Kanchi Abhijan story in Odia – Kanchi Abhiyan of Purushottam Dev

If you want to know about the Kanchi Abhijan story of Purushottam Dev in Odia, then watch the video below. Kanchi Abhiyan photo and painting are also available.

Kanchi Abhijan story in Hindi

Kanchi Abhijan painting photo

The second Gajapati ruler of Odisha, Purushottam Dev ruled from 1467 until 1497 C.E. He devoted himself entirely to Lord Jagannath. The King would personally sweep the road in front of the chariots each year during Rath Yatra.

The King once traveled to the southern Indian kingdom of Kanchi. He met Padmavati, the princess of Kanchi, there. Later, the King of Kanchi proposed to offer their daughter marriage to him. This proposition was welcomed with open arms by Purushottam Dev. Then he went back. After some time, the King of Kanchi sent his envoy to Orissa to present his daughter with a formal marriage proposal.

The minister of Kanchi was invited to remain for an additional few days. The Kanchi minister noticed the King of Puri holding a broom in front of the chariot on the day of Ratha Jatra. The minister was perplexed as he began to sweep the road. A magnificent king was seen here sweeping the street like a regular person. The minister was unable to comprehend the magnitude of the service, despite the fact that the King was performing it for the Lords. Since the chandalas were responsible for clearing the road, he saw this behavior as an insult to a king.

The minister promptly departed for Kanchi. “How can Princess Padmavati marry a man who would behave like a chandala?” the minister asked the King of Kanchi. Without comprehending the motivation behind Purushottam Dev’s actions, the King concurred with his minister and informed Puri that he did not want his daughter to marry a man who sweeps the road like a chandala.

With the exception of the King of Puri, the King of Kanchi had organized Princess Padmavati’s Swayambara ceremony and invited every appropriate male in the region. This greatly angered Purushottama Deva, who vowed to exact revenge on the King of Kanchi. He declared war on the Kanchi King.

Before engaging in combat, the King of Kanchi, a fervent devotee of Ganesh, set one condition: should the King of Puri lose, he would hand up the idols of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra, who would then be put behind Ganesh on the altar of the King of Kanchi. In a similar manner, if the King of Kanchi was victorious, he would give up his Ganesh statue, which would then be positioned behind Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra.

When Purushottam Dev’s camp caught fire, he was compelled to leave the battleground. He considered it a serious insult. Right away, he is worried that he would lose the gods from the Jagannath temple and that they would be installed in Kanchi behind Ganesh. Invoking Lord Jagannath, the king prayed, “O Lord Jagannath! Please help me. The King of Kanchi insulted me and called off my marriage because I was sweeping the road in your service. Is it not also your defeat if I lose this battle? It is a huge slight against you! How are you able to sit behind the Ganesh god, the Lord of the Universe?

Do not be concerned, Lord Jagannath reassured the King that night as he dozed off. Return to the battlefield to engage the King of Kanchi and his troops. This time, I’ll be there to support you directly in the fight. The King awoke and was overjoyed to learn that the Lord would personally fight the war with him.

King Purushottam Dev set out toward Kanchi to engage in a second battle. This time, he was accompanied by Lord Jagannath and Balaram, who directly fought for him. Jagannath rode a black horse and Baladeva a white one, both of them disguised as soldiers. Both of them felt thirsty when they are crossing the Chilika Lake. One woman (Manika Gauduni) was seen walking around with a buttermilk pot balanced on her head. The Lords halted the elderly woman and began to consume the buttermilk to their hearts’ satisfaction. When they were about to leave, the woman approached them and requested payment. Keep this with you, Jagannath instructed Manika as he descended off his horse and gave her a ring. Our king will eventually pass via this path. Show him this ring when he arrives and ask him to pay you the cash for the buttermilk; he will oblige. The elderly woman reluctantly accepted the ring, and the brothers set out on their quest to engage in combat.

After some time, Manika noticed the king and his army moving towards her. Two of your warriors were traveling by this path on a black horse and a white horse, Manika told the King as she halted him. They had a brotherly appearance. They consumed my buttermilk while lacking the means to pay for it. She showed the ring to the King. The King was shocked when he first saw the ring because it wasn’t just any ordinary ring – it was Lord Jagannath’s diamond ring! Then he realized that in order to fulfill Jagannath’s pledge, both Lords had traveled to Kanchi in the form of warriors. The Lords fighting in his army made the King feel so magnanimous that he handsomely compensated the woman. In order for her to live comfortably off of the villagers’ taxes, he handed her ownership of many villages. As soon as the Lords drank her buttermilk, the King built a village there and gave it the name Manika Patana. This village is still there in Odisha.

The King was on his way to Kanchi when there was a huge battle between the two armies. The King’s soldiers saw two new guys riding on black horses and white horses, and they fought so hard that no one could beat them. A lot of soldiers from the King’s army were killed, and the King was beaten. So, Purushottam Dev got rid of the princess and arrested her, and to get revenge, he asked his minister to find a Chandala to marry her. But the minister was really smart and told the King that it would take a while to find the right Chandala guy.

So, the next time when King Purushottama Deva was seen with a big golden broom during Rath Yatra, the minister showed up and announced that he’d found the perfect chandala sweeper to marry the Princess and instructed Padmavati to place a garland around the neck of King Purushottam Dev. The King happily accepted Princess Padmavati as his queen and complimented his minister for his cunning intellect.

Under the terms established by the Kanchi King, the deity of Ganesha was transported to Puri and kept in a temple situated behind Lord Jagannath’s Temple. This same deity is still present in Puri today. This legend is highly popular among the followers of the Jagannath tradition of Odisha.