APP DEVOTIONAL STORIES: BHAKTA SALABEGA

BHAKTA SALABEGA SAMADHI PITHA

BHAKTA SALABEGA

He was the son of the Muslim warrior Lalbeg, who served under Raja Man Singh in the Mogul army.

While he was in Danda Mukundpur near Pipili, this warrior saw a beautiful brahmana widow called Lalita who was taking bath in the village pond; he kidnapped and married her. Her son Salabega was born on 16 th September 1592 (Radhashtami), in a house that still exists in Cuttack near Lal Beg Fort, that had been assigned as residence to his mother. Lalbeg remained in Cuttack for a short time and then departed, leaving behind Lalita and the child. Despite her forced conversion to Islam, Lalita continued to worship Lord Jagannatha and also raised her child in a strong sentiment of bhakti for the Lord.

In 1607 Lalbeg was appointed the Subadar of Bengal by Jahangir and he called his son to fight besides him against the Afghans who had rebelled against the Delhi sultanate. In one clash on the battlefield, the young Salabega was wounded and his father was killed. The injury was very serious, infection spread and his condition worsened, the pain becoming intolerable.

His mother called a Hindu Sadhu of the name Bala Mukunda, who chanted the maha mantra near his bed for 21 days and put holy vibhuti (ashes) on his forehead. Salabega’s mother also kept encouraging her son to pray Lord Jagannatha for his recovery and in fact suddenly his health was restored. His miraculous healing encouraged him to develop an even deeper faith and devotion to Sri Jagannatha.

Gradually his faith and worship for Sri Jagannatha made him very unpopular with the Muslims, and finally he was driven out of his house and deprived of all rights. So he decided to walk alone and penniless to Puri, but when he reached there he was not allowed to enter Lord Jagannatha’s temple and no Matha or Hindu house was willing to give him shelter. Finally he built himself a small hut made of Tala palm leaves at Balagandi in Grand Road, from where he anxiously waited for the chariots to come by for the Ratha Yatra festival. With great amazement of the people, all three the chariots stopped in front of his hut, one after the other, while he stood singing his famous prayers.

Jagannatha’s chariot could not be moved for over one hour and finally the Pandas humbly prayed Salabega to pull the ropes of the chariot so that it would start moving again.

When the Subadar of Cuttack Mirja Ahmed Beg came to attack the Jagannatha temple in Puri, Salabega went to meet him and by his pleading averted the attack. King Narasimha Deva, grateful, gave Salabega official permission to build a permanent housing instead of the simple hut, and people started to come fromall over India to visit his Matha.

His mother Lalita also came to stay with him in Puri, and when she passed away Salabega took her body to the Svargadvara, the crematorium in Puri, for her final rites. However, the temple priests not only forbade him to access the crematorium, but also attacked his Matha to show their spite and hatred for what they considered an act of presumption and arrogance.

Salabega then travelled to Vrindavana. However, Vrindavana had come under the attack of Aurangzeb who had set out to destroy the temples there, so Salabega decided to return to Orissa and be in Puri for the

Ratha Yatra. During his travelling he fell ill and became worried about not making it in time for the festival, so he ardently prayed Jagannatha to wait for him. It was the year 1489.

Meanwhile the Ratha Yatra festival started but after reaching Balagandi, in front of today’s Salabega’s Matha, Lord Jagannatha’s chariot stopped and it was impossible to move it, in spite of many auspicious ceremonies such as fire sacrifices, Kirtanas, and all physical efforts including the strength of the largest elephants that were harnessed to pull it. Instead, a great flood came up and the chariots were totally blocked for three months. The chariot finally moved only when Salabega arrived in Puri and came to offer his homage to Jagannatha on His chariot.

King Narasimha was now strongly convinced of the special favour of Jagannatha for Salabega and he ordered that he should be allowed to enter the temple, but the priests refused to comply. For Salabega, however, Lord Jagannatha’s affection was sufficient and he remained in Puri for the rest of his life. Hepassed away in 1646, and his body turned miraculously into a heap of fragrant flowers.

Salabhega’s Samadhi is situated in Balagandi, near the Balagandi Chata Matha of the Ramanandi Sampradaya, and every year the Chariot of Jagannatha stops at Chatamatha, or the samadhi of Salabega (near Mausima temple) during its travel. Salabega wrote at least 150 songs in various languages on Jagannatha, Radha Krishna, Shiva, and Maa Mangala. The most famous is the song Ahe Nila Saila (O great blue mountain):

O great blue mountain God

like an elephant You come out of the temple

to remove the dense forest of our suffering

Plucking it like a small lotus in Your trunk,

You crush all our sorrow into the earth

Some of Salabega’s songs are transliterated and translated in the chapter entitled Jagannatha Bhajans.