ones. In the last century, the
ritual was performed in 1912,
1931, 1950, 1969, 1977,
1996, and 2015.
Nabakalebara: The
making of God
Since the idols of Lord
Jagannath, his elder brother
Balabhadra and sister
Subhadra are made from
wood, they decay over time
and need to be replaced. The
new idols are crafted from
neem wood. However, not all
neem trees are suitable for
this purpose. According to the
scriptures, the trees need to
have certain qualities (such as
specific number of branches,
color, and location) for each of
the idols.
Where the festival is
celebrated?
Ratha Yatra is organized
in puri. At the Jagannath
temple in puri the car
festival is celebrated. Puri is
approximately an hour and
a half from the capital city of
bhubaneswar.
When is the festival
celebrated?
As per the traditional Odia
calendar, the Ratha Yatra
begins on the second day
of Shukla Paksha (waxing
phase of the moon or bright
fortnight) of the Hindu lunar
month of Ashadha. In 2019,
it commences on July 4 and
ends on July 15.
Once every nine to 19 years,
when the month of Ashadha
is followed by another month
of Ashadha (known as
“double-Ashadha”), a rare
and special Nabakalebar
ritual takes place. Meaning
“new body”, Nabakalebara
is when the wooden temple
idols are replaced with new
On the year when the idols
are due to be replaced,
a contingent of priests,
servants, and carpenters
sets out from the Jagannath
Temple to find the appropriate
neem trees (locally known as
Daru Brahma) in a procession
called the Banajag Yatra. The
priests walk bare-footed to the
temple of Goddess Mangala
at Kakatpur, around 50
kilometers from Puri. There,
the Goddess appears in a
dream, and guides the priests
as to where the trees can be
found.
Once the trees are located,
they’re secretly brought back
to the temple in wooden
carts, and the new idols are
AUGUST 2019 | WWW.WISHESH.NET