WHY IS GANGA ALSO KNOWN AS BHAGIRATHI ?? WHAT IS THE REASON BEHIND GANGA FALLING FROM SHIVA'S HEAD.

Well , the story begins with a Suryavanshi king  named Bhagirath . The ancestors of the King were cursed by Kapila Muni as they had caused certain disturbance to the Muni's meditation (Tapasya) for which the muni turned them into ashes . The king wondered whether his ancestors could live again or attain Moksha and how to set his family free from such a curse . He went to Kapila Muni and asked for the remedy .  The Muni told him that only if he could immerse or pour the ashes of his ancestors in River Ganga , they will be eligible to have a rebirth and attain moksha .

At that time Ganga used to be a river of the heaven .Earth was not a part of her course . King Bhagirath did a rigorous meditation (tapasya)also known as  BHAGIRATH TAPASYA / BHAGIRATH PRAYAS, pleaded with maa Ganga and persuaded her to come to earth . Ganga Agreed but warned the king of the disaster she will be bringing with her . She told the king that the force of her fall will be so exorbitant that it will end up destroying the earth . Bhagirath then approached Shiva and requested him to save the world from such a disaster . Shiva allowed ganga to fall on his head and contained the force that she brought with her in his locks and made her fall on earth with reduced strength .King  Bhagirath was then able to immerse the ashes of his ancestors in the river and they were reborn .

This is the reason why ganga is seen falling from Shiva's head . And just because king Bhagirath did rigorous tapasya to call Maa ganga to earth , it is also known as Bhagirathi .

Special thanks to Devdutt Pattnaik for enlighting us .

Purushottam Shri Jagannath's Snan Yatra

Purushottam Shri Jagannath's Snan Yatra

     " MAHAMBODHESTIRE KANAKRUCHIRE NILASIKHARE
            BASANN PRASAD ANTE SAHAJA BALABHADRENA BALINA
       SUBHADRA MADHYASTHAH SAKAL SURASEBABASARADO
       JAGANNATH SWAMI NAYANPALGAMI BHABATU ME // "


The 9th of June 2017 , as per the Hindu Lunar Calender will be having an altogether different significance this year . Jyestha Pournima  or full moon day in the month of Jyestha (as per hindu lunar calender) is on 9th of June this year . Jyestha Purnima is also celebrated as Purushottam Lord Jagannath's Snan Yatra .

LORD JAGANNATH

Lord Jagannath also known as the LORD OF THE UNIVERSE where Jagat = universe and Nath = lord,is considered a form of Vishnu and is worshiped along with two other hindu deities lord Balabhadra & goddess Subhadra on the Ratna Vedi (jeweled dias) located in the oldest jagannath temple in India , puri . The lord of the universe is mainly worshiped by the Hindus and the Buddhists in the states of West Bengal , Bihar , Orissa , Chattisgarh , Assam , Gujrat etc . Lord Jagannath is believed to have tribal origin as per the Hindu Mythology and is also known as Nil Madhava , the tribal god , in some parts of Orissa . The oldest and the most famous Jagannath deity is established in Puri , a city in the state of Orissa . The sacred temple of Purushottam Lord Jagannath in puri is considered to be one of the char Dhams  (four hindu pilgrimage places). The temple of the lord is located in Shrichetra i.e a peeth as per the Hindu mythology . The presence of Goddess Vimala makes it a peeth along side a dham . The shrichetra used to be in the shape of a conch shell in earlier times but as times passed , development took place and the geography of the temple premises changed . Apart from the triad companion deities jagannath is also worshiped along with Sudarshana chakra who stands just alongside him in the Ratna vedi located in the Garbhagriha (inner sanctum sanctorum ) of the temple .

SNAN YATRA OF THE LORD

On the day of jyestha Purnima ( 9th day of june , this year) the lord along with the principal companion dieties Balabhadra and Subhadra are brought out of the garbhagriha of the temple in a traditional procession known as dhadi Pahandi to the Snan Mondop .

The dieties are then bathed with 108 pitchers (golden) of water (jagannath - 35 , balabhadra - 33 and Subhadra - 22 , sudarshana - 18 pitchers of water) collected from a well known as the sona kua situated in the temple premises . The deities are then dressed in hati vesha or gajanan vesha (like an elephant) .

As belived by the devotees , the lord after bathing with so much water during the snan yatra fells ill and remains inside the temple for 15 days (approx.) to take rest without showing himself to the devotees . The lord again gives darshan to his devotees on the day of Rath Yatra , approximately 15 days after the snan yatra . So technically it may be said that from the day of snan yatra till the day before rath yatra the deities are not to be seen on the 'Ratnavedi' inide the sanctum . Usual rituals go on inside the temple and the deities are worshipped secretly . The deities appear in front of public again on the day of the Cart festival i.e Rath Yatra .

References -

jagannath.nic.in

Purusottam Shree Jagannath by Padmanabha Mahapatra

Wikipedia

Google images

MY FIRST INTRODUCTORY POST

My First Post

Hello readers , for personal reasons I prefer not to disclose my original name . this is my very first post and actually I have no idea what I will be doing with this blog in the upcoming days ,I think I m typing unwantedly long sentences just to check whether my keyboard is working properly . 😃😃😃😃😃 . well Jokes apart , I m planning to write on a regular basis and will be trying my level best to cover topics from diverse fields . Mainly I will be focusing on topics related to cuurent  affairs , technological know howz and also bit of legal knowhow .........

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