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By Purushottam Nitai Das<\/strong><\/p>\n Purushottama Deva was an emperor of Orissa who ruled from 1467 to 1497 C.E. He was the second ruler of Gajapati Dynasty and was known for his military prowess. Once during his South India tour he went to the kingdom of Kanchi where he met the princess of Kanchi, Padmavati. Her beauty and simplicity won his heart and when the king of Kanchi put a proposal to Purushottam Deva to marry his daughter then Purushottam Deva immediately agreed. <\/p>\n He returned to Orissa eagerly waiting to be united with the princess. The king of Kanchi sent one of his ministers to Puri with an official proposal of marriage. It was the time of Rath Yatra festival in Puri. Purushottam Deva requested the minister to spend few more days in Puri so that he can participate in the festival of chariots. Lord Jagannath is the presiding deity of Puri and all the residents\u2019 life is centered around the Lord. As Rath Yatra is one of the most important festivals of Puri so the entire city was beautifully decorated and thousands of people were coming even from distant places to witness the festival. On the festival day three big chariots were lined up and on them sat Lord Jagannath, Lord Baladeva and their little sister Subhadra Devi. <\/p>\n Amidst the chant of Jay Jagannath arati of the Lord was being performed. And then came one of the most important part of the festival. The king took a broom and began sweeping the road in front of the chariot. This humble act of the king won the hearts of the people but the minister got confused. It seemed that the minster was not aware of the age old tradition of the Rath Yatra where the king no matter how powerful he may be takes immense pride in sweeping the road for the Lord. The minster took it as a menial work, he thought that the king is not worthy enough to become the groom of the princess. He left immediately to inform to his king about the entire incident. The king of Kanchi took umbrage at Purushootam Dev\u2019s act and called off the marriage. <\/p>\n When the news went to Purushottam Dev he felt devastated and when he came to know the reason for the cancellation of the marriage he considered it to be an insult to Lord Jagannath. \u201cThe king of Kanchi needs to be taught a lesson\u201d was the unanimous decision. So Purushottam Dev along with his army attacked the kingdom of Kanchi but unfortunately he lost the battle. Some legends say that his camp caught fire so he had to leave the battlefield. Wounded and devastated he returned back to his kingdom completely confused as how he lost the war. <\/p>\n He went to the temple of Lord Jagannath and narrated the entire incident. In the night Lord Jagannath appeared in his dream and told him to again go for the war and promised that this time he himself along with his brother would fight along with him. Lord Jagannath\u2019s words cannot go in vain and so the king was now sure that Lord Jagannath will win the war for him. <\/p>\n He again assembled all his soldiers and marched towards the kingdom of Kanchi. On the way an old woman, Manika, stopped him. The woman said to the king that his two soldiers riding on white and black horses drank all her buttermilk which she was carrying to sell but did not pay her even a penny. When she pressed them to pay they told her to take the money from their king who is not far behind. When she asked why the king will believe her then one of the soldiers gave his ring to her and asked her to show it to the king. When the king saw the ring he was shocked because it was a diamond ring of Lord Jagannath deity. The king was no sure that his victory is guaranteed. He rewarded Manika magnanimously and the very spot where this pastime tool place he established a village naming it as Manika Patana. This village is still there in Orissa. <\/p>\n The king now confidently marched towards Kanchi and when the battle ensued the two divine soldiers Lord Jagannath on white horse and Lord Baladeva on black horse fought so vigorously that the armies of king of Kanchi had to flee. Purushottama Deva arrested Padmavati and brought her to Orissa. He instructed one of his ministers to get her married to a sweeper. The minster assured the king that as soon as he finds a suitable sweeper he will get her married to him. Thinking that she will have to spend rest of her life as a sweeper\u2019s wife made her very said. She cursed her fortune and prayed to the Lord to save her. The minster would assure her that in the land of Lord Jagannath there is no injustice. The days were passing and when the king used to inquire about the princess\u2019s marriage the minster would say that he is still looking for a suitable sweeper and within a year he was hopeful of finding one. <\/p>\n Almost a year passed and it was again time for the grand Rath Yatra festival. Thousands of people had congregated to welcome the Lord on the streets of Puri. The entire city wore a festive look. People were playing mridangas, cymbals, singing and dancing for the pleasure of the Lord. Everyone in Puri was joyful except Padmavati. The minister told her to dress nicely like a bridegroom and come with him to see Rath Yatra. Thinking that she would be forced to marry a sweeper she started crying. <\/p>\n As the Rath Yatra procession was about to start, the king came forward holding a golden broom and reverentially started sweeping the road from where the chariots would pass. As the king began sweeping devotees started loudly calling the names of Lord Jagannath. <\/p>\n At that moment the minister took Padmavati to the king. The king wondered why the girl has been brought to him. The minster said, \u201cYou had asked me to find the most suitable sweeper who can be her groom. And today I have found one. You are the most suitable sweeper for her.\u201d The king was amused, the princess was delighted. Everyone sappreciated the intelligence of the minster and in the core of their hearts they knew that Lord Jagannath is most merciful and he never disappoints anyone who participate in his Rath Yatra festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![](\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/W7QUyPs.jpg\")
Purushottama Deva was an emperor of Orissa who ruled from 1467 to 1497 C.E. He was the second ruler of Gajapati Dynasty and was known for his military prowess. Once during his South India tour he went to the kingdom of Kanchi where he met the princess of Kanchi, Padmavati. Her beauty and simplicity won his heart and when the king of Kanchi put a proposal to Purushottam Deva to marry his daughter then Purushottam Deva immediately agreed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76378"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76384,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76378\/revisions\/76384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}