Puri Jagannath Temple Flag Changing Ritual: Nations all over are fascinated by India's old-world temple architecture. The tall spires, magnificent courtyards, intricate designs, life-like sculptures, fascinating features based on science and various other aspects reflect the sheer grandeur and the immense research that went into making it. The present-day temple administrations, priests, and devotees have held on to age-old traditions that give communities and sects their identities. One such tradition is the ritual of changing the flag at Puri's Jagannath Temple in Odisha.
The flag is changed by temple priests every evening. During winters, it is changed at 5 PM while the time for the ritual during summers is 6 PM. The sheer climb atop the vimana, or tower, of the temple to replace the dhwaja (flag) on the nila chakra or sri chakra, which represents Lord Vishnu's Sudarshan Chakra, is a spectacle in itself. The climb is a 214-foot vertical ascent that takes the devotee or priest to the summit of the temple with no safety harness.
The flag has been the centre of awe, wonder, and reverence due to the belief that it flows in the opposite direction of the wind. While many call it a divine occurrence, the scientific community seeks to explain it through a phenomenon called Kármán vortex street. Educator and YouTuber Bibhusit Tripathy who goes by his online moniker 'ThePhysicist' says in one of his videos that due to the blunt aerodynamic structure of the towers, the wind is pushed up and around the towers. Sometimes, by the time the wind reaches the flag, it becomes a vortex, resulting in an eddy. These eddies result in the flag flying in a direction opposite to the wind.
In his video, Tripathy also "dispels" the myth of the Jagannath temple structure lacking a shadow.
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Wonders Of Puri Jagannath Temple
What makes the Lord Jagannath temple fascinating are the myths and the precise science associated with it, making the structure an architectural marvel. The wooden idols of the temple deities are replaced every 12 or 19 years in an elaborate and closely guarded ritual known as the nabakalebara (new body) ceremony, during which the 'souls' of the deities are transferred to new idols. The ritual symbolises life and rebirth. The last ceremony was held in 2015.
Another fascinating belief associated with the temple is the secret of the rosa ghara or kitchen. The kitchen is looked after by a sect known as the supakara. The supakaras have been looking after the kitchen affairs since the beginning and no one is allowed to touch the food apart from them before it is served as prasad. The belief associated with the kitchen is that the preparation of the food is looked after by Goddess Lakshmi herself. The food is cooked in a unique style with seven pots placed one on top of the other. However, the food in the topmost pot is believed to be cooked first.
Apart from the flag of the temple, the nila chakra also sparks awe in people. The 20 feet high structure weighs nearly a ton and it is a wonder how it was installed 2000 years ago.
The chief deity of the temple, Lord Jagannath, is set to embark on his annual Rath Yatra or chariot journey, with brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra, in July this year. The preparations for the grand event are in full swing.
The Rath Yatra is the biggest festival in Odisha, when people descend on the temple town in large numbers from all over India and abroad. The Ratha Yatra 2024 will be the first one since the Odisha government inaugurated a Rs 800-crore heritage corridor project that aims to provide pilgrims with improved amenities around the temple.
In January this year, around the time the country saw the installation of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya in a grand ceremony, Odisha also saw a massive congregation as the state government inaugurated a Rs 800-crore heritage corridor project that aims to provide pilgrims with improved amenities around the temple.
According to a PTI report, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the project in the presence of thousands of devotees. Also present on the occasion was Puri Maharaja Divyasingha Deb, and representatives of 90-odd temples, including Nepal's Pashupatinath Temple, Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Mahakal Temple in Ujjain, and Jagannath temples in Dubai, Australia and the UK, the report said.
The Jagannath Puri Rath Yatra 2024 is the first one since the inauguration of the corridor project, and is likely to draw more devotees.