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Tales of Lord Jagannath: The Tale of Mania Das

July 10, 2015 | By

The story illustrates that for Lord Jagannath, it is the dedication of the devotee alone that matters, not his or her elegance or stature or position. Mania was of low caste, barely clad and crude, awkward and uncouth in his worship, yet the Lord recognised his pristine devotion and took him into his fold.
In modern times style is far more importance than substance and external appearance has become more vital than intrinsic values. Today a person is recognised by what he has than what he is. In such a scenario, the love Lord Jagannath bestows on Mania can be a real source of learning and inspiration.

Lord Jagannath Tales 2

Tale of Mania Das

All I want to do is to devote every moment of my life to singing the praise of my Lord

Mania Das was a poor man of weaver caste who lost his family all of a sudden. As a result of this brutal tragedy he suffered complete detachment from all worldly things and sought refuge at the lotus feet of Lord Jagannath.

‘After losing everything that I had, I have no desires left. All I want to do is to devote every moment of my life to singing the praise of my Lord,’ he kept repeating to himself as he walked towards the Jagannath Temple at Puri.

Clad in a loin cloth he entered the Sri Mandir. There, in an area called Sri Jagmohan, Mania began to sing and dance in complete abandon. His passionate chanting and dancing irritated and angered the Pandas who were chanting the Puranas.

“Hey you filthy outcaste! How dare you enter the Lord’s chamber and indulge in this lunatic behaviour? Can’t you see you are disturbing us and interfering in the sacred rituals we are performing for the supreme Lord of the Universe?” the Pandas shouted and threw him out of the temple.

Bitterly hurt at this treatment he stood outside the Sri Mandir refusing to eat or drink anything and even declining the Mahaprasad.

Tales of Mania Das

I also want that Mania be given complete freedom to sing, dance and celebrate as per his free will in Sri Jagmohan.

Lord Jagannath was deeply moved by the plight of his passionate devotee. He appeared before the Raja of Puri in a dream.

“O’ King, I am deeply disturbed by what is happening in my temple. My faithful devotees are being ill treated and their attachment towards me is being scorned.”

The Lord then went on to narrate the story of Mania Das to the King.

“O’ King, I want you to give Mania the Mahaprasad and with due respect, escort him inside the temple. I also want that Mania be given complete freedom to sing, dance and celebrate as per his free will in Sri Jagmohan. Remember that to me the pure and pristine devotion of devotees that comes straight from the heart is far more important than rituals which are performed mechanically.”

The Raja of Puri obeyed the Lord’s wishes and the tradition of devotees chanting, dancing and celebrating with gay abandon in Sri Jagmohan continues till today.

Read the Tales of Lord Jagannath

These stories have been republished from the book Tales of Lord Jagannath by Ramendra Kumar. This book is available on Amazon.in and has been published by:
B K Publications Pvt. Ltd.

The opinions shared by the writer is his personal opinion and does not reflect the opinion of Learning and Creativity Magazine.

Ramendra Kumar (Ramen) is an award-winning writer, performance storyteller and inspirational speaker with 49 books. His writings have been translated into 32 languages and included in 26 textbooks and many anthologies in various countries. Ramen has written across all genres ranging from picture books to adult fiction, satire, poetry, travelogues, biographies and on issues related to parenting and relationships. His writings have been published by the major publishing houses in India. His books brought out by National Book Trust (NBT), India have notched up sales of more than 4.9 lakh copies in just one year. Ramen has been invited to several international literary festivals as well as Indian events such as Jaipur Litfest and seminars organised by Sahitya Akademi and IGNOU. The author has won a total of 41 awards in the competition for writers of children’s literature organised by Children’s Book Trust (CBT) over the years, which is among the highest by any writer. Ramen was chosen as the ‘Author and Storyteller of the Year’ (2022), on ‘Talking Stories’, London, UK’s number one Radio Programme dedicated to the art of storytelling. He was nominated as a Jury Member for the Best Children’s Author Category of The Times of India’s ‘Women AutHer’ Awards, 2020. Ramen was also selected as a mentor for the Scholastic Writers Academy. An alumnus of the prestigious Hyderabad Public School (HPS), Ramen is an Engineer & an MBA. He and his inspiration, his wife Madhavi, were General Managers at SAIL, when they took Voluntary Retirement to pursue their respective passions. Their children are bonsai celebrities in their own right. While Ankita is a youth icon and a travel blogger with an Instagram following of 296 K, Aniket creates cool Apps and designs covers for his dad’s books. Ramen is now a Cancer warrior and an inspiration to many. His website is www.ramendra.in and he has a page devoted to him on Wikipedia.
All Posts of Ramendra Kumar

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