There are tens of thousands of Hindu temples across India, strictly following various daily puja rituals and annual temple festivals, and with a few exceptions most of them, are kept open year round for the pilgrims to worship and to get blessed by the deities to tackle various struggles in their lives with minimum suffering. One can not change the edit of God, but one can pray to the almighty in the near-by temple to reduce the pangs of grief to the minimum. This is the reason why despite the huge population the percentage of people consulting the shrunk in India is far less than the western world.
In the case of popular Sri Sabarimalai Ayyapan temple of Kerala, the long held tradition has been that, it is normally closed briefly after the Mandala Puja, marking the end of 41- day annual pilgrimage season and will reopen on 30th December for the Makaravilakku festival that falls on January 14. After the festival season is over the hill temple will be closed on 20th April. I understand, every month the temple will be opened on certain days to conduct monthly puja, etc.
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| Jagannath temple, Puri, Odisha, Alamy.com |
The temple is none other than the world famous Jagannath temple of Puri, Odisha. Here. the three deities Jaganatha, Balabhadra and their sister Subadhra Devi are kept under ‘quarantine’ till Ratha Yatra. Anasara' or Anabasara: is nothing but a two-week isolation period for the deities - a sort of self- imposed quarantine; the devotees are forbidden from seeing the idols of the Lords. According to mythology, the three deities are believed to have developed a fever after the prolonged bathing on Devasnana Purnima day.
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| itual bathing of the idols atlasobscura.com |
02. Mostly held in the month of June as part of the Devasnana Purnima or Snana Yatra, the main three idols of Lord Jagannath temple along with deities Sudarshana, and Madanmohana are brought to the ‘bathing altar - Snana Bedi’ in a procession known as ‘Pahandi’. It takes place in the evening.
03. After a few rituals the deities are bathed in herbal and aromatic water which is brought from the golden well or ‘Suna Kua’ inside the temple in 108 pitchers - 35 pitchers of water for Lord Jagannath, 33 for Lord Balabhadra, 22 for Devi Subhara and 18 pitchers for the Sudarshan were used.
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| Jagannath temple, Puri. bathing of deities. upload.wikimedia.org |
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| Bathing ritual, Jagannath temple. Puri. newsdrum.in |
for Pahandi ritual - the journey of the deities to the world outside, When the process begins around noon, darshan of the deities will be closed for devotees.
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| Jagannath temple, Puri. tathya.in |
04. The holy water is purified with sandal powder, flowers, turmeric, whole rice and and perfumes. The deities are then dressed up in Sada Besha after the bath for public audience - Sahana Mela around 6.30 pm. Jagannath and Balabhadra are dressed up in elephant headgear symbolic of god Ganesha - Hati Vesha.’ It is believed that darshan of the deities on this day will remove all the sins.
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| Deities wearing elephant headgear - symbolic of god Ganesha. upload.wikimedia.org |
05. After the bathing ritual at night around 7 pm the three deities are reverentially taken back to ‘Anasara Ghara’- (a solitary room for the sick) where they will be kept for 14 long days. The belief has been that the deities after the prolonged ‘Snana’ or bath, are down with fever and are kept away from public darshan. This temporary retreat is set aside for treating the ailing deities. and to help them recuperate from indisposition.
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| Jagannath temple puri. Anasara Ghar.(sick room) odishabytes.com |
06. While the priests perform sacred rituals to cure them, the three deities are on strict diet of fruits and water mixed with cheese and dasamula herbal medication.
07. In the absence of deities during this two-week period of 'Anasara', the traditional Pattachitra paintings of three deities -"Patti Dian" are worshipped as representative idols (similar to sort of festival or processional idols in South India) in the sanctum.
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| Jagannath temple, Puri.odishabytes.com |
08. In the Pattachitra paintings of three deities with distinct colors Lord Jagannath is depicted as god Vishnu, Balabhadra as god Shiva and Devi Subadhra as goddess Adishakti. It is symbolic of the confluence of Vaishnavism, Sivaism and Shaktism. During this period all the ten avatars (10 incarnation) of god Vishnu is worshipped.
09. Mahapatra offers Pana bhoga to the deities in the Anasara pindi to cure the ailment. A special oil prepared by the local mutt Bada Odia is applied to the deities and it is made from flowers like Kettaki, Malli, Chamba roots, sandalwood powder, camphor, etc., is mixed with Sesame oil that forms the main component.
10. To protect the wooden idols of the deities from moths, termite, etc., Phuluri tela (oil) is applied on the day of Astami.
11. After oil massage treatment wood primer (Khodi) is applied to the idols for extra safety for the idols longevity.
12. Now the priests adorn them with new clothes and hold what is called Chaka Bije Niti on the Dasami day as the deities feel better and are able to sit.
13. On Dwadasi after the special rituals, the Daitapatis inform the Gajapati Maharajah, the local ruler and the servant of the lords about the complete recovery of the deities from their physical ailment.
14. As part of another ritual, new color paint is coated on the deities. No chemicals are used and they use Kasturi Nabhi - musk collected from stag's naval specially brought from Nepal.
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| Puri temple, Odisha.Nabha Jhuban darshan, Puri. odishabytes.com |
15. After the last ritual priests adorn the deities for Nabajauba Darshan - implying the three deities - Lord Jagannath, Devi Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra are fully recovered from fever and are back to normal life - ready to bless the devotees who repose trust in them.
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| .Deities ready for annual yatra. Puri temple,indianeagle.com |
Above image: Jagannath temple, Puri, Odisha. Wooden idols (made from neem wood). Deities Shree Jagannath, Shri Balabhadra and goddess Devi Subhadra,......
16. During this brief period, it is believed that Lord Jagannath manifests in Alarnath Dev in Brahmagiri. Devotees visit Alarnath temple, 23 km from Puri in large numbers and offer Kheer Prasad. The pilgrimage takes place under heavy police bandobust; a large posse of commandos and police keep a close vigil on terrorists and others.
17. Public view - darshan of the primary deities called ‘Nabayoubana’ darshan is normally allowed a day prior to the famous Rath Yatra.
So ''Anasara'' festival event actually marks the annual maintenance of wooden idols of the deities by various processes, including application of natural preservatives (no modern chemicals). During this 2 week break the wooden idols of Jagannath temple undergo vigorous checking for any damages as the idols are made from selected neem wood and are replaced every 12 to 15 years. It is quite interesting to note that in Odisha the gods and goddesses are treated just like humans with emotion and their susceptility to ailment, not withstanding their divinity as part of their cultural and religious ethos.
The concept of ‘quarantine 'or isolation of patients in a separate place may be western from medical point of view, but the very concept of treating certain patents in an isolated room has been in our culture for centuries. It reminds me of the threats of Covid-19 in the recent past and how much importance was given to social social distancing, self-isolation, quarantine, etc.
https://www.hindu-blog.com/2015/07/anasara-sacred-ceremony-in-puri.html
https://tathya.in/trinity-on-snana-bedi/
https://odishabytes.com/lord-jagannath-know-the-treatment-for-ailing-deities/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snana_Yatra
