Guptipara’s Rath Yatra reflects Bengal’s unique blend of Vaishnav and Shakta traditions

The sight of dozens of bare-chested men jostling to get into a mandir should normally cause alarm. On the drizzly penultimate day of the Rath Yatra in Guptipara, my mother-in-law’s ancestral town, the huge crowd gathered around “Mashir Bari” (my aunt’s house) had smiles and eager expressions of expectation on their faces. And when the idols of Brindavan Chandra Jiu and Krishna Chandra Jiu arrived in palanquins, the ‘looting’ began.

Dhoti-clad men rushed forward and rushed inside to retrieve the valuables as the temple’s “treasure” gates symbolically collapsed. However, these were not jewels or coins, but clay khichuri vessels; The bhog prasad that Lord Jagannath and his siblings Subhadra and Balaram enjoyed at their aunt’s house last week so much that they didn’t want to return to their own home, in this case the beautiful 17th-century terracotta temples at the other end of the city.

Bengal is famous for its Shakta tradition, which includes the worship of the fierce giants Kali and Durga, and rituals that still include animal sacrifice in some places. But now that UNESCO has included Durga Puja in its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the state has become almost synonymous with It in popular perception. Many people do not know that Bengal also has an equally strong Vaishnav tradition from the time of Sri Chaitanya and the Bhakti movement.

So Rath Yatras happen in almost every neighborhood and in homes too. Last week at a cousin’s house, I watched her family’s children pull a small cart around their yard, reenacting a mini-version of the big event in Puri. Many Bengalis, not just those living in Bengal, draw small wooden painted rats containing images of gods and keep them safely until the next year. Even I did this for years during our assignments abroad and in Delhi.

Rath yatra is also the time for Bengalis to buy plants for the home from local melas that take place as part of the seven-day festivities. This is probably because monsoon is the best time to plant saplings and also refers to Lord Jagannath’s own deep roots in nature. Over 200 species of plants and trees (woods) are used in rituals connected to Him, so buying some saplings and seedlings for homes is a really beautiful way for ordinary people to connect with the Divine.

The seemingly contradictory principles of Shakta and Vaishnavism have merged beautifully in Bengal, especially seen in Guptipara. During Akbar’s reign, when my mother-in-law’s ancestors settled in that forested and wild bend of the Ganges, there was a primitive temple of dasamahavidya. Today “Desh Kali” (said to be worshiped by dacoits) still stands at this spot, having no idols; there is only a crown, a flat surface decorated with vermilion and blood-red hibiscus flowers.
As Guptipara prospered, it became the center of Sanskrit learning. The Sen family established their own Durga Puja soon after building a fortified house with a large pavilion for their idol. The tradition of Bengali community pujas for Durga and Jagaddhatri (not just in family homes) also began here. Around the same time, the first terracotta Vaishnav temple dedicated to Sri Chaitanya as the incarnation of Krishna also came into being, signaling the twin streams of faith there. Three more Vaishnavs followed in the next two centuries.

As I watched the men eating “trophy” outside “Mashir Bari” as night fell, I marveled at the uninterrupted diversity seen in a small town in Bengal.