Great Puri Jagannath chariot stopped for 7days as Lord himself waited for his Favourite Muslim devotee

Long ago in early 17th Century.....

It's a story about the son of a Muslim father and a Hindu Brahmin mother..

In that period there was a huge gap between Hindus and Muslims because of Muslim invaders destroying a lot of Hindu temples. Many temples were under protection by Kings, many don't allow Muslims to enter those even now including Puri Jagannath. I had to give this background to explain why the things in the story happened....let's go to Story..

So here it we goes to Story :

Jahangir Quli Khan, also known as Lalbeg, was the Subedar of Bengal (1607-1608) during the reign of Mughal emperor Jahangir. 

During a military excursion in Odisha, 

There is a small pond near Puri. A Brahmin widow was bathing in it. Widow life was not good during those days, much worse than today's. Lalbeg happened to see this beautiful girl and abducted her. He had fallen in love with her, married her and they had a son called Shalbeg. The lady still missed her Lord Jagannath and kept her devotion secret to all as she was in Muslim community. But she was happy with her new life as well.

Here’s where the life takes an interesting turn. 

As soon as Shalbeg gets old enough,  He joined his father’s campaigns and went to various fight locations.

Once in a war, Lalbeg got killed and Shalbeg was badly injured. His mother worshipped Lord Jagannath a lot and he got cured. This incident made Shalbeg a devotee of Lord Jagannath. He went to Puri to see Lord Jagannath. However as I explained in the beginning of the story that due to the distrust between both the communities, the priests didn't allow Shalbeg to enter the temple.Shalbeg didn't fight. He had transformed into a devotee and waited to have darshan for Lord Jagannath...

He thought for awhile and got a idea where he can see Lord Jagannath without any restriction from anyone :

He waited for the annual Chariot festival (Rath Yatra) in which the 3 Gods Balaram, Subhadra and Jagannath were brought outside the temple and everyone gets a chance to see them.They go to another temple called their Aunt's home, stay there for some days and travel back to the ShreeMandira (Main temple: named after the Wife of the Lord: Shree, Devi Lakshmi).

So every year he got darshan of Lord Jagannath from the chariot, from the Small hut which bulid on the way of chariot procession..

Now it is called Mazar or Bhaktha Shalbeg samadhi pita.. He also composed a lot of songs. In some he even complained that what Kula (dynasty) Lord sent him: his father from Muslim, Mom a Brahmin, he wasn't accepted by the society, people didn't take water from him. Try listening to them, they are in beautiful Oriya poetry, even today they are quite popular. During rest of the year, he kept visiting religious places.

Lord Jagannath promises Shalbeg:

On a particular year, he got delayed in coming back to his hut near the temple. He was great devotee of Lord Jagannath he was not allowed in puri temple so,he went on foot to Vrindavan where in he lived the life of an ascetic in theassociation of sadhus, reciting bhajans in honour of Krishna. He fall ill in Vrindavan and Rath Yatra was already approaching and barely he can't walk Vrindavan to Puri.An anxious Shalbeg cried out to Lord Jagannath and he had a dream in which the Lord promised him that He would wait for him!

Great chariot waited Shalbeg:

So when the chariot of Lord Jagannath reached near the hut of Shalbeg, it refused to move even an inch! People tried to pull it harder, nothing happened! They even got elephants to push the chariot but a devotee’s devotion kept the wheels of the Lord glued to the exact place till 7 days!

Lord Jagannath Dream to Head priest 

By then, the King of Puri and all priests were worried. The head priest got a dream telling him not to worry, the Lord was waiting for his favourite kid! So for 7 days, all rituals of Lord Jagannath, all pujas were done on the Chariot itself!

Shalbeg came to have darshan of Lord Jagannath 

Shalbeg came at last. This time, nobody stopped him from going closer to the Lord. He went and had his darshan, did puja and soon after left his mortal body to merge with his Lord.

Till this day, as a remembrance to the unwavering commitment and dedication and devotion of Shalbeg, the Chariot is made to stop in front of the Mazar. 

  It's a beautiful way to show the world that your birth, caste, creed, nothing matters to Lord Jagannath. If you have faith enough to surrender, He has love enough to accept you: it's always between you and your Lord, don't bother about the world rules. Love and devotion are personal, there is no space for mundane stuff in it…