Krishna’s Chandan Yatra begins on Akshay Tritiya in Jagannath Puri and Vrindavan. We follow slightly different rituals in these temples. But basically, we smear Krishna’s body with Chandan (sandalwood) paste, take Him out for boat rides, play water sports, fan him, offer cooling perfumes, foods and juices all through the summer to protect Him from the searing heat.
Chandan Yatra: Folk tale 1
When Virata comes to know that the Pandavas had spent the 13th incognito year in his kingdom, he requests them to arrange for a meeting with Krishna. Yudhishtra advises Virata to arrange for a boat festival to ensure that Krishna feels comfortable during the summer months.
Virata does the needful and offers cool fragrant water and Chandan (sandalwood) to Krishna’s idol. Krishna manifests before Virata along with Balarama and rejoices in the Chandan Yatra that he had organized.
Chandan Yatra: Folk tale 2
Madhavacharya, an ardent Krishna devotee immerses himself completely in Krishna’s bhajans in Govind Kund near Goverdhan Parvat regularly. So much so – that often he forgets to eat. So, one day, Krishna manifests before him in disguise, offers him a pot of milk and disappears.
Madhava drinks the milk and falls asleep. Krishna appears in his dream and asks him to unearth his idol from a particular spot, bathe and feed Him. Madhava takes the help of the villagers and discovers an idol of Gopala precisely at that place. Madhava enshrines the heavy idol atop mount Goverdhan and bathes it with several pots of water and Panchamrit. And hosts the Annakut festival there for Krishna.
A few days later, Gopala appears in Madhava’s dream and says, “O Madhava, I dwell in Puri too. And the summer is terribly hot here. Kindly apply a paste of sandalwood and camphor on my body to relieve me from the heat.”
Madhava sets out for Puri immediately. Along the way, in a village called Remuna, Madhava visualizes the priest offering kheer to Krishna in Puri and suddenly craves for the kheer. Madhava feels ashamed for craving the food that was being offered to Krishna. So, he drops the idea of going to Puri.
Krishna’s mystic ways
Krishna understands the desires of his devotees and works in His own mystic way. As usual. Krishna appears in the priest’s dream and says, “I have tucked away a small pot of kheer within the folds of my garments for Madhava, my most ardent devotee. He has been travelling in the searing heat to fulfil my wish. Do take care of him like you take care of me – for my bhaktas are no different from me.” The priest finds Madhava in the market, narrates his dream to him and gives him the kheer.
Madhava feels overwhelmed by Krishna’s gesture. After eating the kheer, Madhava narrates his dream to the priest and says, “Gopala wishes to be smeared with a paste of Chandan and camphor for he cannot bear the summer’s searing heat.” The priest discusses the matter with the temple authorities who immediately fulfil Gopala’s wish. The priest then smears Chandan on Madhava’s body too, refreshes him with Krishna’s prasad and fulfils Krishna’s wish.
Chandan Yatra of lord Jagannath in Puri
The 42-day Chandan Yatra is the longest festival of the Jagannath temple in Puri. Here, we celebrate the Chandan Yatra in two 21-day phases called Bahari Chandan Yatra and Bhitari Chandan Yatra.
Bahari Chandan Yatra
During the Bahari Chandan Yatra, we take utsav murtis of Rama, Krishna, Madan Mohan, Lakshmi and Saraswati for an outing (procession) from the Simhadwara of the Jagannath temple to Narendra tank every evening.
Five utsav murtis of Shiva (also known as the Pancha Pandavas) – Lokanatha, Jameshwar, Markandeya, Kapala Mochana and Nilakantha, Lakshmi, Saraswati and Rama accompany Madan Mohan.
We seat Madan Mohan, Lakshmi and Saraswati and Rama, Krishna and the Pancha Pandavas in two boats called Sunanda and Bairateka. The deities enjoy their cruise to the accompaniment of music and dance.
We adorn Krishna in different veshas (Natavar vesha, Krishna Janm vesha, Narasimha vesha et al) during the Bahari Yatra to recreate the essence of his leelas in our souls.
On the 20th day, we celebrate the Bhaunri Yatra at night. During the Bhaunri Yatra, the boats in which the deities are seated move around the Narendra tank 21 times touching the corners of the tank before coming to the centre probably to reiterate the fact that various aspects of Krishna dwell in the four directions too.
The Bhitari Chandan Yatra
During the 21-day Bhitari Chandan Yatra, we perform all these rituals for the deities within the temple itself symbolically. But we do take them outdoors on the Amavasya, Poornima, Sashti and Ekadashi that occurs during this phase.
Chandan Yatra in Vrindavan
In the temples of Vrindavan, we celebrate the Chandan Yatra for 21 days. We, Pushti Margiya Vaishnavs believe that only those who are a part of Krishna’s essence can experience the warmth of divinity. So, we associate Chandan with Krishna’s four divine aspects: Ananda Swaroop – Radhaji, Shruti Roopa Swaroop – Chandravaliji, Rishi Roopa Swaroop of the Kumarikas and Bhakti Swaroop – Yamunaji.
In Nathdwara, we cover the doors of the sanctum sanctorum completely for the first four days of the Chandan Yatra. We focus only on recreating the bhaav of these four aspects of Krishna. And they too get a chance to smear Chandan on Krishna only when they shed all their Maan/vanity of being a part of Him.
So, that’s the cue for us to shed our vanity too. And when we do so, all our Virah Taap transforms to bliss and we too can – briefly at least – bask in the warmth of Krishna’s divine grace.
That is why we begin the Chandan Yatra on Akshay Tritiya – for this Yatra is incomparable to any other leela. After the first four days, we, ordinary human beings smear Chandan on the hands, feet and torso of our Nidhi Swaroops. We then symbolically perform all the rituals of the Bhitari Chandan Yatra within the sanctum sanctorum of our temples.
Also, Vallabhacharya enshrined Shrinathji at the Nathdwara Haveli on Akshay Tritiya. His devotees performed all the rituals of the Chandan Yatra which pleased Shrinathji immensely.
Chandan Yatra at Ahobilam
In one of the 9 Narasimha Swamy temples in Ahobilam, we cover Narasimha Swamy’s body with Chandan for the entire year. We believe that Narasimha Swamy killed Hiranyakashipu in that particular place.
Only on Akshaya Tritiya (the first day of the Chandan Yatra) the priests remove the Chandan shringar of Narasimha Swamy. And we get the darshan of Narasimha Swamy’s original Swaroop only on this day.
Krishna’s Message For Us Is Simply Divine
He says, “Yes, My divinity pervades through the cosmos. But I dwell within each one of you too. For You and I are not different from each other. Some amongst you look for me externally. And some delve inwards to find me. The direction of your journey does not matter. At all. It is enough that you connect with me in some way every day.
Just remember one thing – Whenever you make Me a part of your life and go out of the way to do things that please Me immensely, you will end up pleasing My divinity that lies within you too.” And that is why we treat Krishna exactly like we treat ourselves in His temples.
Narasimha Swamy photo given by: Supraja.
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