Nabakalebar is all about transformation of Puri temple, Odisha lords into the new body. The new wooden idols of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, Goddess Subhadra and Sudarshan are welcoming to the temple with great celebration and it is a great occasion for Odisha people. The new idols are carved and old ones are cremated with rituals mentioned in the century old Odia scriptures.

Depend on the almanac positions of Hindu calendar the transformation or the Nabakalebar takes place once in every 12 to 19 years. Usually it is held in that year when the month of Ashadha is followed by another Ashadha. The previous Nabakalebars were taken place in the years like 1969, 1978 and 1996 and this year again all devotees are getting the opportunity to see changing form of lords.

From a religious point of view the temple management and priest have to identify the holy tree with a group of search team as prescribed in the temple records. They trace the trees with support of divine dream, then next they start their stopover at Kakatpur, the abode of Goddess Mangala. After that carving of the idols, transfer of Bramha from old to new idol and finally sacred burial of old bodies of Lords are the major rituals which are combinely named as the process of Nabakalebar.

Ritual Procedures

• The search party for the holy Margo (Neem) trees should be of 1 member of the Pati Mahapatra family, 20 Dayitapatis, 1 Lenka, 9 Maharanas, 16 Brahmanas, 3 Deulakaranas, 30 Police officers and 2 police inspectors.
• The search function will start after Lord Jagannath's blessings and after the midday meal offering to the deities.
• The procession starts from temple to near Puri Kings' palace to seek his permission.
• Then the procession continues to the gardens of the temple known as Jagannath-Ballabha then from there within two days the team prepares all their arrangements to start their journey towards Kakatpur.
• Because it is a belief that only Goddess Bimala or Mangala can only say about the exact location of the holy trees. It is auspicious to stay there before starting their search mission. The Dayitapati will get dream about the different locations of all four deities.
• It is true that on the exact location there should be so many Margo trees, but the team has to choose the specific marking and feature based symptoms on those trees.
• After getting the trees a great holy sacrifice is performed by inviting all the Gods and Goddess to give their blessings at that auspicious time.
• The auspicious time actually allows cutting procedure of the holy trees. The Pati Mahapatra will touch the trees with golden axe, the Dayitapati will touch it with a silver axe and the maharana family will touch it with iron axe. At the time of cutting the trees 108 names of God will be chanted.
• The tree logs will arrive to Puri temple through wooden cart secretively.
• Nobody is allowed to go to see the sculptures for 21 days. The carpenters close the main door and work whole day and night there.
• The ceremony will take place three days before the car festival. After buring the old deities the new deities are come in front of their devotees on the Rath Yatra.

Features of Holy Trees For Nabakalebar

Nabakalebar is the periodical replenishment of the wooden images of Lord, Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Sudarshan that is happened in Puri temple of Odisha. The deities are going to change their bodies during leap month. So the procedure is like this, one lunar month of the Ashadha is followed by another lunar month of Ashadha. The Margo trees are selected every time for making deities. Any ordinary tree with extraordinary features can only become the body of the deity or Daru Bramha. The Darus should be different for each deity.

Lord Jagannath Daru features

• The holy tree must have 4 main branches.
• The bark of the Margo tree should be dark colored.
• The sign of Sankha and Chakra should be present in the tree.
• There should be a cremation ground near the tree.
• An out hill near the tree and a snake hole at the roots of the tree should be present.
• It should be that holy tree, which doesn’t have any birds' nest.
• The tree should be near the river or a pond or a crossing of the three ways or else to be surrounded by 3 mountains.
• The tree should not stand alone but be surrounded preferably with the trees of Varuna, Sahada, and Belva.
• There should be a temple dedicated to Shiva in the neighborhood.
• There should be some hermitage or monastery nearby.
• The holy tree should be free from Parasite plants and Creepers.

Lord Balabhadra Daru Features

• The holy tree must have Seven Branches.
• The skin of the tree must be light brown or white color.
• It should have a sign of plough and pestle etc.
• Nearby tree there should be a hermitage and also a graveyard.

Goddess Subhadra Daru Features

• The tree should have Seven Branches.
• The skin of the tree should be light brown or white color.
• It should have a sign of plough and pestle etc.
• Nearby tree there should be a hermitage and a graveyard.

Lord Sudarshan Daru Features

• The holy Margo tree should have three branches.
• The bark of the tree should be barkish.
• The tree should have a sign of Chakra with a small depression in the middle.

Sacred Time Of Nabakalebar

Nabakalebar is the festival of Transformation of Deities into new bodies from old bodies. Based on Hindu calendar calculation and date within every twelve to nineteen years this festival gets organized. On this occasion the wooden images of the deities are replace by new ones in the Puri Jagannath temple.

During full moons of two Ashadh months (June-July) this festival has taken place. In every three years a lunar month is excluded to balance in between lunar and solar years to calculate this Naba kalebar period. The specific month, which was excluded from the calculation known as Adhimasa or Mala masa due to be believed as most inauspicious period for any rituals and religious ceremonies is taken place to conduct this Naba kalebar festival. Inauspicious month for the sacred renewal ceremony is named as Purusottama Masa. 1863, 1893, 1931, 1950, 1969, 1978 and 1996 are the consecutive years within last 100 years for Nabakalebar ceremony. This time it is this year 2015, July 18th is the sacred date for Nabakalebar.