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Baligaon is situated in the Teisipur GramPanchayat area under Pipli Block of Puri District.It is 33 Kms. away from Puri as well asBhubaneswar and is on the side of NationalHighway 203. Bhakta Dasia Bauri was born hereat Baligaon more than 500 years ago. This villageis associated with every activity of Dasia, wherehe was tested by theP a n c h a s a k h a ,where he showed hiswife Car Festival inthe water of famouspond Gothagadia,from where also hesent a coconut toPuri through aBrahmin Pandit forLord Jagannath.Finally Dasia wasdied in this smallvillage in anauspicious occasionof Magha SuklaEkadasi.

A Jagannath Temple has constructed atBaligaon just two years ago with the initiativetaken by the local M.L.A., the devotees and themembers of Bhakta Dasia Smruti Committee. TheJagannath Temple of Baligaon consists of the main

Jagannath Temple at Baligaon

Dr. Saroj Kumar Panda

Temple and the Mukhasala with 22 steps. Themain temple is 55 ft. in height and 25 ft. in width.The Parswadevatas of the main temple areNrusingha, Baraha and Bamana. LordBalabhadra, Lord Jagannath, Maa Subhadra andSudarsan are the main deities worshipped in themain temple. Except these we also find

Madanamohan ,Bhudevi and Sridevialong with goddessLaxmi and Bimalainside the mainshrine. After enteringinto the templecomplex, one cansee Lord KashiBiswanath on leftside ofBaisipahacha.

The life sizebronze statue ofBhakta Dasia isplaced on a pedestalin front of the

Jagannath Temple at Baligaon. Here the statuehas folded his hands with a coconut within. It is inkneeling position and offering the sacred fruit toLord Jagannath. The statue is 4 ft. in height and2.5 qtls. in weight. It costs Rs.72,000/- sanctioned

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by the Department of Culture, Govt. of Odisha.The idea for construction of the statue has beenborrowed from a photo published in KalyanMagazine ‘Bhakta Mala’ in 1952. The pedestalcosts about Rs.50,000/- which has been borneby the Smruti Committee.

The foundation stone of Jagannath Templeat Baligaon was laid by Sri Pradeep Maharathy& his wife Smt. Prativa Maharathy on14.02.2005. The chief administrator of JagannathTemple, Puri visited the Pitha on 27.07.2008.The Garbhamuda and Ratnamuda of the templewere completed in the month of November 2008.Gajapati Maharaja Divyasingha Dev visited thespot on 16.03.2009. The temple and BigrahaPratistha Utsav was held from 30th June to 2ndJuly 2009 and the first worship at the templestarted from 3rd July 2009, on the day ofSunabesa. Before it four senior members from‘Aika Sthapana Committee’ and ‘AdministrativeCommittee’ of Srimandir, Puri visited the templeand expressed their satisfaction over the workdone at Baligaon. Their views was later publishedin ‘Srikhetra Parikrama’.

Except the Jagannath Temple, Baligaon hasmany other memorials like an old Math andBhakta Dasia Smruti Mandir over the Samadhi(tomb) of Dasia. The tomb was constructed bythe Dasa Sampradaya of Odisha just after thedeath of Dasia Bauri. But the Smruti Mandir overit is recent addition. Its shape is 15 ft. X 15 ft. X25 ft. and cost 1 lakh rupees which was donatedby the devotees of Bhakta Dasia.

Bhakta Dasia Memorial Library is workinghere since 1978. During recent years a buildingfor the purpose has been constructed with abudget of Rs. 4 lakhs, out of which Rs. 50,000/-has sanctioned from M.L.A. Lad fund and therest collected from donors. The library has a

variety of books covering wide range subjectslike Philosophy, History, Vedic Literature,Jagannath Culture, Religious Scripture, collectionon Bhakta Dasia etc. The total books available inthis library is 3000 in numbers. There is also aJhulana Mandap, two-bed guest house (one isA.C.) within the pitha complex. The TourismDepartment of Odisha had sanctioned Rs.12 lakhsfor construction of this guest house during the year2010. The Tulsi garden of the smruti pitha hasspecial importance in Jagannath Culture. Tulsileaves are sent from here daily to Srimandir, Purifor decoration of Lords.

Bhakta Dasia Smruti Pitha has registered4 decimals of homestead land in its name. Another33 decimals of agriculture land has been donatedby a doctor of Salepur in 2010 for maintenanceof part expenditure of temple. The temples ofMaa Bimala, Maa Laxmi, Sri Ganesh, MahavirHanuman, Maa Lankeswari are some importantprojects which is under construction now. Theboundary wall around the pitha and the renovationof Gothagadia are other projects which needspecial care in future.

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Daily Rituals :

The day starts with Surya Puja andDwarapala Puja in Jagannath Temple at 5.30A.M. followed by Mangal Alati. Balya Bhogaand Gopal Bhoga are done thereafter at 8 A.M.and 9 A.M. respectively. The mid day AnnaPrasad Bhoga offered to Lords at 12.30 P.M.followed by Pahuda at 1 P.M. Pahuda continuesupto 3 P.M. Thereafter the doors open forDarshan. Sandhya Alati takes place at 6.30 inthe evening. At 9.30 P.M. Ratrabhoga is servedto the deities. Then comes the Pahuda at 10 P.M.As there is no permanent source of income formaintenance of the daily rituals, the expenditurefor it is provided through donations in shape ofmoney or Anna Prasad contribution. TheMahaprasad of the Jagannath Temple of Baligaonis prepared with utmost care. Certain vegetablesare debarred in cooking like that of SrimandirKitchen. Only fruits are offered to lords in differentBhogas. So the devotees bring fruits for thepurpose.

The festivals observed in BaligaonJagannath Temple are few. The main functionsinclude - Birth day celebration of Bhakta Dasia

on Kartika Sukla Ekadasi, Kartika Purnima,death anniversary of Dasia on Magha SuklaEkadasi, Jhulana Parva and annual daycelebration of temple entry of Lords. On thesedays special programmes are organised anddiscussions take place on the life and achievementof Bhakta Dasia.

References :

Bhakta Mala - Special issue of Kalyan, published byGita Press, Gorakhpur, 1952.

Bhakta Charita - Special issue of Kalyan, published byGita Press, Gorakhpur, 26th year Vol.- I.

Spot visit and interview with Dr. G.S. Swain, Secretary,Bhakta Dasia Smruti Committee on 11.06.2011.

Dr. Saroj Kumar Panda, Principal, GadibrahmaCollege, Delang, Puri.

Side Deities of the Chariot