Jagannath Puri

The temple has four gates at the eastern, southern,western, and northen midpoints of the Meghanad Prachir and are called Lions gate,Horse Gate , Tiger Gate and the Elephant Gate respectively.

The temple has got four halls in a row such as Viman (main temple where Lord Jagannath is worshipped with brother Balabhadra, sister Subhadra and Sudarshan), Jagamohan (Audience hall ), Natamandap (Dance hall ) and the Bhoga Mandap (offering hall ). The Deities

Lord Jagannath, the symbol of universal love and brotherhood is worshipped in the Temple alongwith Balabhadra, Subhadra,Sudarshan, Madhaba, Sridevi and Bhudevi on the Ratnabedi or the bejewelled platform.

The Deities of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Chakra Sudarshan are made of margosa wood. Lord balabhadra is the elder brother, Lord Jagannath is Younger brother and devi subhadra is yougest sister .

When one lunar month of Ashadha is followed by another lunar month of Aashadha, the deities change their bodies during the leap month.This is known as Navakalebar or New Body Ceremony. Last four new body ceremonies of the Lords was celebrated in the year 1950 , 1969, 1977 and 1996. On such occasions Puri witnesses the largest crowd in her fold.

Legendary account as found in the Skanda-Purana, Brahma Purana and other Puranas and later oriya works state that Lord Jagannath was originally worshipped as Neela madhab by a Savar king ( tribal chief ) named Viswavasu. Having heard about the deity , king Indradyumna sent a Brahmin priest, Vidyapati to locate the deity, who was worshipped secretely in a dense forest by Viswavasu. Vidyapati tried his best but could not locate the place. But at last he managed to marry Viswavasu's daughter Lalita . At repeated request of Vidyapti, Viswavasu took his son-in-law blind folded to a cave where Neelamadhab was worshipped.

Vidyapati was very intelligent. He dropped mustard seeds on the ground on the way. The seeds germinated after a few days,which enabled him to find out the cave later on. On hearing from him , king Indradyumna proceeded immediately to Odra desha ( Orissa ) on a pilgrimage to see and worship the Deity. But the deity had disappeared .The king was disappointed .The Deity was hidden in sand. The king was determined not to return without having a darshan of the deity and observed fast unto death at Mount Neela, Then a celestial voice cried 'thou shalt see him '. Afterwards the king performed a horse sacrifice and built a magnificient temple for Vishnu. Narasingha Murti brought by Narada was installed in the temple.During sleep,the king had a vision of Lord Jagannath. Also an astral voice directed him to receive the fragrant tree on the seashore and make idols out of it. Accordingly the king got the image of Lord Jagannath,Balabhadra , Subhadra and Chakra Sudarshan Made out of the wood of the said tree and installed them in the temple.

Indradyumna's prayer to Lord Brahma King Indardyumna put up for Jagannath the tallest monument of the world. It was 1,000 cubits high. He invited Lord Brahma, the cosmic creator,consecrate the temple and the images. Brahma came all the way from Heaven for this purpose. Seeing the temple he was immensely pleased with him. He asked him as to in what way can HE (Brahma ) fulfil his (the king's ) desire,since HE was very much pleased with him for his having put the most beautiful Temple for Lord Vishnu.With folded hands, Indradyumna said , " My Lord if you are really pleased with me, kindly bless mewith one thing, and it is that I should be issueless and that I should be the last member of my family."In case anybody left alive after him,he would only take pride as the owner of the temple and would not work for the society." The episode of the Lord's grace during a war with Kanchi.

At one time, a king of Kanchi in the down south remarked that the king of Orissa was a chandala ( a man of very low caste or status) because, he performs the duties of a sweeper during the Car Festival . When this news reached the ears of the king of Orissa, he led an expedition to Kanchi. Before that, he implored the mercy of Lord Jagannath. The soldiers of Orissa marched towards Kanchi from Cuttack ( then capital city of Orissa, located on the banks of Mahanadi, at a distance of 30 Kms.from Bhubaneswar ).It so happened that when the soldiers, headed by the king Purusottam Dev, reached a place near the Chilika lake, a lady ,who was selling curd ( a milk preparation, sour in taste ) met him ( the king ) and presented a golden ring studded with precious gems and submitted .

" My Lord, kindly listen to me. A little earlier, two soldiers riding over two horses ( white and black in colour ), approached me and said ' 'we are thirsty give us curds to drink.' I gave them curds. Instead of giving me money , they gave me this ring and said ,'the king of Orissa will come here, after some time , on his way to Kanchi. You present it to him and he will pay you the money.' So my Lord, you take it and give me my dues."

It took no time for the king to know that the ring belongs to Lord Jagannath. He was convinced that Jagannath and Balabhadra were proceeding to the battle field ahead of him to help him there. To perpetuate the memory of this great incident, the king founded a village in the Chilika lake area. As the name of the lady was Manika, the name given to the village was Manika Patana. Even to this day, the curds of this village are famous.

More about Jagannath Puri

While several temples have vanished or have declined in importance, the great temple of Lord Jagannath at Puri is still a living and vivrant temple. Over the centuries it has attracted kings, conquerers, religious teachers, devotees and piligrims. In the minds of the millions of Indians, Orissa is the land of Jagannath. A synonym of Purusottam is Jagannath and his abode Puri is known as Purusottam Khetra, which is one of the four most sacred places in India for the Hindus.

Jagannath- Dharma is a compendium of, probably, all existing and possible facets of spirituality. Its autochthonous richness combines and absorbs within its fold all cross-cultural spiritual philosophies, and, at times, transcends these. So, "cult" is misnomer and "religion", of too narrow dimension to connote it. "Jagannath- Dharma" is the appropriate way to name this eternal (sanatana) concept of spirituality. It is not merely intellectual conformity or ceremonial piety. It is not an amalgam, but a spiritual synthesis. It is expansive and constrictive, pluralistic and sectarian. Its lesson is that religion must be construed not in terms of any particular belief but simply as a way of lacking at the world of human - experience as a whole.

Jagannath was called "Purusottama" since his origin at Puri or Purusottam - Kshetra (the abode of Purusottam) since pre-historic times. The Rig Veda refers to him as the Daru (sacred log of wood) of Purusottama, afloat on the eastern sea. The name "Jagannath" (Lord of the Universe) is invariably a collective representation of the Triad (Jagannath - Balabhadra - Subhadra) and has been in use since the dawn of the last millenium.

Jagannath - Dharma believes in the Rig Vedic concept of the Supreme Truth. The Triad, conceived as one, represents the three attributes of creation, maintenance and destruction. The use of "OM" in the worship is a reflection of the Vedic strain. Sudarshana, the Jyoti Brahma, represents the formless and along with the Triad is conceived as one. The Supreme is formless and with form, He is with qualities and beyond qualities. The Supreme is shown as transcending contradiction in his infinite perfection.

He has multiform manifestations. He is Siva or Bhairava and goddess Vimala is Bhairavi. Saivism and Saktism are fused in him. The use of "Klim" mantra in worship gives him a tantric image. The Triad is deified by the Jainas as manifestation of the Jaina "Tri-ratna" (three gems of Jainism) representing right knowledge, right thought and right perception.

Jagannath is identified with Buddha. His iconographics representation without hands and feet is approximating to the meditating Buddha. The Triad is depicted as Buddha, Dharma and Sangha - the three gems of Buddhism, some Buddhists even find discernible affinity of the car-festival with Buddhist festivals. The Tooth-relic of Buddha is supposedly inside the images of the triad and is known as "Brahma-Padartha" (Divine-Matter).

Christian authors like Sylvan Levy and sources like the Aquarian Gospel have established that Puri was visited by a Christian Apostle during the times of Jesus Christ. The Christian concepts of love, compassion, charity and fellow-feeling are almost exact reproductions of the value- endowed Vedic paradigms of humanistic tradition that PurusottamaKshetra signified in those remote times.

Initial animosity and ignorance of the Muslims had seen many attempts at desecration of the Jagannath Temple during early period of Muslim rule. A gradual moderation in the fastidious Muslim outlook brought them to reconcile with Jagannath Dharma. Even the Muslim broke through Islamic Thackles to visit the Temple and eat the Mahaprasad (food-offerings to the Triad) with the Hindus jointly. The Mahaprasad brotherhood continued long and this tradition transcends inter - religious barriers. visitors like Amir Ali, writers like Niamatullah, Ahmad Razi, Asgar Ali, Malik Mohammad Jaisi and poets like Osman of Gazipur attest to it. Salabega, a Muslim of Orissa, consecrated his life to devotion of the triad and his mystic yearnings and pleas before Jagannath still reverberate. His tomb on the path of the Car-festival bears testimony to it.

Interestingly, tradition has it that Kabir visited Puri and was enamoured of the Triad. A monastery was set up by him at Puri which still goes by the name of Kabir- Chaura, Till now, Hindus and Muslims visiting Puri have to go there first and jointly eat food and drink (Torani) there. The inter- religious fusion is more than just a tradition. The human race cannot be vitiated by religious distinctions in the larger contexts of spiritualism is the supreme message. It is unique, and is not to be found elsewhere.

Similar is the tradition of "Guru Ka Langar" at Bauli and Mangu monasteries set up to commemorate Nanak's visit to Puri. A universal mode of spirituality and religious tradition irrespective of time, clime and country, being craved for by Nanak, was at last found by jim in the Jagannath Dharma during his visit to Puri. This tradition of the founder of Sikhism was so rich that devout sikhs continue to adore the Triad. Even Maharaj Ranjit Singh wanted to present the Koh-i-noor diamond to Lord Jagannath.

Adi Sankaracharya visited Puri and set up his monastery (Govardhan Math) at Puri under his disciple Padma padacarya. Sankara stood for the philosophy of Advaita (non-duality). For redemption of soul, one must learn the Vedas and cap it by personal mystic experience through Laya (complete absorption) in Brahman. This is the path of mystic trance (samadhi) for the Jivanmukta. The other path is vyutthana or reversion to common life when the spectacle of the world returns but does not delude him since he has already realized its metaphysical falsity. At Puri, Sankara found in the Jagannath Dharma a magnificent blend of both. He understood that divinity should not be held apart from humanity. The crest of Bhagavatism which Sankara was riding then converged with the Jagannath Dharma which he realized as the summum Boonum of every spiritual and metaphysical pattern. The head (Mahant) of the Govardhan Math at Puri is a house-holder, unlike the other three set up by Adi Sankara. The tradition still continues.

Tradition of pilgrimage brought other savants to Puri, The Jerusalem of Hinduism' Vaisnavism was championed by Narahari Tirtha at Puri till the visit of Ramanuja, the 4 saint of vishistadvaita philosophy. He preached the gospel of self surrender, got royal approval to start the "Pancaratra" mode of worship, introduced goddess Lakshmi and the offering of cooked rice, and put a premium on chanting of the holy name. He found in Jagannath- Dharma a harmonious combination of absolutism with personal theism along the Vedantic line of "Prasthanatraya". The Emar Math and the tital mark on the temple bear his testimony.

Nimbarka the vaishnavite saint of south India visited to introduce the concept of Radha and Krushna. The saint poet of Orissa, Jayadeva was to take it up through his monumental work "Geetagovinda". The "Devadasi" (virgin consecrated to God) was introduced. Yet, not until Chaitanya would such a concept gain ground. Vishnuswami of South India was another illustrious savant. Madhvacharya introduced "Rama" cult in Puri.

Keeping with the rich spiritual tradition, King Kapilendra Deva proclaimed Jagannath as the "King" and himself as His first servitor. The "Chhera Panhara" tradition is its supreme manifestation. The resurgent Brahminical tradition was kept in effective check and the synthesis of tribal- Aryan tradition since the legendary king Indradhumna was kept alive as a tradition of caste-less, spiritually egalitarian society. The role of the Sudras as an integral part of the categories of temple servitors blends well with Caste - less Mahaprasadbrotherhood till today.

Ramananda, the mentor of Chaitanya, believed in devotion but Chaitanya apotheosized it through ecstatic trance. Ganapati Bhatta saw Ganesha and Tulsidas saw Rama in the Triad.

Indeed the Triad represents the supreme divine consciousness, epitomsing Sat, Chit, and Anand. Such a powerful conception of synthesis and regenesis is unique in the entire world.