("The Universe's
Master") The presiding deity of Puri's Jagannath temple.
Puri is and has always been a prominent hub for Hindu
culture, highlighting and reinforcing Jagannath's significance as the city's
ruling god.
Despite the fact that Jagannath is said to be a
manifestation of the deity Krishna, his origins are unknown.
He is often regarded as an autochthonous (“of the land”) god
who was formerly the local deity of Puri but has now been incorporated into the
larger pantheon as a version of Krishna, and hence a form of Vishnu.
Because Jagannath could not be easily dismissed, this
absorption demonstrates his prominence and impact in the local environment.
It's also an example of the Vaishnava penchant for
absorption, which is sometimes facilitated by the belief of avatars or divine
incarnations.
Jagannath (Krishna) appears on the right, his brother
Balabhadra (Balarama) on the left, and their sister Subhadra in the middle, in
the Puri temple and other iconographical portrayals.
The representation of a female figure, as well as the shape
of these pictures, which obviously stem from a folk or tribal heritage, are
quite unique in Krishna devotion.
The faces of all three deities are so coarsely carved that
they are almost unrecognizable, their arms are unusually short and stubby, and
the depictions are brilliantly painted.
Each of these oddities is viewed as further proof of
Jagannath's indigenous ancestry.
His relationship with his hereditary servants, the daitas, a
tribal tribe regarded practically untouchable, provides one last piece of proof
supporting his native roots.
Despite their low rank in society, the daitas are in charge
of creating fresh pictures of the three when they are changed on a regular
basis.
The daitas also see Jagannath as a blood relative,
emphasizing his enigmatic origins.
The righteous King Indradyumna is the hero of the legend
that explains these paintings.
Indradyumna has a dream in which Vishnu commands the king to
carve an image of Jagannath out of an immense wood he has discovered.
While the king mulls over how to proceed, a mystery figure approaches,
who turns out to be Vishvakarma, the gods' builder.
The mystery guy agrees to carve the sculptures on the
condition that he be not disturbed until they are complete.
He then vanishes for two weeks inside his workroom, leaving
the villagers perplexed as to what he is doing since no noises of carving are
heard.
This apparent inactivity piques the public's interest, and
one of the queens eventually persuades the king to peek inside.
When the king opens the door, he finds no one there and just
half-completed sculptures.
The king is told in another dream that night to paint and
consecrate the statues exactly as they are, and they have supposedly stayed in
this manner ever since.
The Cult of Jagannath and the Regional Tradition of Orissa,
1978, by Anncharlott Eschmann, Hermann Kulke, and Gaya Charan Tripathi, is by
far the greatest source for further information on Jagannath's history and
impact.
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