Lord’s odyssey comes full circle….
Mullick family at the Marble Palace hosts a beautiful social conglomeration on the evening of Rathyatra and Ultorath Chittaranjan Avenue, which was originally called Central Avenue, is the lifeline of the northern part of the city of Kolkata and home to many fascinating tales of the nearly 350 year long existence of this east Indian metropolis. Come down the Mahatma Gandhi Road metro station situated on C.R Avenue and cross over to the other side of the busy bus bay on any random day of the week and you will find it difficult to believe that this was once the seat of Bengal’s colonial aristocracy given the humdrum surroundings of the road. But a little way inside the lanes at 46 Muktaram Babu Street stands a mansion which truly represents the British sobriquet endowed upon our beloved Kolkata, ‘ The City of Palaces’.
The founder of the building is Rajendra Mullick, born 24 June 1819 and one of the apex figures of the Hindu society of his times . He was mentored by Sir James Weir Hogg who was also the legal custodian of minor Rajendra’s material inheritance by the order of the Supreme Court. Sir Hogg was the registrar at the Court of Wards under the Supreme Court who was entrusted with the responsibility of little Rajendra’s education and upbringing in the capacity of a guardian tutor. Rajendra imbibed the best of oriental and occidental cultures from his mother Hiramani Dasi and guardian tutor respectively in his growing up years.
Interestingly Sir James Weir Hogg is father to Stuart Hogg who is the founder of the Kolkata Hogg Market popularly known as New Market.
We are speaking about Marble Palace, a nineteenth century palatial establishment which, apart from being a residential estate also doubles as an art gallery of vintage Victorian artifacts and is one of the shining decors of Kolkata’s centuries old skyline. The courtyard of Marble Palace hosts a beautiful garden resplendent with exotic statues and canopies. The garden is named ‘Nilmani Niketan’ and is dedicated to Rajendra Mullick’s father Nilmani Mullick who was instrumental in introducing Lord Jagannath’s effigy to the Mullick family.
Marble Palace organises Rathyatra every year celebrating the divine journey of its resident deity Lord Jagannath from his temple to aunt Gundicha’s home and back and is one of those households of feudal Kolkata to still maintain this Vaishnav tradition inspired from Sreeshetra, Puri. Last week we described the beginning rituals of Lord Jagannath’s journey. This week we will take you through the reverse rituals of the occasion. After a 9-day stay at the Gundicha temple it is time now for the Lord to come back to his residing sanctum. It is Ultorath which is also marked by the same fervor as Sojarath or the chariot’s forward journey.
Lord Jagannath’s sacred idol is treated to a holy serving of fire, flowers, sandalwood, water mixed in sandalwood and the pious mark on the forehead called the Tilak at his consecration on the chariot from the temple after the devotees including the eldest member of the family cleanse the riding path of the Rath in front a with silver broomstick. The idol is taken around the Rath seven times at a special canopy called ‘Madhabilata Kanon’ from where it is driven up to the ‘Kadambo’ tree where the Lord is offered his ‘Daree Bhog’ comprising sweets. Later the Rath is driven around Raja Rajendra Mullick’s statue created by eminent sculptor Shyamsundar up to the blossoming red ‘Bottle Brush’ tree. In front of that resides the statue of Venus where rests the Rath accompanied by a Kirtan rendition and floral offerings by the devotees. Afterwards the chariot is driven past the ‘Trocadero Palace Paris Replica’ ‘Fountain of Four Seasons…Summer, Autumn, Spring and Winter’ through the greenery of Koton, Rubbish and Arica Palm upto the canopy of ‘Brindaban Chanpa’ which is the Gundicha house of the Marble Palace. From here the idol is taken back to the temple in a silver sanctum leaving the Rath behind carried by the devotees on shoulder halting once under the Kadombo tree. The entire journey with all its ritualistic servings is repeated on the opposite journey called Ultorath when the Lord is travelled back to the Gundicha house in the same silver sanctum with Kirtan, Daree Bhog and Aarti on shoulders. Finally the sanctum reaches the Rath where it is rotated around the Rath seven times, the horses of the silver sanctum released, the sleeping ritual performed (called ‘Sayan Daoa’), sent back to the temple and effigy placed on the Rath in a wooden sanctum. On the way back the Rath is stationed for a while in front of the main gate of the palace after which it stands again at the Kadomo tree for Daree Bhog and Aarti before re-consecration in the temple for another year.
The temple premises, which was established in the year 1850, sees a coming together of local people, clay artisans from Kolkata’s famous Kumartuli, sellers of lip smacking snacks as in a fair. Replete with such childhood fun games like ‘Nagordola’ or the rotating ride, artificial horse rides among many other arrangements of festive frolicking like clowns, cartoons and balloons, the age-old tradition is continued till this day. Apart from miniature manifestations of gods and goddesses the mela also sees clay models of a variety of fruits, clay toys, pots and pans which draw the visitors in large numbers. Food items are also sold in the fair on the ‘Neptune Garden’ of the palace which comprises various fast foods of the day including local evening delicacies but not without the iconic ‘Papad’ fried over clay coal ovens which is an original delicacy of Rathyatra. Mela visitors also throng the ‘Tennis Lawn’ extending their ecstatic enjoyment all over the historical campus dotted with ‘Triton’ and ‘Mermaids’.
A sylvan simplicity runs through the environment which reminds one of Bengal’s archaic ‘Rather Mela’. The fair happens on both days of Soja and Ulto Rath.
It’s late evening at the end of a beautiful blue monsoon day. At the fall of the night there stands the palace like a mountain of memories of a past dotted with umpteen socio-political upheavals which changed the course of the subcontinent’s life. Men and women have come and gone along the aisles of the eternal timeline leaving behind their footprints for the future scions to follow. Time travels nevertheless, nonchalant, sweeping us all on an everlasting journey.
Jayo Jayo Sree Jagannathao Jaya Natho Janardano,
Jagati Karta, Jagati Bharta, Jagati Janajibono…..
(Hail the Lord of the world, the guardian of life on earth)
———- Raja Rajendra Mullick