In Hindu temples or in any religious place,
non-vegetarian food are not allowed, and on auspicious days, especially those
related to religious festivities, non-vegetarian food is avoided even in homes.
But Olasuni is a place where dried fish is offered in worship. This may appear
queer to a believing Hindu. An old and wise man of the nearby village explains
in simple terms, “The body is a temple where soul resides. The body, which is
the temple, needs to be protected and kept intact for the residence of the soul.
Why should there be distinction in food required for the upkeep of the body?
The God never gets polluted with whatever is required for the maintenance of
the temple.”
In Olasuni, dried fish, podapitha (baked rice cake) and kanji
(prepared out of watered rice) are offered in worship.
Olasuni, adjacent to Lalitgiri, the Budhist site (2nd
century AD to 13th century AD), one of the famous Budhist Diamond
Triangle (the other two being Ratnagiri and Udayagiri) is in Jajpur district,
90 kms from Bhubaneswar. Every year a great fair is held here on the eleventh
day of the dark fortnight in the month of Magha,
and it continues for ten days. On this day in 1837AD, saint Arakshita Das
attained his mahasamadhi (great
burial). Olasuni Hill was his place of meditation and spiritual attainment.
Arakshita Das was born in a royal family as the first
son of the king of Badakhemundi, the kingdom situated in south Odisha. His name
was Balabhadra Dev. The principle of primogeniture was that Balabhadra, being
the first son, would succeed his father and become the king. But his
mind was elsewhere. He refused to marry when his father arranged for his
marriage with the princess of another king. He left the palace at 19, and went on
the path of his spiritual quest.
Balabhadra suffered a lot. He had to take whatever food
and wherever he got it; from the homes of a sabar
or from a fisherman, the low caste people, just to survive and continue his
quest. There were times when he did not get any food to eat. He had to starve,
sometimes weeks together. On few occasions, he was mistaken as a thief or a mad
man, and beaten by lowly people. He had travelled many places and at last
reached Olasuni. Radhashyam Narendra, the zamindar of Kendrapara donated him
Olasuni Hill and there, he completed Maheemandal
Geeta which he had started in Khandagiri, his previous sojourn. Balabhadra Dev became Arakshita Das.
Maheemandal Geeta is his autobiography and a travelogue in verse, the
first autobiography and a travelogue in Odia. It also contains his philosophy.
Arakshita was born in the second half of the
eighteenth century and died in the first half of the nineteenth century. During
the period the kings ruled most parts of Odisha. The British had direct rule only
over a few portions of Odisha comprising areas of the undivided districts of
Cuttack, Puri and Balasore (not even the entire area of the districts). There
were twenty six princely states in Odisha at the time India got independence.
The British had occupied Odisha in 1803, but had made separate treaties with
the princely states. The British rulers did not interfere in the administration
of the kings. The kings exploited their subjects and tortured them.
The Hindu society was caste stratified; religions
divided the people. Ritualism was all pervasive. The Odia society and its
people were virtually prisoners of caste, rituals, religion and orthodoxy. The
life and philosophy of Arakshita Das was a voice of protest and revolt against
the existing political, social and religious conditions of the period.
Arakshita Das wrote, “My father is an emperor, he
tortures his subjects. The soul weeps, I condemns kingship.” Despite being the
son of a king, Balabhadra Dev could not tolerate the torture of the subjects.
He realised that the soul existed in every man. The torture of the soul tormented
him and he condemned kingship. Balabhadra Dev left the luxury of the palace life
and allure of the kingship, and adopted a life of a wild traveller and became
Arakshita Das. His was a silent non-violent revolt against kingship with its
associated torture and exploitation of the people.
Arakshita Das did not believe in caste system. His
philosophy was that the Almighty dwelt in every person and one could see Him in
everybody like, “Cows are of different colours, but they give milk of the same
kind.” He did not make a distinction and accepted food from everybody. He said,
“I accept food wherever I get; be it a house of Brahmin, or of a chandal,
because I believe, He exists in everybody.” He believed, “The rain, the sun,
the moon, the air and the fire do not discriminate and they touch all.” And he
questioned, “Then why should one distinguish between touchable and
untouchables?”
(My write up on Olasuni, published in Sambad in February, 2014. P.C. Sefali Suman)
Arakshita traversed the jungles and mountains, met
with wild beasts, risked his life, and had to starve to reach Puri. But the
sentry did not allow him to enter into the temple of Lord Jagannath. He had to
return from the temple gate, come to Atharnala, and then to Satyabadi. A bauri (a low caste man) mistook him as a
thief and beat him severely. With an empty belly and a pained body he
remembered the Lord and slept. In the morning when he woke up, he found his
pain had gone. He did not lose belief in God, but lost faith in image worship.
He said, “The fools are under a false belief to attain salvation by worshipping
stone or wooden images.” He propagated, “The invisible God exists inside the
temple of body and He also pervades the entire world. The soul is neither male
nor female. The soul resides in male body or in female body.” To obtain Godly
bliss and attain salvation he advocated the path of Bhakti (devotion). If one practiced Bhaktiyoga he would be immortal.
*****
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