50-yr tapestry of devotion on social fabric

There is an almost divine calm at the Poddareshwar Ram Mandir on Central Avenue. Though there is a constant flow of devotees, as this is the period of Ram Navratri, there is nothing much to show for the Shobha Yatra, which begins from the temple every year on Ram Navami. The annual event is celebrating its golden jubilee this year. “It’s all very streamlined and the systems are well in place.It doesn’t require much effort,” says the reticent Ramkrishna Poddar, a trustee of the temple, and also one among the 14 members who initially planned the first shobha yatra way back in 1966.
“We were sitting and chatting in the temple when Girija Shankar Tiwari, a great devotee of Ramayan, gave this idea of taking out a shobha yatra. The suggestion excited us,” says Poddar. The first year, it was just a palaki in which the idols were placed. “We walked to Mahal and returned,” he says.
“The next year, a jungle contractor, Mahadev Prasad Gupta gave his truck to take out a tableau. In the second year, another temple associate, Sahedev Prasad Gupta, dressed up as Narad and we took out a jhanki of Shankar and Narad. The third year, Baidyanath got associated with the shobha yatra and made a tableau showing Kewat washing feet of Lord Rama. This electrified the people all along the way,” recalls Poddar. In the past, Dinanath Padole, the famous artist, too has designed the main rath bearing the idols for the yatra.
Over the years the shobha yatra has evolved a system of its own. “We have divided the city into seven zones and we hold meetings in six of them, where we involve all those who are volunteers and the organizations which are part of the yatra,” says Puneet Poddar, an organizer, who was born in the year the first yatra took place. Teams to ensure ‘Marg Vyavastha’ are formed. “We give out badges to volunteers according to zones and they ensure that the yatra gets smooth passage in their area.”
The tableaus are all sponsored by various organizations. “But we give them a theme and ask them to stick to it as that gives a purpose to the jhanki,” says Puneet. Besides the tableaus, the other items that form part of the yatra are folk dances, Mangal Kalash march by women, groups singing bhajans, and boys and girls on skates making various formations.
A formal Shri Ram Janmotsav Shobha Yatra Committee was formed in 1992. Today, six of the initial 14 members are there, of whom three are active, including the senior Poddar, Umesh Sharma and Santosh Agarwal. “We now have 550 active members and nearly 12,000 volunteers, who work hard to make this a success,” says Umesh Sharma. “These volunteers belong to all strata of the society and to different religions. There is no discrimination here as more than religious this is a social event,” he adds. And to keep up this sentiment, the first puja at the shobha yatra is performed by the mayor. “He is the first citizen of the city. So irrespective of his religion or caste he belongs to, he is the first to garland the idols,” says Sharma.
The effort is to spread good values among the people and create brotherhood in the community, adds Poddar. The 12km route of the yatra passes through Mominpura and Hansapuri. “It was called the Old Bhandara Road and trucks would pass from here.” The organizers never felt any need to change the route even at the height of Ram Janmabhoomi Babri Masjid controversy. “We crossed the same route and were received with warmth through the welcome gate, which the residents there put up for the yatra,” says Poddar.
Though the organizers vehemently deny any effort to politicize the yatra, local politicians have made full use of it to project themselves as either secular or to push the saffron ideology. This becomes apparent as leaders of all caste and creed line up to pull the rope of the rath bearing the idols as it rolls out of the temple precincts.
“In the fifty-year history of the yatra, politicians, administrators and civic bodies have all connected with it and have given us full support. This is not an event restricted to any one religion. It belongs to the entire society,” claims Poddar. So careful are the organizers to retain this image that way back, when a tableau projecting the story of dacoit Angulimaal surrendering before Lord Buddha raised hackles of a segment of the society, it was not included in the yatra but was kept at Geeta Mandir, where people gathered in large numbers to view it.
The shobha yatra creates a festive atmosphere all along its path. “Nearly 250 stalls distributing prasad are set up by people independently. Many of them come from Katol, Narkhed or places in a 150km radius to distribute fruits, chana, sherbet and water,” informs Puneet. “For the last three years, we have been observing that as the yatra begins it rains ahead of it and then the places from where it has passed receive a shower. This cools down the weather and helps our volunteers, who walk bare feet,” Poddar observes.
All set for its 50th trip
The shobha yatra this year will have 90 features, including the tableaus, dancers and singers groups. The chariot bearing the idols is an exact replica of the Shri Poddareshwar Ram Mandir, complete with the lions. The theme for the tableaus this year is from the birth of Ram to stories of Luv and Kush. “We had requested the organizations making jhankis to do this so that all tableaus depict the Ramayana in a series,” says Puneet Poddar. He also informs that he along with six other friends had visited places where Rama is said to have halted during his days in exile. “According to a researcher, Ram Avtar Sharma of Delhi, Ram halted at 65 places between Ayodhya and Nagpur. We have collected the soil and water from 52 of these places, which we will place on tableau no. 31. ”
Quotes
It’s all very streamlined and the systems are well in place. It doesn’t require much effort. We were sitting and chatting in the temple when Girija Shankar Tiwari, a great devotee of Ramayan, gave this idea of taking out a shobha yatra. The suggestion excited us. The next year, a jungle contractor, Mahadev Prasad Gupta gave his truck to take out a tableau. In the second year, another temple associate, Sahedev Prasad Gupta, dressed up as Narad and we took out a jhanki of Shankar and Narad. The third year, Baidyanath got associated with the shobha yatra and made a tableau showing Kewat washing feet of Lord Rama. This electrified the people all along the way
Ramkrishna Poddar | trustee, Shri Poddareshwar Ram Mandir