananda.

As there is every logical reason to apprehend that he may use any further tricks to derail the smooth performance of the Car Festival, so that the religious revivalists would get new grounds to demand for handing over the SriMandira to Sankaracharya in order to extinguish applied Buddhism in vogue in the Temple system, it is necessary that the Crime Branch be asked to study all his statements – print and visual – on records so far,  and to take necessary precautionary steps to ensure the Ratha Yatra completing the cycle peacefully.

He should be arrested if his tongue is not tamed. Jagannatha culture is to be preserved at any cost.

Coke Studio’s “Rangabati” is an insult and assault on folk music and linguistic sanctity

By Saswat Pattanayak

The “Rangabati” version that is being touted as putting Odisha on the world map is instead designed to take Orissa off the map.

Credited to Ram Sampath, Sona Mohapatra and Rituraj Mohanty, this modern incarnation of Rangabati is problematic in more ways than just one. In the guise of promoting Oriya culture, what this rendition does is undermine the history of struggles behind linguistic uniqueness of Oriya itself and promotes a bunch of profiteering corporate pawns in their self-aggrandizement.

Firstly, by titling it as “Rangabati” while remixing it with “Vande Utkala Janani”, it vulgarizes the very national anthem of the Oriyas. The team behind MTV Coke has quite possibly forgotten the relevance and sanctities attached to the state anthem that played pivotal part in freedom struggles of the Oriyas. Behind the creation of Orissa as the first linguistically formed state in India, lies the power of “Vande Utkala Janani”. What is evident in the Coke Studio version is sheer deplorable trivialization of the classicism associated with the song that eventually led to preservation of Oriya language and its distinct attainment of classical status.

When Bengal and Bihar had colonized Orissa, it was not just a geographic mass that was exploited – it was a language that was denied to the people of Orissa back then. Thanks to the Utkal Sammilani and the freedom fighters associated with it, Orissa had been able to reclaim its unique glory. When Oriya was not considered as a separate language, these stalwarts had ensured that the new province would be formed precisely based on the language that was more unique and far richer than the ones that had dominated over it employing British mischiefs.

It was in 1882, long before the first Utkal Union Conference (Utkal Sammilani) was formed that Madhusudan Das (along with Gaurishankar Ray) championed the cause of Oriya people through Utkal Sabha (the Orissa Association). As its president, Madhusudan Das fought against imposition of Hindi in the place of Oriya in the official works at Sambalpur. How ironic, that today, under the garb of promoting a Sambalpuri folk song, the struggle behind linguistic identity would be so opportunistically forgotten!

In 1903, when the first Utkal Sammilani was held in Kanika, it had representation from all over Orissa – Kanika, Keonjhar, Cuttack and Sambalpur. It was proudly declared as “the Parliament of people inhabiting Oriya speaking areas, not withstanding caste, creed, language and administrative divisions.” When Bengal Government restricted Oriya officers from attending the Conference, Madhu Babu demanded that they be allowed.

When Orissa was not a political entity and Oriya was not officially a language, it was Madhusudan Das who thundered: “According to history, people from different places came to England and settled there. This union helped in the making of the English race. The English people had great contribution to the progress in Europe. We must consider this in the context of our motherland. Now looking at the suffering of mother Utkal who amongst us would be thoughtless? Hence we all being united would share her suffering and serve her. While in this deep service we must remember a statement of the Prophet Muhammad – for the spread of love one should give up impure element from the heart and allow pious blood into it. My dear brothers and sisters who want to dedicate their lives for the service of the mother Utkal must at first give up – conceit and selfishness. The race or nation is eternal, you and myself have temporary existence. The only way to progress is to give up selfishness. It will be admitted by all that the water of the river and lake coming from different direction would enter into the ocean where it would take one shape and one colour. It would be called the water of the ocean and would take the name of the great ocean.”

In such a backdrop of relentless struggle to claim Oriyas as a distinct “race”, the classicism of Oriya language inherently remained. It is in such a context that the unique diversity of Orissa remained preserved while the language is fiercely protected. And it is in this context that Kantakabi Laxmikanta Mohapatra’s “Vande Utkala Janani” is treated inviolable – as the national anthem of a race of people who battled political, economic and cultural subjugations to retain their uniqueness.

And it is in this context that it was declared on December 19, 2002 by the Speaker of Orissa Legislative Assembly, Mr. Sarat Kumar Kar that whosoever shows any disrespect to “Vande Utkala Janani” shall face penal action.

In the name of artistic freedom, experimentations and fusions, “Vande Utkala Janani” rendition has been improper at the technical level in the latest YouTube sensation, while commercially exploited to suit a corporate agenda at the level of intent.

(L-R) Singers Jitendra Haripal, Krishna Patel, lyricist Mitrabhanu Gountia and music director Prabhudatt Pradhan.

Equally deplorable is the cultural misappropriation of Jitendra Haripal and Krishna Patel’s brilliant composition “Rangabati”. Haripal is a Dalit artist duly recognized by the state for his immense contribution to folk and patriotic music. A purist practitioner of folk music, Haripal once said, “The new Sambalpuri songs use crude and indecent expressions and the pure folk we used to create have taken a backseat. I want to keep folk music safe and promote it.”

Rangabati rendition by Sona Mohapatra is neither pure nor is it keeping folk music safe. It is only using Rangabati for the purpose of self-promotion. Bereft of all patriotic feel and folk quality, the electronic appropriation by privileged caste commercial artists, of a Dalit folk singer’s most monumental contribution is at once sad and derogatory. To make matters worse, the fusion of “Rangabati-Vande Utkala Janani” not only abandons folk traditions, and replaces what Haripal once told P. Sainath in The Hindu, “simple love song in pure Sambalpuri style” for a needless mash-up with “Vande Utkala Janani”, it also infuses the non-Oriya rap between the lyrics.

Finally, there is clear case of copyright violation by the MTV’s Coke Studio which has not taken any permission from original lyricist Mitrabhanu Guintia and music director Prabhudatta Pradhan. Not only has the national anthem of Orissa been taken for granted by corporate houses, but even the folk artists and song writers are not compensated before their music are widely abused.

As Oriyas, unable to combat the assaults, atrophy and neglect of our language, many things are no longer surprising to us. But the callous indifference towards commercial appropriation of “Rangabati” as well as trivialization of “Vande Utkala Janani” perhaps indicate that we may be destined to lose both our folk heritage and linguistic historical identity, much sooner than later, if this manipulative Coke Studio production is what we falsely perceive as taking Odia to the world map.

Investigation into Role of Sankaracharya-Gajapati-Suresh Mohapatra Gang is Essential. Political Acrobatics Never

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Now the hidden motive is discernible. Voice has been raised through media to put Sankaracharya in charge of Jagannatha till at least the end of the Car Festival. It means, the fiasco in transfer of the so-called Brahma was designed to create a situation to help Sankaracharya gain hegemony in the management of the affairs of SriJagannatha.

Since collective wisdom of the people of Orissa had forced Gajapati Divyasingh Dev (1793-98) to evict Sankaracharya from the SriMandira system, the successive heads of Gobardhan Math, the single role of which was to train the Brahmin priests in tricks of vitiating the Cult of Jagannatha with caste-supremacist cult, have been trying to grab again the great temple of applied Buddhism.

The incumbent Sankaracharya Nischalananda, the anti-Oriya, who hates Oriyas because of their inherent aversion to treatment of Jagannatha like any other god of Hindu pantheon; and because of that, has inherent hatred for Oriya language and Oriya culture which undoubtedly is Jagannatha culture, has been trying since long to sit at the helm of Jagannatha affairs, so that whatever remnants of Buddhist origin of the greatest deity of the Oriyas are still alive could be completely destroyed.

Despite around four decades of stay in Orissa, living with Orissa’s water, air, food and salt, Nischalanand, who has never wanted to learn and speak in Oriya (journalist Deviprasanna Nayak in conversation), has been issuing threats to Orissa government in the name of religion; and taking advantage of emergence of religion revivalists in Indian power after Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee gang completely discredited the Congress, has seemingly succeeded in checkmating the Daitas – the strongest protectors of Jagannatha’s Buddhist origin so far – by using the chief administrator of the temple Suresh Mohapatra (IAS) and Gajapati Divyasingh Dev, the two agents of Brahminism, after which his protégés have started sounding that now as the State Government has mismanaged the Brahma replacement, it should abdicate its role in matters of SriJagannatha and handover the authority to Sankaracharya.

Puppet media mostly run by corporate houses and hence subservient to the exploitative class, have dumfounded the general public with anti-Daita publicity meticulously built up with calculated dexterity of shrewd scribes and executed with unprecedented ferocity of a class of aggressors, the like of which was never witnessed in Orissa.

Victims of this nefarious design are the Dayitas, the last remnants of Buddha’s Oriya origin and the protectors of the real cult of Jagannatha.

The media as a whole is involved with such shenanigans that a senior journalist has publicly posed a question: “Are they Dayitas or Daityas?” to which, dummies have promptly answered: “Daityas (demons)”!

In aggravating the situation, Gajapati Divyasingh Dev, the spiritual sovereign ruler of Oriya hearts, who, because of being the hereditary first servitor of SriJagannatha, is so dear to indigenous inhabitants of this splendid soil, that, when a child is born, in his/her horoscope the first name to be inscribed is his, has, sadly vomited innuendos against the Daitas, apparently to discredit them to the pleasure of caste-supremacists.

As expected, communalist BJP has been with Nishchalanand.

But surprisingly, the non-communal Congress has also joined the boggy of the culture-vultures to precipitate mass disliking for the Daitas, lest thereby its paralyzed grip on Orissan politics could fetch any new flow of blood.

All those politicians, except the Communists, and all those netizens except the rationalists, and all those intellectuals who are afraid of seeing beyond the legends lest the doors of the hail opens for them after death, and all those bragging sophomores, sans any knowledge on anthropocentric manners of Jagannatha, are busy in adding their strength to motivated media to denigrate the Daitas.

But these fellows have not yet used their collective intelligence, if any, to let the people know, under whose orders, agent provocateurs had entered the secluded place to disturb the so-called Brahma transfer. Motivated media as a whole is busy in diverting people’s attention from the real issue.

Keeping a close watch on behaviors of media, we reach at five highlights: (1) Gajapati Divyasingh Dev is bitterly unhappy over Chief Minister’s silence on mismanagement of Brahma transfer and has hurled allegations of incompetency at him; (2) The sanctity of Navakalevar has been violated by link of Daitas with the ruling BJD; (3) Daitas in excess numbers have entered into the secluded area of Brahma transfer and violated the sanctity of the secret function; (4) Chief Administrator Suresh Mohapatra (IAS) is squarely responsible for the mismanagement; and (5) Authority over the temple of Jagannatha needs be vested in the hands of Sankaracharya.

Media should have taken up these points to apprise the people of reality; but it has not happened. This prods us to put our views on these points seriatim.

(1) When we look at the Gajapati, he has no legitimate authority to issue political comments. He is the ornamental head servitor of Jagannatha and his conduct in the context of Jagannatha is bound by protocols. Beyond that he has no legitimate role. Hence, he should not have allowed himself to issue political comments in media against the Chief Minister in a style more congenial to public prejudice against Daitas than cleansing the muddy environment, which the crabby elements have created to mislead the  innocent believers. On this premise, and further to what we have said in a preceding post referred to bellow, it seems that Gajapati Divyasingh Dev has been working in nexus with Sankaracharya to create an environment for him to establish his hegemony in affairs of Jagannatha to benefit of caste-supremacists.

(2) Political membership of any Daita never hampers the sanctity of any function of Jagannatha. Daitas are not 24 hour servants of the temple. Their responsibility is legally limited and they are free to join politics as they like. Father of the present Gajapati, late Birakishore Dev was a member of Orissa Legislative Assembly from Khurda constituency by embracing Jana Congress when his uncle, my close friend Raj Raj Dev was elected to Assembly from Brahmagiri as a member of the Swatantra Party and both of them were active against Biju Patnaik, father of the present Chief Minister. No ceremony of Jagannatha was affected by their political link. On the other hand, Minister Arun Sahu’s rest in a Savarpalli with Daitas or Minister Damodar Raut’s presence on a site of identified Daru or Minister Maharathy’s driving the Daru cart may be symbolic of the State’s intimate involvement with the great festival, but cannot be termed as offenses against the  sanctity of the Daru, as no such action is defined as illegal and offensive.

(3) It is admitted that four Daitas were authorized to change the secret Brahma. It is admitted that after Gajapati left the temple paying his last respects to the images to be buried after transfer of the “TejomayaDhatu”(the so-called Brahma) to new images, everybody present inside the temple system was ousted and the entrances were locked. To the shock of the four designated Daitas, around 40 persons had entered into the secluded area without any authority and any necessity. These transgressors acted as agent provocateurs to derail the schedule in blatant disregard to secrecy and sanctity of the event. As the inordinate delay continued to torment the general public, it was the duty of the Gajapati to enter into the temple as the first servitor of Jagannatha and find out the reason of delay. Then he could have seen who were the trespassers that were derailing the ceremony and should have hand them over to the police for penal prosecution. The authorized Daitas were ready to identify them. But the Gajapati did not discharge this basic duty and thereby helped the agent provocateurs hijack the day. It would be impossible now to book the said agent provocateurs.

(4) Suresh Mohapatra is the only person on whose secret orders the agent provocateurs must have entered the temple to derail the ceremony. Admittedly the temple system was subjected to “sodh” after the Gajapati had left. All persons present in the temple premises at that time were driven out and the doors were closed, guarded by temple police. The entire temple was surrounded by the police forces of the State Government. In that condition, no single person could have opened any door to enter into the temple. But around forty persons had admittedly entered. This was possible in only two situations. If the Gajapati should have wanted or if the Chief Administrator of the Temple should have wanted, the guarding police could have allowed them entry, otherwise never. In the instant case, Gajapati was not present, as, he being the most revered of all whom people take as the living form of Jagannatha, his presence could never have been suppressed. So, even though it cannot be said that he did not know of the scheme, it can never be said that the agent provocateurs had entered the temple under his orders. Then the only man who could have helped the trespassers was IAS officer Suresh Mohapatra, the chief Administrator of the temple, who was present on the spot. His secret instruction to someone at an entrance gate to allow the agent provocateurs to enter into the temple might not have marked as unusual at that time. Were he not to hide the truth, he should not have conducted the post-offense inquiry. Being in the center of suspicion and public disapproval, he should have asked someone else to conduct the inquiry and subjected himself to that inquiry too. His conduct is generating more suspicion in public mind.

(5) These sequences have paved the way for the caste-supremacists and their pet media to demand for handing over the temple system to Sankaracharya Nischalanand, the ethical enemy of the Cult of Jagannatha.

In lead article “Navakalevara:Legends and Reality”, the mischief of Brahma has been discussed and it has been further discussed how media is making the situation irresponsibly confusing in interest of hidden masters in another article captioned “Media act Instigator: People misled in matter of Navakalevara”. One may gain further insight into the clandestine conspiracy by visiting “Parasites activate their design: Sankaracharya invited to Bath and Rath festivals of SriJagannatha”.

Shamefully, a non-communal party like the Congress has allowed itself to be swayed away by the hidden agenda of Sankaracharya and his gang in discrediting the Daitas to the advantage of caste-supremacists who want to destroy the Buddhist origin of Jagannatha and dismiss Applied Buddhism from the Jagannatha system.

If, SriJagannatha is to be preserved in his original magnificence, emphasis should be put on investigation into Role of Sankaracharya-Gajapati-Suresh Mohapatra Gang. Political acrobatics should never be encouraged.

Media act instigator: People misled in matter of Navakalebar

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Sankaracharya of Puri has stressed upon immediate elimination of Government role in Jagannatha system using the delay in transfer of Brahma (life material) as his ploy. Gajapati Divyasingh Dev who offended the Oriya people by going to Sankaracharya to invite him to the ceremonial bath and Rath of Jagannatha ignoring how Sankara’s image had been deracinated from the RatnaSinghasana of Jagannatha by the heroic people of Orissa consequent upon which he has been kept out of the SriMandira system, has also echoed Sankaracharya’s tone and called upon the people of Orissa to rise in revolt against the Government in general and Daitas in particular for whom the delay allegedly occurred. Upper caste people, who have political economy of inequality as their creed and have ability to use media to transmit their motivated views, are also inciting the masses in unison with the Sankaracharya and the Gajapati. But, the Daita Niyoga, which has so far successfully defended the originality of Jagannatha from the conspiracy of Sankara and his followers, has alleged that, instead of four Daitas, the temple administration had pressed forty of them to participate, which severely affected the environment of Gupta Puja (secret performance) and created an environment of threat to the ‘life material’ to be transferred from the old bodies of the deities to the new ones, in tackling which, the appointed time elapsed. Some of these unauthorized Daitas, according to a ‘Badagrahi’ Daita Haladhar Das Mahapatra, even created violent disorders in demanding that the ‘secret material’, which the ruling elite since yore has made people believe to be Brahma, must be shown to them before transfer. They were equipped with mobile phones, discussing with unknown outsiders and transmitting the activities of authorized Daitas to unknown persons in blatant disregard to secrecy involved with transfer of the “Tejomaya Dhatu”, according to latest Statements of of the Badagrahi Daita of SriJagannatha, Jagannath Swain Mahapatra and Vidyapati Narasingh Pati Mahapatra.

This prompts us to suspect that Sankaracharya and his caste-supremacist acolytes in administration had set agent provocateurs to derail the schedule to create an environment of public wrath against the Daitas, the defenders of Jagannatha’s originality ever since his creation by Indrabhuti from Sauri Narayan Buddha.

In this nefarious game, I am sad to say, media organizations, which should have tried to equip the people with scientific analysis of anthropocentric evolution of Jagannatha as suggested by practice of human manners in Navakalebar, and should have, on the basis thereof, educated the people on its socio-political relevance, are dancing to the tune of the antagonists of Jagannatha’s originality and making unnecessary overwhelming noise over the delay in transfer of the Brahma from the old images to new ones, even though there is no canonical time table for performance of this secret conduct.

No Hindu canon applies to Jagannatha as He is not a Hindu God and the Sabara tribe, whose God is He, has no canon of its own that stipulates a time in the night for the transfer of the secret material by them from the old to the new body of Jagannatha. For insemination, night is held convenient by human beings and therefore, in Navakalebar, which is nothing but practice of human manners, night has been preferred since the idea of putting the “Tejomaya Dhatu”, called Brahma, inside the womb of Jagannatha has been materialized. There is no reason to say that if the night passes away before insemination the act is inhuman. Similarly, if the night passes away in putting the “Tejomaya Dhatu” inside the womb of Jagannatha in certain situations, it cannot be a great offense that should call for any punishment.

The entire occurrence of Navakalebar is an act of Sabari Tantra, of fertility perception, of assertion of female factor in matter of creation, of projection of the cult of coition, an act of insemination by the Sabara in the body of ‘Sabari Bali’ (the epithet used for the Supreme Being by Sabaripa, the famous Buddhist philosopher in his Charya Giti).

Jagannatha system has two distinctly peculiar projects addressed directly to the people: (1) Mahaprasada and (2) Rath Yatra.

People take Mahaprasada sans any caste conflict. And, people participate in Rath Yatra without any caste conflict. Human manners without caste conflict connote to Buddhist way of life and Buddha being Jagannatha, this way of life is what Oriya nation stands for.

When the first project takes place every day, the second project is a regular annual project in which, matching the human manners, Navakalebar occurs in interspaced years. But in both the projects, cult of coition is the guiding order.

Mahaprasada is cooked everyday on hearth to which the fire comes from the heat of coition imagined between menstruating Laxmi and lecher Narayan ( K. C. Mishra, The Cult of Jagannatha, pp.105-06). In interspaced years, Navakalebar takes place by inserting Brahma, if not Buddha’s tooth, secretly in the womb of Jagannatha. Jagannatha is the eternal female (Rajendra Kumar Mohanty, Tantra Shiromani SriJagannath, p.266) and hence the tradition of placing the “TejomayaDhatu” (vital fluid) called Brahma by the Brahmins in the womb thereof is giving birth to new body (Navakalebar). The “TejomayaDhatu” (vital fluid) is generated by coition (Tatra Sahaje Bodhichittam Jayate Sukramutpadyate / Vajra Padma Samgharsena Tejodhaturutpadyate //)

Thus, this being a Bouddha Tantric function, the Brahmins and their trainer Sankaracharya (Cult of Jagannatha by K.C.Mishra, p.125) have no role to play in this symbolic celebration of fertility. In fact, this Navakalebar has also maintained this unique tradition by keeping the caste-supremacists completely out of the core function.

Media as a whole is making noise over breakage of tradition because of non-transfer of the so-called Brahma in the night. There is no such tradition ever canonized by the Sabara, known now as Daita, in matter of night to be the only time for the transfer.

The only tradition which is well settled and known, is that, the Brahmins and the Sankaracharya are not and never allowed to have any business in this secret act.

Instead of making obfuscating noise over the timing of transfer of the ‘TejomayaDhatu’ (Brahma, as they call it), the media should have shown why the Brahmins and their supreme guide Sankaracharya are never allowed to participate in this secret but the most sacred function. But anything anti-people in matter of culture seems to be the core passion of media at the moment.

In anything Buddhist, the people of Orissa have never allowed the Brahmins any authority. They are not even allowed to enter into the area of the Buddhist functions anywhere in the State.

In Narasinghpur where Buddha’s descendants were the rulers till merger of the States, the sword of Buddha is preserved as Pravalayudha (weapon of immense strength) (Pt. Chakradhar Mahapatra, The Real Birthplace of Buddha). After Hindu predominance engulfed the land, it is now worshiped as Pravala. Once in a year the secret worship of this weapon is performed by either the king or his authorized official who at that time becomes ‘Bada Raula’ (Buddha’s son was Rahula and hence, this epithet). During this secret worship, no Brahmin is allowed to enter into the ceremonial area. Pt. Mahapatra, who belongs to Narasinghpur by birth, has mentioned that, this function “is done strictly in seclusion and Brahmins are deprived of witnessing it” (Ibid.p.47).

In Puri, when SriJagannatha enters the Anasara Tati (secluded hut) where secret treatment commences and continues by the Sabara (Daita) Niyog after the ‘Raja Snana’ (menstrual bath) as well as when Navakalebar takes place, famous author Surendra Mohanty , whose works on Orissa’s politico-social history in his unique style have always been held with utmost importance, has also noted that, during these secret ceremonies, “the Brahmin priests are not allowed to enter the ‘Tati’, much less to worship” (Lord Jagannatha, p.24). To Prof. Prallhada Pradhan, “Buddhist practices of the Tantric period” continue as the core of the typicality in vogue in Jagannatha system (Prof. Pradhan’s Presidential Address at the 2nd International Buddhist Conference, Nalanda). Such Buddhist practices are the non-Brahmin practices that need no intervention or interpretation of any Brahmin or supporter of Brahminism.

The Brahmins, led by Sankaracharya, are eager to wipe out the Buddhist practices from the Jagannatha system and therefore, systematic campaign has commenced with showing the Daitas as the villains in media propaganda, after agent provocateurs set by these elements created the delay. It seems, they want to take advantage of the morally weak and absolutely self-centric Naveen Patnaik government to wipe out the historic and inviolable core tradition, i.e. the Sabari tradition of Navakalebar from the Jagannatha system.

Earlier in these pages, we have stressed that Jagannatha, being Buddha by origin, should be free from the priesthood and hegemony of the Brahmins. The vested-interest government, dependent on vote-bank-politics, has not dared to protect Orissa’s unique culture and remove the wrongs done to and the gaps left in the history of Orissa. Rather it has continuously kept Jagannatha under administrative control of the Brahmins by appointing Brahmin Officers as administrators. If a government officer is required to be kept in charge of the temple administration, why that must be a Brahmin officer? Any officer of any caste could be put in charge of Jagannatha temple, where Brahminism is in constant conflict with non-Brahminism. But the Government has always acted subservient to social elites and ignored our suggestions. The result is: agent provocateurs engaged by temple administration in excess of the four designated Daitas have precipitated the violation of the normative schedule of Navakalebar-2015, which has given the caste supremacists their desired opportunity to instigate the people against the inviolable Sabar tradition in core functions of Jagannatha, specifically in the phase of Car Festival that includes Snana (ceremonial menstruation bath) held regularly every year and Navakalebar held in interspaced periods in absolute consonance with human manners.

Obfuscating noise over timing of the transfer of Brahma does not contribute to ethical distinction of Navakalebar, but discussion of why human manners are entirely adopted in this unique festival that disallows the Brahmins to have any say, is essential on part of media to highlight.

It is essential for media to highlight why the entire ongoing discussion is being aimed at projecting Jagannatha as only Vishnu and nothing else, in total oblivion of Jagannatha being Buddha by origin and a creation of Bouddha Tantra.

It is essential for media to focus on why Sankaracharya has issued wrathful wordy arsenals against the State Government for having not acted under his direction in matters of Jagannatha.

It is incumbent upon the media to inform the public who engaged the agent provocateurs to derail the designated time by entering into the secluded area where the “TejomayaDhatu” was to be put inside the body of Jagannatha to thereby give finality to the concept of Navakalevar.

Shamefully, media as a whole is shy of this responsibility.

Oriya as Official Language: Know the Real Saboteur

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

The question that hunts Orissa at the moment is: Who has sabotaged Oriya as official language of Orissa. My answer is:None but Biju Patnaik has sabotaged official use of Oriya Language.

In my column SINGHAVALOKANA in daily Sambad,  I had discussed the issue on March 14, 1996. It is available in my book of the same caption at pp. 211-217 for anyone of the blind supporters of Biju to revisit and react, if they dare.

Biju was a hypocrite and a political mafia who had created a gang of sycophants and BHATAs (bards) amongst politicians and journalists whose principal work was to project him as the personification of Oriya nationalism and thereby trap the gullible people to vote for him. But his Oriya nationalism was such a filthy junk that even today that is making grimace at us when we see that he had not taught even a single alphabet of Oriya to his children, as we watch his son Naveen Patnaik.

However, for ready reference for friends who have been wondering who is responsible for abandonment of Oriya as official language of Orissa, I deem it my duty to render in English the crux of my observation in Oriya around two decades ago. When Biju sycophants are ruling the roost, I do not know if it would be seen that the present Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is only following his father’s footprints in offending Oriya language. Yet, the people have a right to know. Hence it is here:

Biju had Sabotaged Oriya

Naveen’s father Biju Patnaik had sabotaged the Orissa Official Languages Act by inserting a provision that in the Assembly, English would be official language along with Oriya.

The Official Language Act, 1954 had stipulated that Oriya was “to be used for all or any of the official purposes of the State of Orissa”, but Biju Patnaik damaged this stipulation by amending the Act in 1963 providing for use of English “in addition to Oriya for transaction of business in Legislature of the State of Orissa”. This shrewd insertion subjected Orissa administration to predominance of English and ruined the utility of Oriya as a language.

Even when, in 1985, the then Chief Minister J. B. Patnaik fixed April 1, 1985 to be the day from which use of Oriya in all official work would be “compulsory”, and it was decided to enforce use of Oriya as the only official language by strengthening the 1954 Act with necessary amendments, and accordingly the Official Language (Amendment) Act, 1985 was taken up in the Assembly, it was Biju Patnaik, who opposed the proposal and refused to support the amendment. “We can progress further if we have international (English) language” (as the official language), he had said. He had ridiculed the idea of making Oriya the official language and had gone on elaborating, “If you go to Andhra, you will find DHUD DHUD, if you go to Karnatak, you will find FUD FUD ! Nothing you will understand there. So many languages there in our country. This is not a country at all”.

Biju was so very bitterly averse to Oriya that the PRASASANIKA SHABDAKOSHA which was ready to be published by the Law department of Orissa was thrown into the dusts on the racks of the department the moment he had taken over the chief minister’s chair, where it was kept buried from May 7, 1991 to March 16, 1995.

When J. B. Pattnaik led the people to end Biju Patnaik’s misrule and took oath again as the new Chief Minister, the Secretary of Law ordered, “Now it may be published immediately”.

But the concerned Deputy Secretary’s note on which the Law secretary passed the above order is mot speaking.

At page 126 of the concerned file the Deputy Secretary notes,

“By the time the chairman of the Shabdakosha Committee Prof. Khageswar Mohapatra submitted his report on completion of the work, the Government has changed. Language Policy of the new Government (of Biju Patnaik) was not only not clear, but also it was averse to use of Oriya language as Official Language. The then law minister (who was to carry Biju babu’s instructions) gave such orders in the file, the evil effect of which forced the Orissa Official Language Dictionary had to stay abandoned for so many years in the cold storage of official junks and as the new government has been formed by J.B.Patnaik, steps should be taken to publish the same”.

After Naveen Patnaik emerged as the Chief Minister, the said dictionary has been allowed to be misappropriated by a lady who has privately published it and charging heavy price to whosoever wants a copy thereof. Nothing else could have been done when compradors rule.

Sastriya Status threatened by Nveen’s apathy

World famous linguist Dr. Devi Prasanna Pattanayak, trade-unionist Ramachandra Khuntia – these two names I am citing, because by profession they are poles apart – have established the status of Oriya as a classical language of India where the status is not yet awarded to Bengali, Hindi and other languages that were, in the British time, trying to superimpose themselves on Oriya.

But this status is now threatened. Naveen babu has not addressed himself to this glorious achievement. To claim credit for it, he had engaged the entire administration and State funded celebrations were held after recognition of Oriya’s Sastriya status. But, when a case has been instituted in Madras High Court challenging this status, the State Government has not countered the case as yet as per sources in administration.

He neither says Oriya, nor writes in Oriya nor rules in Oriya. Yet he is in power; because, under his irresponsible administration, Orissa is over-saturated with mindless but self-centric sycophants in politics and public offices, and in Journalism.

To save Oriya language, we are to struggle hard.

And, we shall have to struggle, because, Orissa, our Mother is perishing.

Sankaracharya had no Business in Snana Yatra

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

With the help of caste-supremacists in administration, Sankaracharya and his troop stepped on the bath podium of SriJagannatha on Snana Yatra. But except posing for the TV cameras, he had no business to perform in the podium.

When the State is run by a chief minister who does not know the history of her social evolution and of how and why Buddha became Jagannatha, administration is bound to bow down to religious chauvinism; and that happened.
Adi Sankara had established Gobardhana Matha with the sole villainous purpose to train the Brahmins how to vitiate the Bouddha-Vajrayanic worship of Jagannatha with Brahminic worship system. For this, the Brahmins were being trained in the Gobarddhana Matha by Sankaracharya.

Through impudence the Brahmins were trying to impose the Vedic system of worship in Sri Jagannatha temple. To confuse the people scriptures were created to say that SriJagannatha’s worship should be performed not only in the method of Bouddha Tantra, but also by using Vedic Mantras. Verses, such as “Amnayagamavedaya Shuddha Buddhaye Te Namah” were used to justify transgression of Vedic system into the Buddhist system of Jagannatha.

As Adi Sankara was stressing upon Govinda, with the help of the patron kings of Brhminism like Purusottama Dev, attempts were made to transform Jagannatha to Gopal Krushna and, to people of Orissa to whom Jagannatha was Kali (Nilardrou SriJagannatha Sakshat Dekshina Kalika), Sanskrit verses were created to convince the people that Dakshina Kalika is non but Krushna; such as Kalou Kali Kalou Krushna Kalou Gopala Kalika (In Kaliyuga, the redeemer is Kali who is also Krushna and Gopal who is Krushna is none but Kali) and against such shrewdly created confusion, VijaMantra (preamble of worship) with which Jagannatha was to be invoked was made pregnant with Brahminic mischief such as “Om Gopijana Ballavaya Namah” and when people sternly protested, it was amended to “Om Klim Krushnaya Govindaya Gopijana Ballavaya Namah” thereby showing the people that “Klim” representing Kali is also Krushna, Govinda, Gopijana ballava” whom worship was being offered.

Such acts of impudence and tricks were being taught to the Brahmins in the Gobarddhana Matha of Sankaracharya.

People had revolted against this and partially succeeded as a result of which the Sankaracharya’s role as trainer of the Brahmins had been done away with.

Under consistent protest of the people of Orissa, Sankaracharya had been divested of whatever role he was having in worship of Jagannatha.

We gather it Prof. K. C. Mishra, who in his famous book Cult Of Jagannatha has noted,

“The priests of Jaganntha temple learn the art of ritualistic worship from this Matha (Sankaracharya Matha). That is, this Matha is responsible for the education and training of the priests in respect of worship to the deities. After obtaining sufficient training at this Matha certificates are issued to the priests. They are then, by an order of the king, entitled to enter into the priesthood. The system is no longer in vogue in the temple” (Cult of Jagannatha, Firma: K. L. Mukhopadhyay, Calcutta, 1971, p. 125)

Thus, Sankaracharya has no role in Jagannatha temple. Nowhere in the Satwalipi (The Deed of Right), has he been allotted with any service in the Jagannatha temple. The High Court verdict he has been citing to transgress into Jagannatha system has no relevance to his self-proclaimed authority on Jagannatha.

The judgment has not gone into social history of Orissa that has brilliantly recorded the deracination of the statues of Adi Sankara and his first chela Sankara from the Ratnasinghasana of Jagannatha by the people of Orissa in the regime of Divya Singha Dev in late 1700s. The judges have not reflected in their verdict any view on whether or not SriJagannatha is Buddha and whether or not Buddhism and Hinduism are different. The said Judgement is an instance of non-application of mind to the real issue of whether or not Sankaracharya has a specific role in affairs of Jagannatha that would entitle him to the privilege he has been claiming. The said Judgment is a judicial intervention in religious matters that supported Vedic religion oblivious of how would it affect the Bouddha Tantric / Savara Tantric heritage of Jagannatha.

However, it is seen by all, that, despite invitation generated by the caste supremacists, the Jagannatha system has not allowed Sankaracharya to perform any service on the Snana Mandap yesterday except he and his troop posing for the TV cameras to show how impudence become a religious achievement by the standard of Sankaracharya.

In allowing him to step on to the Snana Mandap with religious egoistic fanfare, the temple administration has cooperated with his impudence, to the detriment of the uniqueness of Buddha, the son of the soil of Orissa, being worshiped as Jagannatha.