The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.s1.336

v2.c17.s1.336

13. *Janmāṣṭamī*, or *Janam.* The eighth of the wane following. It is the anniversary of the birthday of Kṛṣṇa at Mathurā. The ritual is the same as in Bengal; but special eclat is given to the ceremony by always making one of the dancing-girls attached to the temple enact the part of the mother, and a priest that of the father. Commenting on this ceremony, Dr. Hunter observes, 'The indecent rites that have crept into Vaiṣṇavism, and which, according to the spirit of the worshipper, are either high religious mysteries or simple obscenities, are represented by the Birth Festival, in which a priest takes the part of the father and a dancing-girl that of a mother of Jagannātha, and the ceremony of his nativity is performed to the life'⁸⁷. In reality, however, there is neither any obscenity nor any mystery in the rite. The story runs that Devaki, immediately after her accouchement, had fallen asleep, and during her sleep, her husband Vāsudeva had carried away the new-born babe from the prison cell where it was born to the abode of Yaśodā on the other side of the Yamunā, and thence had brought a new-born female child which he placed by the side of his sleeping wife. This incident is dramatised by the dancing-girl and the priest, and in so far it is simply enacting a scene very much like what was done in the passion plays of Medieval Europe. However stupid or puerile it may be, obscenity or mystery finds no part in the exhibition and no impropriety whatever suggests itself to those who behold it.