In the case of the Car Festival of Lord Jagannath, the collection of wood on Basanta Pancami (Jan-Feb ) in the month of Maghai indicates the sacred beginning of the ceremony. Timbers for building the Car used to come from Dasapalla, a princely state of Orissa, but after the integration of States within Orissa in 1948. the Government of Orissa have been honouring the traditional commitment by acquiring the annual requirement of timber from the Forest Range, Dasapalla Headquarters, Nayagarh Forest Division.
The actual building of the Car starts from the Aksaya Trtiya day. The Bhois and the carpenters were the hereditary Jagirdars or rent-free land-holders and naturally therefore, they used to render free service during the entire period of construction. With the change of administration and after the abolition of the rent-free Jagir lands, they are now paid workers employed for the purpose.
The Cars of Jagannath. Balabhadra and Subhadra are known as Nandighosa, Taladhvaja and Devadalana respectively. Nandighosa is a little more than 33 feet cubits high and originally had 18 wheels representing the astadasa siddhi. or eighteen categories of spiritual success the Hindus long for. But to minimise its accident-proneness. the number of wheels has since been reduced to 16. The two other cars do have 14 and 12 wheels attached to them respectively. The height of the Taladhvaja and Devadalana is a little more than 32 and 31 feet cubits, respectively. The covering of the cars used to be a wooden superstructure wrapped in cloth. Now markin cotton cloth is provided by the Government and it is dyed in different colours for the three different chariots i.e. red and golden for (he Nandighosa, red and green for the Taladhvaja and red and black for the Devadalana. The chariots are also painted yellow, blue and black, respectively, before they are decorated.
According to Puranic traditions, Nrsimha guards the chariot of Jagannath and the charioteer is Matali. The pantheon of gods supposed to be guarding the chariots, are identified as follows -- Nandighosa by Varaha, Govardhana Krsna, Gopikrsna, Nrsimha,Rama and Narayana; Taladhvaja by Ganesa and Kartikeya, Sarva Mangala, Pralambaghna. Malayudha and Mrtyunjaya: Devadalana by Candi, Camunda, Ugratara. Vanadurga, Sulidurga, VarahT. Syamakall, Manyala and Vimala. Apart from these gods and god-desses, the three chariots are guarded by a host of other gods, goddesses, demigods and sages viz. the Nandighosa by Indra, Brahma and all the seven sages including Marici; the Taladhvaja by Rudra. Satyaki and eight demigods and finally the Devadalana by Sridevi, Bhudevi and the eight Bhairavas.
Traditionally after the car festival each year, Ihe cars are dismantled leaving the horses, Sarathis and the parsvadevatas intact to be used in the year following. Each of the three chariots has specific pieces of log required for its construction. According to the available accounts 832 pieces of log are required for the construction of the Nandighosa, whereas 763 and 593 pieces are required for the Taladhavaja and Devadalana respectively. The different parts of the Ratios have particular names and the process of construction is complicaled. There are 34 components in the whole structure which will be clear to the readers from the given drawing.
The portion of the chariot which the above picture does not reveal is the position of its Caka. ot wheels fixed to Akhas or axles, to whcih ropes are lied for pulling the chariots. It is commonly said that ropes are tied to the chariots, but as a matter of fact these are tied to the axles or akhas in the ordinary way.
Each pair of wheels or cakas, is fixed to the akha or axle. So in the case of 14 wheels, the chariot is provided with 7 axles, each one of them having a separate name for identification. The Taladhvaja has 14 wheels and 7 axles and naturally therefore, the Nandighosa and Devadalana have one pair ot wheels more and less, respectively, along with one more and one less axle to hold them tight at their extreme ends. Each wheel contains a number of wooden spokes keeping the central circle fixed to the outer circle of the wheel. Normally there are 16 such spokes made of Sal wood and fixed with nails. |
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