The Divine Re - Birth

Be at Pun for NabakaIebar—a distinctive festival of Lord Shree Jagannath, which sees millions of devotees come together to mark the occasion.

Majority of the ten million plus domestic tourists and close to hundred thousand foreigners visit Odisha every year to enjoy its amazing tourism destinations. The state offers temples and monuments, art and architecture, music and dance, handloom and handicrafts fairs and festivals and a host of other tourism products. However, the holy town of Puri on the coast of Bay of Bengal attracts maximum number of tourists. ShreeKhetra—as the town is religiously cited—is one of the four cardinal centres (Chaar Dhaams) for devout Hindus. It is believed that a Hindu must visit this sacred place at least once in his/her lifetime to attain moksha.

It is in Puri that you find the magnificent 12th century shrine of Shree Jagannath Temple, where the idols of deities, namely, Shree Jagannatha, Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Sudarsana are dragged on huge chariots by millions of devotees during the Ratha Yatra (Car Festival). In fact, amongst all the fairs and festivals associated with the Lord, devotees and visitors wait for this ten days long celebration to have a glimpse of the Lord of the Universe in the Bada-danda (Grand road) outside the shrine.

This year’s Ratha Yatra in July is going to be a spectacular event, because the Chaturdha Murti (four idols) in the Jagannath Temple at Puri will take on new bodies in a very unique ritual called Nabakalebara. The term Nabakalebara is derived from the Sanskrit words, naba meaning new and kalebara meaning body. Unlike many other Hindu shrines, the idols in Puri temple are made of the holy neem (Azadirachta indica) wood. The deities are also known as ‘DaruBrahma’, meaning Brahma (Divine life force) contained in Daru (holy tree/wood).

As per an elaborate religious practice, they are changed at periodic intervals (usually once in 12-19 years). Nabakalebara in 2015 will be the first in the 21st century, while it has been celebrated in 1912,1931, 1950, 1969, 1977 & 1996 in the last century. Nabakalebara takes place when two lunar months of Asadha (with an adhikamasa or intercalary month of Asadha) fall in a year of the Hindu almanac. In an age with hyped media and over-circulating digital content, this year’s ceremony has generated lot of interest amongst the devotees and enthusiasts alike.

The state government is expecting a footfall of 5 million during this Nabakalebara festival and leaving no stone unturned to make it the grandest of all to draw attention of the whole world.

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