Puri – again

This is my second post about Puri. It is such a fascinating place that one can write reams about it and has long attracted pilgrims and the curious minded. In fact, the English word ‘juggernaut’ is derived from the famous Ratha Yatra (Car Festival), in which frenzied devotees supposedly threw themselves under the wheels of the gigantic chariot.
You can take this description with a pinch of salt; probably the work of some excitable early European travelers, the sort who also wrote about fire breathing dragons, giant ants, etc. etc.
A long list of spiritual luminaries have graced this holy city – Adi Shankaracharya (the saint who restructured the Hindu faith), the saints Ramanuja, Nimbarka, the poet saint Kabir and Guru Nanak (the founder of Sikhism) are some whose names I could find on the Net.
My Christian friends will be surprised that I am adding the name of Jesus, the Christ, to this rather distinguished list of visitors. And I am not being ‘wickedly heathen, corrupting the Christian faith’ about it.
There are many who say with conviction that Jesus traveled to India in those years of his life that have not been detailed in the Bible. In fact, the first time I heard of this was in my fifth standard (1985 possibly) from my geography teacher, Ms. Benson, a very Christian, Anglo-Indian lady. I wonder where she is and how she is doing – I pray to God that she is well and hearty.


Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
Possibly the most luminous in the firmament of those who visited Puri was Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Who he was and what he was – I don’t feel that I am qualified enough to shed light on this properly. You may look up this rather informative link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaitanya_Mahaprabhu or http://dlshq.org/saints/gauranga.htm (this one is better) for more about him.
I shall confine my post to where he stayed at Puri for eighteen years of his life.
Before I do so, I feel I have to give a very short description of him – he was born in the neighboring state of Bengal in the 16th century, was the font of bliss, took up monkhood at the age of 24, came to Puri and stayed 18 of the next 24 years in this holy city.


The Gambhira