The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.112

v2.c17.112

7. *Aśokāṣṭamī Yātrā*, or the feast of the 8th of the wane in the month of Caitra (March-April). In the Hindu calendar of Bengal, the day is held sacred, because on this day Sītā, when confined by Rāvaṇa, is said to have offered some Aśoka flowers to a god while praying for re-union with her lord. Hindu wives mark it by eating some buds of the Aśoka flower, and, when convenient, visit a tree of that species, and offer it an embrace. At Bhuvaneśvara it is celebrated by a car festival. The car is called *ivadalanā*. On it is placed Candraśekhara, as proxy of Bhuvaneśvara, and carried to the temple of Rāmeśvara, a distance [79] of a little over a mile to the north-west, and there feasted, worshipped and kept for five days. The house where the proxy is kept is called Guṇḍicā, after the name of a queen of Pratāparudra, king of Orissa. This lady erected a house at Puri for the use of Jagannātha when he goes out on his car excursion, and ever since all temporary resting-places for gods in Orissa have got the same name. The feast is the substitute of the car festival of Puri, and all the ceremonies observed there in the making of the car, and the worshipping of the divinity with special rituals, are repeated here with great punctiliousness. Even the detail about placing Lakṣmī in a pavilion at the corner of the courtyard to welcome Jagannātha on his return, is reproduced here by placing an image of Durgā in the pavilion at the north-east corner of the courtyard. The details of this Yātrā given in the *Ekāmra Purāṇa* spread over many pages, but they are of no general interest. The car should be 21 cubits high, with four wheels, four archways, and yoked to four horses.