7. Jagannath's Muslim Devotee - Bhakta Kavi Salabeg

It is ironic that one of the most famous devotees of Lord Jagannath in all of Orissa was born in a Yavana family and hence was not allowed entrance into the Sri Mandir. The devotee-poet Salabeg, who lived in Orissa during the 17th century, was a Muslim whose longing for His Lord took the form of breathtaking songs. Aptly written in vipralambha-kşetra (Jagannath Puri Dham), the place of separation, his compositions are soulful expressions of the bittersweet feelings stemming from Salabeg being barred from freely taking darśana of Jagannath.

As evidenced by his poems, Salabeg's mother came from a brahmin family. His father was a Muslim named Jahangir Quli Khan, or Lal Beg, a prominent figure in the Moghul army, and a close friend of Emperor Jahangir.

Although Orissa was under strong Moghul influence since Sultan Firuz Tughlug invaded Orissa in 1360 and desecrated the Jagannath temple, the Hindu community continued to worship Jagannath as the Lord of the universe. This was a great cause of annoyance for the Mullahs, the Muslim holy men in the Delhi court. Therefore they tried to persuade Emperor Jahangir that in order to undermine the faith and conviction of the Hindus he should spoil the sanctity of the Puri temple and deity. Impressed by his friend Lal Beg's ruthless attitude towards the Hindus, Jahangir appointed him the subadar, governor, of West Bengal and Orissa.

Intending to attack the temple of Jagannath in Puri, Lal Beg started off with an army of soldiers from the Barabati fort in Cuttack. While the army was passing by the village of Danda Mukundapur, by the arrangement of the Lord, Lal Beg's eyes fell on the youthful beauty of a widow brahmin lady bathing in a roadside pond amongst some lotus flowers. Captivated by her charms, Lal Beg lost his composure. He abducted her like a famished tiger catching a deer, and, temporarily postponing his campaign against Jagannath, he carried the girl back to his palace. Although the young lady tried again and again to escape, she was repeatedly foiled by the superior strength of her captor. Exhausted and defeated, and seeing no other choice, she finally agreed to be his wife, but only on the condition that he desist from attacking temples and dwellings of brahmins. The name of the fair widow was Lalita. She was the daughter of Madhava Rath and Sulakshan, who hailed from a high-class brahmin line. When Lalita was but a child, Madhava and Sulakshan had given her in marriage to Bandhu Mishra, who died a few years later, leaving her a young widow.

Following Muslim custom, Lal Beg renamed his newly acquired wife as Fatima Biwi, and she soon gave birth to the badar's son. Sharing his own name, Lal Beg called their child Salabeg, and in accordance with family tradition raised him to be a warrior like himself.

Subadar Lal Beg's family pleasures did not last long. A Mullah from Delhi brought many allegations against him, and the order was dispatched that he should immediately quit Orissa. On his way from Cuttack, Lal Beg was killed by an aggressor on 4 April 1608.

Lal Beg's successor, the new subadar, was directed to stamp out the Gajapati rule from Orissa and establish Moghul administration. To accomplish this, the Muslim army was in ceaseless war with the Oriyas. Lal Beg's son had completed his military training, and in the course of these wars established himself as an able warrior.

In one battle, Salabeg became gravely wounded. When medical treatment was ineffective, Salabeg told his mother that he would rather die than continue to suffer. Understanding his agony, Lalita feared the death of her only child. Seeing no means of recovery for Salabeg other than the mercy of Gopinath, the Lord of her native village, she pleaded with her son to worship Krishna:

śri vyndavana candra bhaja se ye ašesa devarāja

ašesa ausadhira ghara bhajile niśce hebu păra

"Just chant the name of Vrindavan Chandra. He is the lord of all the demigods who are always ready to carry out his order. He is our treasure, who possesses the wonderful panacea for all diseases. If you worship him, if you surrender to him, you will definitely overcome your illness. This is the one and only cure for you."

Salabeg's eyes opened wide with wonder. "Mother, Krishna is a Hindu god. Why will he listen to me? How could you, a faithful Muslim, suggest this?" In reply, his mother revealed to her Muslim-raised son the story of her unusual marriage. While narrating the long-ago incident of her abduction, she broke into tears and her voice choked. Nothing remained a secret to Salabeg.

With a faltering voice, he said, "Mother, since you carried me in your womb, this body belongs to you. I will definitely carry out your order. However, I don't know anything about your Vrindavan Chandra. Where does he stay? What does he look like? How can I meet him?"

Lalita happily smiled and replied, "My dear son, listen to me and I will explain to you everything that I learnt from my father about Him. Ever-youthful Gopinath resides in Vrindavan. His father is Maharaja Nanda, and Yashoda Rani is His mother. His family rules over a village of gopas and gopis, but in actuality all living beings are His subjects. His gopi beloved is beautiful Radhika, who is dearer to Him than His own life.

"Krishna is bluish like a rain cloud and His dark skin is more radiant than lightening. He has an extremely charming figure, and His curly black hair is adorned with a peacock feather. His forehead is decorated with brilliant yellow gorocana tilak, and His ears are ornamented with shark-shaped earrings. His eyes resemble lotus petals. Always attired in an outfit of molten gold, He stands bent in three places and holds a flute in His hands. Yogis meditate on His lotus feet; the whole world bows to Him; whoever takes shelter of Him need have no fear. My dear son, just meditate on that form and start chanting His name."

Salabeg questioned how Gopinath could hear him from far away Vrindavan. In reply, his mother quoted a well-known Oriya saying,

emanta maripa ata-i yahin cimaba tahin thai

- The wonderful nature of Krishna is such that you'll find Him wherever and whenever you think of Him," she said.

"If you raptly meditate upon Him, leaving aside all fear and confusion, certainly within 12 days He will answer your prayer"

Mother and son agreed that for 12 days Salabeg will worship Krishna and if nothing changes for the better they would both end their lives. With great sincerity and seriousness, Salabeg immediately started meditating on Vrindavan Chandra, just as a drowning person in the middle of the ocean catches hold of a boat.

He kept praying. 12 days passed, but there was no relief from the pain. Salabeg, growing impatient, questioned his mother, "Why has Gopinath not helped us in spite of our worship!" His mother said in consolation, "The activities of the Lord are extraordinary. His mercy often comes in the form of suffering. He does this to examine our patience. One who withstands that test actually gets His mercy, and one who fails is cheated. Don't be disheartened. Surrendering to His lotus feet is the only recourse left for us."

Seeing the anxiety of his son, Lalita beseeched Krishna with utmost humility, "O Lord! With great miracles you have delivered innumerable persons from their tribulations. There is nothing unknown to you. Please open up your heart towards us. Without your mercy we are certainly doomed."

That night Gopinath appeared in Salabeg's dream and gave him a handful of vibhūti, sacred ashes, instructing him to smear them over the wound. The next morning Lal Beg's son woke up with ecstatic symptoms all over his body. As he recollected the dream, tears of love rolled down his eyes and his voice choked up with transcendental emotion. After close examination he found no sign of any of the wounds on his body. Delighted, he woke up his mother and excitedly narrated to her the whole incident."

Getting a new life by the mercy of Gopinath, Salabeg made up his mind to dedicate his whole existence to glorifying such a merciful Lord. With his mother's blessings, he immediately started his journey to Sri Kshetra, immersed in chanting about his Lord, and oblivious to all external surroundings.

Yet, when Salabeg reached Puri, he could find no shelter. None, that is, other than Patita Pavana Jagannath, the savior of the fallen. He was repeatedly rebuked, humiliated, and ill- treated by the servitors of the Sri Mandir as well as by local priests and temple leaders. The temple pandas did not let anyone in who belonged to another religion, and Lal Beg's son was no exception. Even though there is no discrimination of caste or creed before the Lord himself, due to his Muslim birth and true to the established, prevailing local custom, the personal servitors of the Lord would not allow him entrance to the Jagannath Temple.

Being the object of the temple pandas' contempt did not cause Salabeg to accuse them rather, he articulated his grief in the form of sorrowful songs saturated with deference and submission, and occasionally with sulky determination to attain Vrindavan Chandra in spite of his fallen position.

Salabeg was not only prevented from entering the bada deula, the big temple of Jagannath, but neither would any other matha or Hindu house give him a place. The poet decided to temporarily leave Puri to take shelter of Sri Vrindavan Dham. Before leaving Sri Kshetra, he begged for the order of Niladri Bihari Jagannath with the following song:

kahe salabega hina jätire yavana

tiņi daru ājñä hela jibi vrndāvana

The outcaste, fallen Salabeg is seeking the permission and blessings of the three Lords to visit Vrindavan.

On his way, the kavi stopped at Balasore for a few days. According to local history, a curious event took place during his visit. During the evening prayers one night, Salabeg longed to have darsana of the deity residing in the Shyamasundar Temple. Being a Muslim, he was not allowed to enter the temple compound, which was surrounded by high boundary walls. When the priest later went to put the Lord to rest, he was astonished to find that the deity had disappeared from his throne.

That same night the king had a dream. He saw Salabeg waiting outside the boundary walls of Shyamasundar's temple, eager for darsana. The next day, the king had a hole bored through the wall so that the Muslim devotee could see his Lord. Local history has it that when Salabeg looked through, the deity miraculously reappeared on the altar, giving immense joy to the bhakta-kavi.

After a short stay in Balasore, Salabeg continued his journey towards Vrindavan, singing:

jivanare thibi jebe jibi vendāvana darśana karibi jäi śri-madhusūdana

rādhā-kunda śyāma-kunda karibi snāhāna

parikrama karuthibi giri-govardhana

anande yamuna jala karibi mun pāna

muñ niki bhajibi jehu mukati bhajana

rähäsara dhūli ange karibi lepana kuñje kuñje taru-müle karibi śayana

rādhā-krsna veni bhinna nohe kuñja-vana

kahe sälabega hina jätire yavana

I live only to go to Vrindavan and behold Sri Madhusudan. I will take bath in the holy waters of Radha Kund and Shyama Kund and circumambulate Govardhan Hill. With great ecstasy I will drink the water of the Yamuna and I will chant the glories of the Lord, the bestower of liberation. In the place of Sri Krishna's rasa dance I will smear dust all over my body, and I will take rest beneath the wish-fulfilling trees of all the forest bowers.

During his nearly year-long stay in Vrindavan, Salabeg was constantly immersed in hearing about the Lord's activities. He especially relished devotional poetry depicting the playful pastimes of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna. He composed a number of poems during his visit.

While residing in Vrindavan, Salabeg developed an avid desire to see Lord Jagannath at the Ratha-yatra in Puri. However, he realized that he was setting out too late. It would not be possible for him to reach Puri in time to see Jagannath on his chariot. By the time he would arrive, even the return Ratha-yatra would be finished. Still, hoping against hope, he immediately set off on foot for the month-long journey towards Puri, composing on the way a poem full of lamentation and hankering. This song later became one of the most famous bhajanas in Orissa

jagabandhu he gosain

tumbha śri carana binu anya gati nähin

satasa pacása kosa căli na parai moha jiväjäen nandighose thiba rahi

ratha cari paše lambe mukutära jhara

jhala mala disuthai prabhu cakadola

baisi pahacha tale bikähue bhata darsana teniki thau kaivalye mukata

aage cale balabhadra madhye canda mukhinre

asuchi käliä pache gahala lagdire

kahe salabega hina jäture yavana ehimate ajña heo siri-vyndavana

Jagabandhu, my Lord,

Friend of everyone in this world!

I have nowhere else to go

Than seeking shelter

At your auspicious lotus feet

Fifteen hundred miles is too far

A distance for me to cover."

Till I arrive there and get a glimpse of You

Do remain on the Nandighosh

Shimmering and bright,

Tassels of pearls hang out

On all four sides of Your chariot,

O my round-eyed Lord!

On the twenty-two steps

Are sold the holy cooked rice

Even a grain can give me emancipation

Let me have some at first,

Before I proceed to get Your sight.

Brother Balabhadra leads the way

In the middle comes

The sister with a pretty moon-face; Mingling with the noisy crowd

The dark one follows behind

Says Salabega, I am a yavana

An outcaste and fallen

Do heed my supplication, O Lord:

Grant me residence in Vrindavan.

After finishing his song, the poet immediately felt rejuvenated, and, singing his heart out, glorifying and petitioning his Lord, he ran all the way to Puri.

The 10th day in the fortnight of the waxing moon in the month of Asadha (June-July) had arrived. The grand festival of the Bahuda-ratha, the return Ratha-yatra, was celebrated with all pomp and ceremonies. Making their way through the dense crowd were the three chariots of Baladev, Subhadra and Jagannath Dev, on their way back to the Sri Mandir.

Abruptly, Nandighosh stopped. Bhava-grähi-janardana, the Lord who accepts the essence of His devotee's mood, refused to move an inch further. In spite of fire sacrifices, kirtana performances, and the endeavors of the largest elephants to pull His cart, Kalia Thakur, the Black Lord, decided to stay in Balaganthi.

Incomprehensible to anyone else, the Lord of the universe chose to wait for His dear devotee Salabeg. tolerating the searing sun and torrential rain, and postpone enjoying the luxuries that awaited Him in the Sri Mandir."

Yearning to meet the lord of his heart, Salabeg at last reached Sri Kshetra. When he arrived at Balaganthi and understood that Jagabandhu, the friend of the world, had waited for him, he became overcome with emotion. Shedding profuse tears of ecstasy, and at the same time condemning himself severely for his unmerited wish, he begged apology for inconveniencing the Lord-in the form of a song that he composed right there in front of Nandighosh:

ähe rathabara cadha mo karama ete poda

mo' päin sahila prabhu kete kasana jätire mui yavana kşama dosa nava-ghana

bala-ganthi pathe prabhu kara gamana

salabega hina svabhava

dina-hina yavana re ede sarăga

O Jagannath, ascender of the chariot! I am doomed! I am a Muslim by birth, yet you have gone to so much trouble for my sake.

O Lord, like a refreshing bluish rain cloud! Please forgive my offenses and quickly depart for your temple on the road from Balaganthi.

Salabeg says, "I have a low, despicable nature. Still, O Lord, you show great affection to all, including a wretched yavana like myself."

Word spread far and wide that Kalia Thakur had waited in Balaganthi for His bhakta, a low-born poet who had just arrived from Vrindavan. Hundreds of people thronged to the Grand Road to see Salabeg. Even the King of Puri came and stayed to witness how after Chakadola granted darśana to Salabeg, Nandighosh finally proceeded, soon to reach the main entrance of the Sri Mandır.

For the rest of his life, Salabeg stayed at that place where Jagannath stopped His chariot to show His affection for His devotee.

After Bhakta Salabeg left this world, the ceremonies of placing his body into samādhi at Balaganthi were conducted according to Vaishnava rites by the Jagannath temple. For his samadhi tomb, situated to the north of the Balaganthi Chata, a plot of land was donated by the then King of Puri, Maharaja Narasinghadev. The gajapati maharaja also gave some land for the upkeep of the samadhi and decreed that two pieces of khaina-chula-jagannatha-maha-prasāda (a large dry sweet, about 5 inches in diameter) should be offered at the samadhi of the bhakta-kavi daily. Salabeg's samadhi on the Grand road of Puri stands as a silent and solemn reminder of the affectionate exchanges that take place between the Lord and His devotees-those humble souls who consider themselves the most insignificant and have no shelter in this world but Him.

In his hundreds of poems and prayers composed in Oriya, Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali and Brajabuli Languages, Salabeg presented himself as Krishna's most wretched, degraded, aspiring servant, and depicted Lord Jagannath as his eternal master, Sri Krishna in Vrindavan. A distinctive last line that conveys the bhakta-kavi's mood and represents a regularly occurring theme in his poetry is:

kahe sälabega hina jätire mu yavana

Salabeg says, "I am a low born Yavana." All his poems contain at least one reference to his fallen background.

The Muslim-born poet's bhajanas are imbued with the spirit of unalloyed devotion, and are often ornamented. with unique and unusual metaphors. Frequent topics of his compositions include descriptions of Yashoda nandan's childhood pastimes; the rasa dance; the wonderful activities of Bamsi Bihari, the transcendental flute player; and especially descriptions of Gopinath's separation from Srimati Radhika and her girl companions.

Salabeg's compositions are still preserved after 400 years in the hearts and on the lips of the people of Orissa. Any Oriya- speaking person, whether in villages or cities, can sing at least a few lines from his "Jagabandhu He Gosain". Even today, in the Sri Mandir, after mangala-arati and following Sri Jayadev's Gita-govinda; Salabeg's Ahe Nila Saila, "O Blue Mountain", is enthusiastically performed for the pleasure of Shyamasundar Jagannath. For those who are similarly not allowed entry to the abode of Vrindavan Chandra, and for all gaudiya-vaishnavas who, following in the footsteps of the Lord's closest associates, are learning to cultivate dainya bhava, the mood of utter humility, Bhakta-kavi Salabeg's work is as relevant as ever, his bhajanas being heart-wrenching cries for the mercy of the savior of the most fallen, Patita Pavana Jagannath:

As saintly devotees come together, To loudly chant Hari's names in prayer,

Says Salabeg, by birth lowly and meek

"May my restless mind always concentrate

On Lord Jagannath's" reddish lotus feet!"

Bhakta Kavi Salabeg ki jaya...🙌🙌🙌