Satyabrata Mishra narrates the many legends associated with Dasia Bauri, the great Jagannath devotee, after a visit to Dasia Bauri Pitha on the Bhubaneswar-Puri highway, 15 km off Pipli
While browsing a copy of Utkal Prasanga, the special Nabakalebara issue of May-June 2015 published by the Information and Public Relations department, government of Orissa, an article on Bhakta Dasia Bauri caught my attention and I read the whole article as I had noticed a strange factual error in the very beginning. The writer has mentioned in the first paragraph of the article that Balugaon, a fishermen’s village on the banks of Chilika Lake, is the birthplace of the famous devotee Dasia Bauri whereas anyone who has ever travelled to Puri from Bhubaneswar definitely comes across a signage mentioning Dasia Bauri Pitha a little way off Mangalpur bus stop. In fact, the birthplace of Bhakta Dasia Bauri is Baligrama or Baligaon near Mangalpur in Puri district not Balugaon as described in the piece.
Well, there could be the possibility of error here because of the similarity in the names of the places Baligaon and Balugaon. Also, it might have skipped the notice of the editor.
Since I have never been to this place and also with the urge to find out the truth about the place and the legends associated with the sacred shrine, I paid a small trip to Bhakta Dasia Bauri Pitha the very next day.
Many legends are associated with Bhakta Dasia Bauri and are mentioned in the ‘Madala Panji’ (day-to-day record maintained at Puri Jagannath Temple).
Such was the devotion of Dasia Bauri that every year during Rath Yatra of Sri Jagannath a basket full of basil leaves, basil twigs and lotus flowers shaped in a conical heap wrapped in palanquin leaves is supplied to the chariots from the Dasia Bauri Pitha. On reaching of this tulsi or basil heap the Pahandi ritual of the three deities starts.
Dasarathi or Dasia was born to a Bauri (an untouchable) weaver family in and around 15th century. He lived in a hut in abject poverty with his wife Malati in Baligaon.
The couple was childless and weaved clothes for the upper caste Brahmins for a living. Those days, Bhagabata, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bishnu Lila and other verses from mythological epics were recited by pundit Brahmins in the Bhagabat Tungis or small sacred places in the villages every evening. The untouchables were not allowed in these places and had, therefore, to listen from a distance. Dasia was a regular attendee and as days passed he was filled with devotion and was quite amazed and fascinated with the tales of the supreme power of the god. He had heard of the ‘lilas’ of Vishnu and Dasabatara and of Jagannath too.
Once he had gone to witness the chariot festival of Jagannath in Puri with the fellow villagers and was filled with joy and ecstasy as he felt he met god for the first time for whom there was no high class or low class, rich or poor. Seeing the Trinity in the chariots, with sheer devotion he cried, behaved like a lunatic and the villagers had a tough time bringing him back to the village. After returning from Puri he was a changed man. Such was the effect of Lord Jagannath on him that he could see the Lord everywhere.
Malati once served ‘peja’ (thick white rice paste) in one round red earthen bowl topped with dark lentils in two places for Dasia to eat. It was in the shape of the eyes of Lord Jagannath. Seeing this Dasia went mad and danced like a fanatic, singing all kinds of bhajans and janans to the utter surprise of his wife and passersby. Later on, on the advice of a wise Brahmin the lentils were removed from the rice juice and only then did Dasia calm down.
A few days later he saw Lord Jagannath in his dreams granting him some wishes one of which was to see the Lord as and when he remembered Him. The other one being whatever Dasia would offer the Lord would take with His own hands.
Once when his wife requested him to narrate the scene of Rath Yatra since she had not had the opportunity to visit Puri during the event with her husband Dasia took her near the Gothagadia pond and made her see the deities on the chariots in the water.
Dasia had once gone to deliver a towel which he made for a Brahmin scholar Sanatan Mishra of the nearby village. There he saw a lone beautiful red coconut hanging on a dwarf coconut tree in front of Mishra’s house and thought of asking it in lieu of the towel to offer it to Lord Jagannath. Mishra did not have any hesitation giving it to him. While returning home from Mishra’s house Dasia met a bunch of Brahmins of the same village going to Puri to visit the temple with offerings like fruits, coconuts, milk and cheese. He requested them to carry his coconut and told them to offer it to Lord Jagannath. He further requested them that they should offer it saying, “Baligrama Dasia has sent this coconut and please accept it with Your own hand or else we will take it back to him”:
E mo sriphala goti dhari,
Garuda pache rahi kari.
Boliba Baligrama Dasa,
Deichi nia pitabasa.
Se jebe srihasta badhai
tumbhara hastaru chadai
ghenibe tebe tanku deba
nohile ferai aniba.
The Brahmins did as they were told and once they finished their puja staying behind the Garuda pillar they offered the coconut as wished by Dasia and they could not believe their eyes as two hands were extended from Lord Jagannath that took the coconut. They were left speechless, spellbound, mesmerised by the miracle. After returning to their village all the Brahmins narrated this to fellow villagers and they all gathered near Dasia’s house to embrace this great devotee of Lord Jagannath. They all chanted his name and the name of the Lords and since then all social barriers disappeared.
Dasia Bauri Pitha is a famous place situated on the road from Bhubaneswar to Puri, about 3-4 km from Mangalpur or 15 km from Pipili. From the main road it is another three km on a serpentine village road on the right side of NH 203 bordered by paddy fields, coconut orchards, mango trees and betel leaf vines.
The pitha houses the burial place of the great devotee and a beautifully decorated 45 ft high Jagannath temple with a ‘snana mandap’ and a ‘yajna mandap’. On the rear of the Samadhi of Dasia there is the pond Gothagadia in which his wife Malati and the Panchasakhas sighted the images of the chariots and Lords. The pond water is never cleaned because of legends associated with it. One can find a huge bronze idol of the great devotee Dasia holding a coconut in front of the temple under a concrete roof. This statue was made by eminent artist Bipra Charan Mohanty in 2005. In the month of Kartika, Shukla Ekadasi is observed here. A library stocked with rare holy books is an added attraction. Dasia Bauri’s tomb or Samadhi is also another holy structure here which houses the holy remains of the Holy Spirit. It rises like a high cone with two eyes drawn on the body.
Of late, with the help of The Bhakta Dasia Smruti committee and Bhakta Dasia Smruti Pathagar and the Sri Jagannath Ashrita Mandali, a beautiful Basil garden flanked by a lotus pond has come up near the temple which provides the basil twigs and the lotus flower to the temple for daily rituals as well to the chariots during Rath Yatra in Puri every year. These local communities are taking care of the shrine throughout the year. Almost all the religious festivals associated with the Jagannath Temple of Puri are observed here.