Shree Mandira: All Set To Unleash The Magic Of Lord Jagannath

Shree Mandira: All Set To Unleash The Magic Of Lord Jagannath

The Shree Mandira, abode of the Lord of the Universe Lord Jagannath has great historical significance and many important events of Odisha’s history are associated with it. It has witnessed the joys and sorrows of devotees, attacks of enemies and how the sevayats along with the Gajapati Kings rescued it. After the success of mythological serial ‘Shree Jagannath’, one of the leading Odia entertainment channels, Tarang TV has come up with another such show dedicated to the ancient stories attached with the Lord Jagannath. Titled ‘Shree Mandira’, the show commenced from 30^th August, 2021 on the eve of Janmastami, Monday to Friday.

The screenplay is by Arpita Mukharji and dialogues are by Saranarabinda Ojha. The series is directed by Basudev Barad and Nitin AR Manna. Starring popular Ollywood actor Budhaditya Mohanty and new comer Jagruti Rath in lead roles, the show also features other actors like Amarjit, Rakes, Piyali, Manaswini Pati, Subhasmita Pati, Simran Maharana, Kailash Panigrahi, Alka Satpathy, Saheb Singh, Pintu Nanda, Ashok Das, Dharitri Khandual, Rushi Pattanaik, Purnendu Dutta, Gourab, Jolly, Priyanka, Sangita and Pratyasa.

Research by Surendra Mishra and Sankar Tripathy, the story of this mythological series has been influenced by the information from historians, ancient stories and folktales. To add a drama to the story, some fictional events also have been added to it without disturbing the emotions and devotions to the Lord.

In this series, the team plans to show different types of stories related to the temple. In the first series the ‘Kanchi Bijaya’ or ‘Padmavati Parinaya’ will be featured. After this, the next series has been planned to feature the stories of Gajapati Prataprudra Deva, Bhakta Salabega, Chaitanya, etc. Kolkata’s popular production house ‘Surinder Films’ is producing the serial for Tarang TV.

The title song of the serial featuring 15 popular singers of the state has already made the headlines with being the a capella version, where no musical instruments have been used. Music for the serial is by Prem Anand and lyrics are by Debidutta Mohanty. The singers are Sricharan Mohanty, Ashutosh Mohanty, Biswajit Mohapatra, Goutam Giri, Bishnu Mohan Kabi, Abhijit Mishra, Shasank Sekhar , Satyajeet Pradhan, Sabisesh Mishra, Diptirekha Padhi, Sohini Mishra, Lopamudra Dash, Arpita Choudhury, Rojalin Sahu and Samikshya Mishra.

The ‘Kanchi Bijay’ is also known as the Kanchi-Kaveri expedition. According to ancient stories, Saluva Narasimha had sent emissaries to Odisha on the interest of Purrushotama Deva to marry his daughter Padmavati (also known as Rupambika). The emissaries had arrived on the auspicious day of Rath Yatra festival of lord Jagannath and witnessed Purrushotama Deva performing the sweeping ceremony on the chariot of the lord with a golden broomstick. Infuriated by this act of sweeping beyond his understanding as reported by the emissaries, Saluva Narasimha sent a message that he would never give his daughter in marriage to a sweeper. This not only was an insult to Purrushotama Deva but also the deity Jagannath of Odisha.

Enraged by this insult, Purrushotama invaded southern territories of Kanchi and Kaveri rivers’ adjoining areas which were controlled by Saluva Narasimha. He was defeated and unsuccessful in the first attempt, returned disheartened as a broken man to his homeland Odisha and went straight to the Puri temple. He prayed to the lord there asking for his divine assistance in breaking the enemy lines. As per the legend, Lord Jagannath assured him that he along with his brother Balabhadra would ride with his army in disguise when he made the second attempt. In the second attempt Kanchi was captured, Saluva Narasimha was defeated and his daughter Padmavati was brought as a prisoner. Purushottama commands his prime minister to give the princess in marriage to a perfect sweeper. At the next Ratha Yatra, Purushottama sweeps out one of the chariots with a golden broom