Ram Raja Sarkar of Orchha: The Only Place Rama Is Worshipped as a Reigning King

The katha is set in the sixteenth century, in the reign of Madhukar Shah, the Bundela ruler of Orchha.

As it is told:

• The king was a devotee of Krishna. His queen, remembered as Ganesh Kunwari, was a devotee of Rama
• The two argued about whose deity was greater, and the king challenged her to bring Rama to Orchha if her devotion was what she claimed
• The queen went to Ayodhya and undertook a long and severe tapasya on the bank of the Sarayu, and by some tellings was ready to give up her life when Rama appeared
• She asked him to come to Orchha. He agreed, on three conditions

The three conditions:

• He would travel only during a particular auspicious period, on foot, accompanied by children, and in the manner he specified
• Wherever he was first set down in Orchha, he would remain there permanently and could not be moved
• Once in Orchha he would be the sole king, and no other could rule while he was there

What happened on arrival. The Chaturbhuj temple was still being completed, so the queen placed the image temporarily in her own quarters in the palace, in what is described as the kitchen of the Rani Mahal.

When the temple was ready and they came to move him, the image could not be moved. The second condition had already taken effect.

So Rama stayed in the palace, the palace became the temple, and the third condition took effect as well. From that day the Bundela ruler was no longer the king of Orchha. Rama was, and the ruler governed as his servant.

The most striking consequence of the katha is visible twice a day and is worth watching.

What happens:

• A contingent of the Madhya Pradesh police presents a formal guard of honour to the deity
• An armed salami is offered, morning and evening
• The protocol is that of a serving head of state, not of a religious ceremony

Other consequences of the same logic:

• Practice at Orchha holds that no other person may be given a formal salute within the town, since the salute belongs to the king
• The deity's daily routine is arranged as a royal one, with waking, court, meals and rest at set hours
• Devotees address him as Sarkar, the term for a ruling authority, hence Ram Raja Sarkar

Why this is more interesting than a curiosity. Indian kingship theory had a persistent problem, which is that a king's authority needs a source outside himself, or it is merely the ability to compel.

Different states solved it differently:

• Mewar made the Maharana the diwan of Eklingji, ruling as the deity's steward
• Puri made the king the first servant of Jagannath, sweeping before the chariots
• Travancore dedicated the state to Padmanabha and ruled as his servant
• Orchha went furthest, and simply gave the throne away

In the others the ruler still ruled, under a deity. At Orchha the deity holds the office itself, with the ceremonial apparatus of the modern state still performing to him. It is the most complete version of an idea that runs across the subcontinent.

A few hundred metres from the Ram Raja temple stands the building that was supposed to hold the deity, and it is one of the most remarkable structures in central India.

The Chaturbhuj temple:

• Built under Madhukar Shah and completed in the following decades
• Enormous in scale, on a high plinth, with a cruciform plan, hence the name meaning four armed
• Very tall vaulted interiors, more like a fortress or a cathedral in feel than a typical north Indian temple
• Steep staircases lead up through the structure to terraces with long views over Orchha and the Betwa
• The sanctum it was built around holds no principal deity of the kind it was designed for

Standing in it is an odd experience. The building is not ruined, not abandoned and not neglected. It is simply unoccupied by the deity it was made for, because he declined to move.

What this reveals about the tradition. A state that had poured this much money and labour into a temple could have insisted. Priests could have found a formula, and a ruler could have ordered it done.

Instead the condition was treated as binding, and the enormous building was allowed to stand as a monument to a promise that was kept. That tells you something about the seriousness with which the arrangement was held, which no amount of ceremony would prove as clearly.

Orchha, in effect, built its greatest temple and then let its deity live in the kitchen because he had said he would not move. Four centuries later he is still there and the temple is still empty.

The daily routine at Ram Raja follows a royal schedule rather than a standard temple one, and the difference is visible.

The day:

• The deity is woken, bathed and dressed, and holds what is understood as court
• Darshan is available in fixed sessions, morning and evening, with the temple closed between them for the king's rest
• Aarti at set hours, with the guard of honour presented
• Offerings of the usual kind, along with items suited to a ruler

The calendar:

• Ram Navami, the birth of Rama in Chaitra, the greatest occasion, when Orchha fills
• Vivah Panchami in Margashirsha, the marriage of Rama and Sita, marked with a full wedding procession
• Kartik Purnima and Makar Sankranti, both drawing large gatherings
• Dussehra, observed with the scale a royal capital gives it

What devotees come for. The petitions here have a particular flavour, which follows from the deity's office. He is approached as a ruler, in matters of justice, of family disputes, of employment and of protection, in the way a subject would approach a king who was known to hold open court.

A note on Orchha's other Rama connection. Because Rama came here from Ayodhya and, by the terms of the katha, stays here, Orchha is sometimes described locally as a second Ayodhya. Devotees making the Rama circuit in north India frequently include it.

The town's own understanding is more precise and more interesting. Ayodhya is where Rama was born and reigned in the tradition. Orchha is where he reigns now.

Getting there

• Orchha, Niwari district, Madhya Pradesh, on the Betwa
• About 16 km from Jhansi, which is the nearest major railway station and is well connected to Delhi, Bhopal and Gwalior
• Autos and taxis run from Jhansi and the trip takes half an hour
• Gwalior airport is roughly 120 km away

Timings

• Darshan is in fixed sessions, morning and evening, with a long midday closure. Check locally before planning
• Try to be present for an aarti and the guard of honour

When to go

• October to March for comfortable weather. Bundelkhand summers are severe
• Ram Navami and Vivah Panchami for the great festivals, though the town is very crowded
• Evening for the Betwa and the cenotaphs in low light

What else to see

• The Chaturbhuj temple, and the climb to its upper terraces
• Raja Mahal and Jehangir Mahal, the palaces in the fort complex across the bridge
• The Laxminarayan temple, whose interior murals include Bundela battle scenes and are among the best surviving wall paintings of the region
• The chhatris, the royal cenotaphs standing in a row on the bank of the Betwa, best at sunset
• The Betwa itself, with river rapids downstream

Practical notes

• Photography inside the Ram Raja sanctum is not permitted. The rule is enforced
• Leave footwear and, where required, phones at the counters
• The town is small and walkable. Most sites are within twenty minutes on foot
• Orchha has accommodation of every grade, including in converted heritage buildings

Etiquette

• Remember that the temple is treated as a royal residence and a working shrine, not a museum
• During the guard of honour, stand still and do not push forward to film it

A closing thought. Orchha is usually sold to visitors as a photogenic set of palaces and cenotaphs, which it is. The more unusual thing about it is administrative. This is a town that four hundred years ago transferred sovereignty to a deity on a technicality about a promise, and then never took it back.