The Saga of Salbeg

Lord Jagannath Tales 4

Salbeg’s mother was a Brahman widow. A Muslim soldier married her forcefully. Salbeg grew up to become a soldier like his father and joined Aurangzeb’s army.

Once he was severely injured in battle. His mother nursed him while continuously chanting the name of Lord Jagannath.

After regaining his health, Salbeg became an ardent devotee of Lord Jagannath and began composing and singing bhajans in praise of the Lord. He settled down in Vrindavan.

Once desirous of seeking the blessings of his Lord he went to the temple at Puri but was not allowed to enter since he was a Muslim. Sometime later he again left for Puri to catch a glimpse of his Lord when he came out on the streets during the annual Rath Yatra. Salbeg fell ill on the way and prayed to the Lord to wait for him so that he could get his divine darshan. The chariot of the Lord waited till Salbeg arrived. Only after the great devotee got the darshan of his master and touched the ropes of the chariot did it move.

Even to this day the chariot stops at exactly the same point where it had halted for Bhakta Salbeg long ago. Another tribute to the great disciple’s devotion is the fact that the bhajans composed by Bhakta Salbeg are an integral part of the Rath Yatra celebrations.

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.