Rath Yatra Festival: The legend of Gundicha temple
Lord Jagannath, along with his elder brother Balabhadra and sister Devi Subhadra, used to leave Ratnavedi and travel to Janmavedi on the 9-day long Ghosh Yatra. That is why it is called Gundicha Yatra or Rath Yatra. So why is the temple named Gundicha, what is the greatness of Gundicha Temple? Let us know.
The Legend of Gundicha Temple
According to Skanda Purana, after King Indradyumna came from Avanti and reached Odra desh, he performed an Aswamedha Yagnya at Gundicha Temple. At the end of that yagnya, Lord Vishnu appeared to him in a dream and said that a ‘Divya Daru’ would emerge from the ocean. In it, Darubrahma would be created.
On the next day, the log was visible in the sea water. King Indradyumna brought the log that was floating in the sea and placed it in the Srigundicha temple. Lord Mahaprabhu himself came in the guise of an old man and made idols out of that log. The condition was that the door would not be opened until the idol was complete. But after fifteen days, as no sounds were heard from inside the locked house, the door was opened the door on the advice of Queen Gundicha. It was seen that the idols were half-made while the old man who was making the idols was not there. As a result, the deities remained half-made and worshipped in that state.
According to this legend, Queen Gundicha started the Rath Yatra. Hence, it was named ‘Srigundicha Yatra’. The temple was also named ‘Gundicha Mandir’.
The origin of the name ‘Gundicha’
King Indradyumna has been depicted in Skanda Purana. The ‘Gundicha’ Yatra is also mentioned. Gundicha Temple has been called ‘Gundichaalaya’ and ‘Gundicha Mandapa’ in it. In popular parlance, it is ‘Gundicha Ghara’. But there is no mention that the name of King Indradyumna’s queen was ‘Gundicha’. In the ‘Mahabharata’ of Adikavi Sarala Das, the name of King Indradyumna’s queen is not mentioned as ‘Gundicha’. According to Sarala Mahabharata, the name of Indradyumna’s queen was ‘Gundakeri’. In some ‘Mahabharata’ books, her name is also written as ‘Gundamati’. But Balaram Das, the author of ‘Dandi Ramayana’, has written the name of Indradyumna’s queen as ‘Gundicha’.
Historical Significance
According to history, Chodaganga Dev was a Ganga dynasty king of the 11th-12th centuries. There is some doubt as to which queen this temple is named after. According to the historian Satyanarayana Rajguru, the Gundicha temple was named after the queen of King Chodgang Dev, ‘Gundi-Chodi’. According to Puranas, Indradyumna is the king of the Satya Yuga. However, the texts found regarding the ‘Deulatola’ legend mention the name of ‘Gundicha Rani’.
The Legend of Lord Krishna
According to legend and mythological accounts, Lord Krishna, the king of Dwaraka, died after being shot by an arrow by Jara Shabara. As the last remaining relatives, the Pandavas tried to cremate the body of their friend, Lord Krishna, but failed. The power of fire to decompose the body of the ‘Purnabramha’ Lord Krishna into the five elements was not within the burning power of fire. A heavenly voice was heard saying – Krishna’s navel will not be burnt in fire, dispose of it in the Mahodadhi, the sea. The Pandavas did so. The half-burnt ‘Pinda’ of Lord Krishna appeared in the form of a log in the sea at the mouth of Banki.
The Importance of Gundicha Temple
Since the idols of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra had been built in the Gundicha temple, it is called their birthplace. It is believed that the same amount of virtue obtained by having darshan of Lord Jagannath in the Niladri Mandapa i.e., at the Srimandira for ten years, can be obtained by visiting the Adapa Mandapa of the Srigundicha temple for one day during the nine-day Rath Yatra. Every year, the Thakurs go to the Srigundicha temple on a nine-day Rath Yatra. The Chaturdhamurti stays for seven days between the day of journey (Rath Yatra) and the day of return (Bahuda Yatra).
