Rathayatra at Mahesh (Hooghly, WB)

Mahesh is located in the Hoghly district of West Bengal. It is near Serampur.

There is a story why Rathayatra is celebrated in Mahesh. It was the fourteenth century. Drubananda Bhrahmachari, who was a great Bengali sage, had gone to Puri for pilgrimage. He had a desire of offering “bhoga” to Lord Jagannath. But the temple authorities prevented him from doing so with his own hand. The heartbroken Drubananda decided to fast until death.

On the third day he heard Lord Jagannath’s voice in his dreams. The Lord asked him to go back to Bengal, where at the bank of River Bhagirathi he would find a place called Mahesh.

Do you know what else the Lord had told him?

 

The Lord told him that He would send Drubananda a huge Daru-Brahma (Neem Trunk). He asked Drubananda to make idols of Balarama, Subhadra, and Himself with that trunk. He said that He was eager to have Bhoga from Drubananda’s hand. Drubananda returned to Mahesh and began his “sadhana”. Then on a rainy night, the Daru-Brahma appeared at Mahesh. Drubananda jumped into the water and received it.

Then he made the idols of the Holy trinity from that Neem trunk and established a temple.

After taking sanyas, when Shri Chaitanya had left for Puri, he had reached Mahesh on his way.

 

Shri Chaitanya lost his senses at the Temple of Drubananda at Mahesh. He was absorbed in a deep Samadhi. Later on, old Drubananda requested him to take charge of the Temple. On Drubananda’s request, Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu made Kamalakar Piplai, the fifth of his twelve Gopalas, the Sebait of the Temple. After a few days, Drubanada passed away.

Kamalakar was the son of the zamindar of Khalijuli in Sunderbans. He came to Navadwip to study logic. Soon he became a favourite of Mahaprabhu and joined his ministry. He was the first of the sixty-four Mohantas. After taking charge of the Mahesh Temple, Kamalakar remained there.

 

Kamalakar Piplai started this famous chariot festival, more than 600 years ago. His descendants still reside at Mahesh as the Sebait or Adhikary of the Temple.

The Rathayatra of Mahesh is the oldest and the biggest Rathayatra in Bengal. Around three lakhs of people visit Mahesh to experience the month-long fair. Jagannath, Balaram and Subhadra go to the Serampur Gundicha Temple and remain there till Punarjatra or Ultorath, as it is popularly known in Bengal.

The famous Bengali novel, “Radharani”, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, has a wonderful description of the Mahesh Rathayatra. Radharani, the blind heroine of the novel, got lost in the fair and was found by her future lover.

 

The chariot of Mahesh has been changing. Once a devotee of Baidyabati had donated a chariot to the Temple. In 1797, Shri Ramkrishna Dev’s renowned disciple Balaram Basu’s grandfather Shri Krishnaram Basu donated another chariot. His son Guruprasad Basu renewed the chariot in 1835. But that chariot got destroyed by fire, after some years. Then Kalachand Basu built another chariot in the year 1852. But one day, somebody committed suicide inside the chariot. Considering that incident as a sign of evil, Bishwambhar Basu made another chariot in 1857, but that also got burnt.

Then Dewan Krishnachandra Basu ordered an Iron-Chariot from Martin Burn Co. That chariot still does exist.