Om Jagannath Namo Namah
ॐ जगन्नाथा नमो नमः
I Bow in Reverence to Lord Jagannath
Every year in Puri, Odisha the Rath (chariot) Yatra festival is celebrated with pomp and ceremony. The Yatra commemorates the annual journey of Lord Jagannath (a form of Lord Vishnu) to the Gundicha Temple, his birthplace and his aunt’s home. On this Jagannath Yatra, the Lord is accompanied by his siblings, Goddess Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra.
It is believed that Lord Jagannath descended to earth to provide protection during the present Kali Yuga. As we still live through the Kali Yuga it is no wonder that Lord Jagannath is considered a living God. Accordingly daily rituals at the temple include waking the Lord each morning at dawn, bathing, dressing and feeding him with great devotion. There have even been times when the priest has forbidden devotees their darshan because Lord Jagannath was ill and was receiving treatment. During such times in place of his elaborate meals herbal medicines are served to the Lord. Once he is well, he is served a sumptuous meal of as many as 21 dishes!
His journey to Gundicha Temple is a grand, colourful procession of three, tall, elaborately decorated raths that are built to resemble temples. The Lord, his sister and brother, all exquisitely attired and bejewelled, travel in separate raths. The raths make their slow, winding way through thronging devotees who clamour to touch the raths and pray to Lord Jagannath for his blessings. Millions come to get a glimpse of the Lord and the chariots are pulled manually by thousands of his devotees.
Legend has it that a very long time ago in Satya Yuga there lived a King named Indradyumna who was a staunch devotee of Lord Vishnu. One day a brahmana came to the palace and told the king about an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, named Nila Madhava. King Indradyumna immediately wished to pay homage to Nila Madhava. He sent several of his brahmana’s out to search for Nila Madhava. They all returned unsuccessful.
It is said that the hunter Jara whose arrow had killed Krishna was the leader of the Shabar tribe. Jara was so filled with remorse for having accidentally caused Lord Krishna’s death that he could not settle down anywhere in peace. He kept wandering from one place to another with his clan. At all times Jara kept praying to Lord Krishna for forgiveness for his careless action. One day while hunting in the Kontilo region of Odisha near Mahanadi, Jara found Lord Krishna in the form of Nila Madhava, a blue coloured idol. He began worshipping Nila Madhava. This was when Jara finally gave up his nomadic life and settled down. He built a secret alter to Nila Madhava and began worshipping the Lord. For years he prayed to Nila Madhava asking for his forgiveness and expressing sorrow for being responsible for his beloved Krishna’s death. When Jara died, his son took over as leader of the clan and continued the worship and prayers to the Lord. This went on for several centuries.
It was this idol of Nila Madhava that King Indradymna so desperately wished to find and pay reverence to. Unfortunately, all the Brahmana’s that the King had sent out in search of the Nila Madhava had returned back without having any success. However, one of them, Vidyapati, refused to give up. He continued travelling in search of the illusive Nila Madhava. As luck would have it one day Vidyapati arrived at an area inhabited by the Shabars. He befriended the local chief Visvavasu and went on to marry the chief’s daughter Lalita.
As he settled into married life Vidyapati began to notice that his father-in-law, Visvavasu, would go out every day and when he returned home the fragrances of sandalwood, camphor, and musk would emanate from him. Vidyapati’s curiosity was aroused and he asked his wife, “How is it that every evening when your father returns home he fills the house with the sweet scents of sandalwood, camphor and musk?”
Lalita replied, “Oh, that is because my father goes daily to worship Nila Madhava.” Lalita had inadvertently let out the strictly guarded secret of the Shabars.
Vidyapati was thrilled at hearing this and begged his wife to request her father to take him along too to worship Nila Madhava.
Vidyapati continued to pester his wife until she finally gave in and asked her father to take Vidyapati along with him on one of his visits to the Nila Madhava shrine. Reluctantly Visvavasu relented to his daughter’s request but insisted that Vidyapati be blindfolded so that he would not know where he was taken.
The wily Vidyapati, determined to find the Nila Madhava, took along a bag of mustard seeds with him and quietly dropped them along the route to the Nila Madhava. Once he had had darshan of the Nila Madhava Vidyapati eagerly rushed off to King Indradyumna palace to proclaim his achievement. The king was delighted. He set off with Vidyapati to the Nila Madhava. The mustard seeds that Vidyapati had scattered had quickly grown into small shrubs and Vidyapati easily retraced the route back to the Nila Madhava. But to their dismay when they arrived the Nila Madhava had disappeared.
The king was very disappointed. It was Lord Jagannath that had been worshipped as Nila Madhava by the Shabars. It had been the king’s most cherished desire to pay homage to the Lord in this form.
One night when the king was asleep Lord Jagannath came to him in a dream and told him, “I shall come floating from the sea in my wooden form as Daru-brahman at the place called Bakimuhan”. The very next morning the king rushed his men to Bakimuhan and sure enough there floating on the sea not far from the shore was a large log of a neem tree. Strangely the log was so heavy that it could not be pulled out of the water. The king’s men tied the log to the back of elephants to haul it in but the log could not be budged. The devout king felt very sad that once again he had failed to get Lord Jagannath’s darshan.
That night, for the second time, Lord Jagannath came to the king in his dream and advised him to bring his devotee, Visvavasu, and ask him for help to pull the log out and also to arrange for a golden chariot to transport the log to the temple. The king with full faith in the Lord immediately sent for Visvavasu and arranged for a golden chariot. To everyone’s astonishment where all the others, Brahmanas, soldiers and elephants had failed to even move the log of neem a simple, pious, tribal, shabara, Visvavasu, effortlessly picked up the log and placed it onto the awaiting golden chariot.
Once the log was placed in the temple King Indradyumna commandeered all the best craftsmen in his kingdom to carve the idol of Lord Jagannath from the log. One after the other the sculptors tried to create the form of Lord Jagannath from the wood. But barely did their chisels touch the wood than their metal chisels would splinter into pieces. The wooden log, on the other hand, would not even bear a scratch.
It was when the monarch was almost losing hope of ever creating an image of Lord Jagannath that there came to the temple an old man called Ananta Maharana. Ananta Maharana assured the king, “I will create the idol of the Lord from this log of wood but you must obey certain rules that I set down.”
King Indradyumna was so relieved to find an artisan who would carve the idols that he immediately responded, “I will agree to all your demands. Please let me know what it is you wish for but I beg you to start work on the idol immediately.”
The old man said, “If you wish me to carve the idol, I must be allowed to work behind closed doors for 21 days. No one should disturb me by opening the doors.”
The king was surprised that the old man had made such a simple request. He delightedly and readily agreed.
That old craftsman, it is said, was none other than Lord Vishnu himself.
The old man entered the room and shut the doors firmly behind him. Days passed and the man never came out of the temple but the sound of the hammer and chisel could be heard clearly. Surprisingly he never asked for food or water and never stepped out of the temple room. After 14 days even the sounds of the tools could no longer be heard from inside the room. The king began to worry about the welfare of the old man. Was he still alive? Was he ill? Was he lying unconscious on the temple floor? These were the thoughts that rushed through the king’s mind. He decided he could no longer uphold his promise to the old man. He decided that he had to open the door to make sure that all was well with the craftsman. Going up to the room the king pushed open the doors.
Entering into the temple the king was shocked to find that the old man was nowhere in sight. There were, however, three partially carved forms of Lord Jagannath, Subhadra, and Lord Balabhadra. The fingers and toes of the three idols were unfinished. The king who was a true devotee of Lord Vishnu was devastated. He was filled with sorrow for not having followed the instructions of the old sculptor who he now realised was the Lord himself. He was so miserable that he lay down on a bed of kusa grass and decided to give up his life.
Once again, his beloved Lord appeared to him and this time with love and kindness the Lord reassured the king, “Do not be sad for I am eternally here in the form of Lord Jagannath as Daru-brahman (the supreme power of the Universe). Though my image has no material hands or feet I, through my transcendental senses, will accept all offerings made to me by my devotees. Regardless of my idol being incomplete all those devotees who see me with eyes of love will always see me as Shyamasundara.”
LIFE LESSONS
1. Like Lord Krishna forgave Jara for his mistake, we too must willingly forgive others for their mistakes.
2. Like King Indradyumna if we love God with consistent devotion, he will always be there for us.
3. Remember God never differentiates between his creations. He loves all of us equally. He showed us this when he called upon a simple tribal man, Visvavasu, to pull out the special log from the sea.
4. Not even the most talented sculptor could carve the idol of Lord Jagannath. The Lord wishing to show his love for his devotee King Indradyumna came down Himself to carve the idol of Lord Jagannath. We do not have to offer expensive gifts to the Lord. All he requires from us is our true love.
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