Bhubaneswar, July 1: At a time when Puri Shrikshetra Dham in Odisha is bedecking with a grand festivity ahead of the Rath Yatra scheduled on July 7, devotees living in other corners of the nation and overseas are also intrinsically exhilarated to organise the Car Festival with cultural and spiritual fervour at their clusters.
Among other Shri Jagannath shrines set up overseas where Rath Yatra and other customary rituals of the Trinity are performed in accordance with the Puri Jagannath Temple, the Bharuch Jagannath Temple in Gujurat at the backdrop of the Arabian Sea holds a spiritual bondage with the Puri Shrimandir. For the aborigines of Gujarat, Lord Jagannath, the presiding God of the Bharuch Kshetra is believed to be a miniature replica of Mahabahu worshiped here in Puri whereas the Arabian Sea is considered as the Mahodadhi.
Though the dreams of crafting out the Bharuch Shri Jagannath Temple dates back to early 21st century, it shares some interesting facts and legends related to Odisha’s 12th Century Shrine in Puri. Worthwhile, the presiding deities incarnated here in the Bharuch temple made their stupendous embark from Puri to Gujarat in train that is on a goods carrier. Especially, the Trinity was taken aboard as three mere passengers. The idol of Lord Jagannath was sent to Gujurat identifying it as Jagannath Das. Similarly, Balabhadra and Subhadra’s idols were deported to Bharuch as of Balabhadra Das and Subhadra Das, with fetching train tickets for the deities. A railway officer, who was a close associate of Bharuch-based Bank Manager Mahesh Panda, managed the long sojourn of the Holy Trinity from the East of Odisha to the Gujurat Coast by a goods train. The cost of the idols crafted in Puri by the traditional Bhoi Sevaks (Servitors) was contributed by a donor J.A Joshi.
According to the Shri Jagannath Seva Samiti functionaries, the Jagannath temple in Gujarat’s Bharuch is an outcome of the committed efforts and out flush of sentiments of Odia Diasporas living in the Gujurat coast. Utkalika, the Odia Association of Bharuch cultivated the idea of crafting a full-fledged Jagannath temple here, to have a darshan of their Lord at workplace. Owing to the sentiments of the Odia community, the Gujarat government provided a requisite land for the proposed shrine. Shared contributions and offerings of devotees was yet a meagre amount even for the ground-breaking ceremony of the temple layout after paying the premium of the piece of land allocated for it. Meanwhile, a leading Banker Laxman Sethi accompanied by Temple Trustee Sribatsa Rath, Premananda Biswal, Sarat Jena and Bhaskar Rawal, with the cooperation of others managed to establish the temple on July 6, 2006.
Thenceforward, the Bharuch Shri Jagannath Temple has been a prime landmark for visitors and devotees, to pray and worship wherein customary rituals including Rath Yatra, Bahuda Yatra, Suna Besha etc are carried out as in the Shriksetra Puri regularly. Apart from the rituals, the temple have a remarkable resembles with that of Puri, for its structural uniqueness. It encompasses all Gods and Goddess as side-deities that look like a replica of Odisha’s Jagannath temple. Later, on July 9, 2023 the Mahalaxmi Temple was crafted on the campus which shares a lot of architectural similarities, adjacent to the Sanctum Sanctorum.
As per the administration of the newly groomed shrine, the Shri Jagannath Seva Samiti, Bharuch executes all of the temples activities in an organized way to keep the tradition flow on smoothly. Now tens of thousands of visitors come here annually for darshan of the Holy Trinity.
The Shri Jagannath Seva Samiti, Bharuch is now geared up to mark the annual sojourn of the Trinity on July 7. It’s why the Seva Samiti is in search of a royal sweeper from the common public or one from the score of devotees, who will provide mop service on Lord Jagannath’s Chariot, the Nandighos Rath with a golden broom.
Worth mentioning, Chhera Panhara ritual (Golden moping) tradition in Bharuch shrine is a bit exception from the Shri Jagannath Cult as someone is nominated or picked up extempore from the crowd to dedicate his service as a royal sweeper of the Lord. However, in Puri, Gajapati Moharaj has been performing the Chhera Panhara Niti from decades.
