Appearance of Lord Jagannatha

December 7, 2004

Hare Krishna,

King Indradyumna, a great devotee of Lord Vishnu, once heard about the incarnation of the Lord as Nila-Madhava, in a Deity, arca-vigraha form. Inspired by this the King sent many Brahmans in different directions to search for this Deity. In due course all but one of them returned unsuccessful.

One of the Brahmans, Vidyapati, after wandering through many regions came upon a non-Aryan, tribal place called Sabara, where he took shelter of a local named Visvasu. When he arrived, he was greeted by Lalita, the daughter of Visvasu. On returning, Visvasu was delighted to have a Brahman priest as his guest. He instructed his daughter to serve the guest very nicely. After Vidyapati spent some time in the house, on the request of Visvasu, he accepted Lalita as his wife.

Vidyapati noticed that Visvasu would regularly leave the house at sunset and return the next day after noon, smelling of scented oils, camphor and in an ecstatic mood. On questioning, Lalita revealed that his father would go to the forest to secretly worship Sri Nila-Madhava. An overjoyed Vidyapati begged his father-in-law to allow him to see Nila-Madhava.

Visvasu finally reluctantly agreed and took the blind folded Vidyapati in the jungle. However Vidyapati had taken a small bag of mustard seeds which he sprinkled as he walked. On reaching the destination, Vidyapati was overwhelmed with joy and devotion at seeing the Deity form of Nila-Madhava. As he was praying to the Lord, he noticed a crow nearby fell off into the lake and gave up its body. It immediately took a four-armed Vishnu form and ascended to Vaikuntha.

Realizing the great spiritual potency of the place, Vidyapati climbed a tree and was ready to jump and give up his life, when he was restrained by a celestial voice that reminded him of his duty towards King Indradyumna. When Visvasu returned with the paraphernalia for worshipping, the same celestial voice of Sri Nila-Madhava informed him that having accepted his simple but pure worship for so many years, He now desired to be worshipped royally by the King.

Visvasu, blinded with grief at the thought of being separated from His beloved Deity, bound his son-in-law to a tree. But after repeated requests from his daughter, accepted this as divine will, and released Vidyapati, who immediately proceeded to the court of King Indradyumna. With great ecstasy the King went with several people to visit the Deity. Following the trail of the seeds that had now become mustard plants, Vidyapati took them to the site, but to every one's great disappointment the Deity was not present there.An enraged Indradyumna, laid siege to the village of the Sabaras and had Visvasu arrested. However he was

forbidden by the voice Nila-Madhava to harass the Sabaras. He was also instructed to build a temple on the top of the Nila mountain for the worship of Daru-Brahamna (Lord in the wooden form). The holy abode of Sri Kstera or Puri is in the shape of a conch, and in the navel of the conch the King established a temple that rose 120 cubits above and 60 cubits below the ground. At the top of the temple was installed a 'kalasa' or a round pinnacle with a chkra or disc on its top. The temple was consecrated by Lord Brahma himself who installed a flag on the top of the temple and gave the benediction that any one who sees flag, pays obeisances to it shall easily become liberated.However Lord Brahma expressed his inability to install Deities there since he said that

since Puri Ksetra is actually manifested by the Lord's internal, spiritual potency, it can be only by His mercy that the Deities would appear there. King Indradyumna prayed to Lord Vishnu, but when nothing happened for some time, he became discouraged and resolved to give up his life by fasting. At that time Lord Jagannatha spoke to him in a dream that He would soon appear in His wooden form floating in the sea. Soon in a place called Banlimulan the King and his soldiers saw a huge piece of wood marked with the four symbols of Vishnu (conch, lotus, chakra and club). Although he engaged many men he could not move the wood. Lord Jagannatha once again appeared to the King in a dream and instructed him to get Visvasu, the Sabara who had earlier worshipped Him as

Nila-Madhava.Acting according to these instructions, the King placed a golden chariot and requested the Sabara Visvasu and the Brahman Vidyapati to mount it. The wooden form of Daru-Brahaman was easily placed on the chariot now and taken to the palace. However no one was able to carve the wood to make the Deity. The chisels would simply break. Finally the Lord appeared as a sculptor, Ananta Maharana and agreed to make the Deities only on the condition that He would not be interrupted for the twenty one days he needed to finish the work.

The King readily gave the promise. But after fourteen days, he became impatient at not hearing the sound of any work from inside. Against the advise of his ministers, he opened the door to discover that the sculptor had disappeared, leaving behind three unfinished forms manifesting Lord Jagannatha, Subhadra and Baladeva. The King considering himself to be the greatest of the offenders at breaKing his promise, resolved to end his life by fasting. When half the night had passed, Lord Jagannatha appeared once again to the King in a dream instructing that He should be worshipped in the form of the unfinished Deities.The Deity form of

the Lord without hands and feet also represent the inconceivable potency of the Lord, that without feet, He can run faster than the swiftest, without hands accept from all, see without eyes and hear without ears. Lord Jagannatha also instructed that He be served only by the descendants of the Sabara Visvasu, called the dayitas. The descendants of Vidyapati with his first Brahman wife would perform His Deity worship, and the descendants with his second Sabara wife, Lalita, called the suyaras, would cook for Him.

This tradition is maintained to this day.

When Lord Jagannatha instructed King Indradyumna to ask for a benediction, in the compassionate mood of a pure devotee, the King asked that the temple doors be closed for only three hours per day to give greater opportunity to serve. The King also requested that Lord Jagannatha would accept food offering all day long to let more people taste His prasadam. Finally the King requested that he remain without descendants, so that no one would lay claim to the temple. All these benediction were given to the King by the Lord.

( In the Narada Purana (U.Kh. 52.12), the Supreme Lord tells Laksmi-devi, 'In that great abode know as Purusottama-kstera, which is rarely achieved amongst the three worlds, the Kesava Deity, Who was fashioned by the Supreme Lord Himself, is situated. If men simply see the Deity, they are easily able to come to My abode". Thus the merciful Lord Jagannatha, Subhadra and Baladeva appeared in this material world for the benefit of all living creatures. For those who cannot enter the temple, the deities come to them, during the annual Ratha-Yatra, giving complete mercy and benefit to those who are fortunate to see Him and pull His cart ).

The King of Puri, Purusottama Dev, was to marry a princess who was the daughter of a very powerful King, Maharaja Sallwo Narasingha, from the district of Kanchi. When the Ratha-Yatra festival was to take place, the father of the princess was invited, but he sent his minister Chinnubhatta Godaranga instead. When this minister attended, King Purusottama Dev, performed the devotional tradition of sweeping the road in front of the carts. The visiting minister, however, rather than being impressed with the devotion of the King for Lord Jagannatha, did not approve of him sweeping the road, even if it was for the Lord. When he reported this to King Sallwo Narasingha, the King objected to the idea of his daughter marrying the King of Puri

since he was merely a street sweeper. King Purusottama Dev was extremely angry that he, as the servant of Lord Jagannatha, would be insulted for his service like that. So he gathered his troupes and went to Kanchi to teach King Sallwo a lesson. Unfortunately, King Purusottama Dev was badly defeated.

On returning to Puri in such a downcast mood, he stopped at the simple cottage of Saikatacharya, a great ascetic, householder devotee of Lord Jagannatha. This devotee pointed out that the King had forgotten to ask permission from Lord Jagannatha before he went to attack King Sallwo. With this realization, the King returned to Puri and visited the temple of the Lord, crying over his defeat, asKing why the Lord had let this happen !. He spent the night in the temple, and with doors closed, before the night came to an end, the King heard a voice asKing why he was so distraught over such a simple thing. The voice said to go gather his troupes again, and that we two brothers, Jagannatha and Balarama, would go along to fight on the

King's behalf. As the news spread, many people, both old and young, joined the King's forces to fight along with Their Lordships. However, as they went, the King was filled with some doubts whether Their Lordships were really going with him.

While the King and his army went onward, far ahead were two soldiers that rode on, one black horse and one white horse. These two soldiers stopped to quench Their thirst at a small village near Chilika Lake by buying some yogurt from a devotee named Manika. She offered Them yogurt, but when she asked for payment, they said They had no money. Instead They gave her a jeweled ring

and told her to give it to King Purusottama Dev, who would then give her payment.

Accordingly, Manika waited there to meet King Purusottama Dev . When he came, there was a big cavalry, procession, a whole battle array, elephants, and this humble woman Manika tried to meet the King.

"I want to see the King. I have this ring," she said.

The King Purusottama Dev saw this commotion going on and he asked , "Bring her here. What does she want?"

One of the King's ministers said, "She says you are to reward her because she has given yoghurt to two of your generals."

"But all my generals are here," the King stated.

"No. There were two generals and they came and took my yoghurt and gave me this ring “ Manika informed.

When the King saw the ring, he said, "This is Lord Jagannatha's ratnamudrika ring! What did those generals look like?" .

Manika replied, "One was very black, and he was riding a white horse, and the other was pure white and he was riding a white horse. They were both very young and powerful-looking."

,When he heard this, King Purusottama Dev became completely ecstatic, " It is Jagannatha and Balarama !"

King Purusottama Dev regained his confidence that, indeed, Their Lordships had certainly come with him. In payment for the ring, the King gave her the whole village, which is still named Manikapatna.

After this the King and his troupes were victorious over King Sallwo, and he also took King Sallwo's daughter Padmavati as well. However, he did not marry her after the insult her father had given him. He instructed his minister to see that she get married to a qualified sweeper.

After one year, at the next Ratha-Yatra, the King Purusottama Dev again performed his sweeping ceremony. At that time, the King's minister announced that the King Purusottama Dev was the most qualified sweeper, since he swept for Lord Jagannatha, and that the princess, Padmavati, should marry him. Then Maharaja Purusottama Dev married the princess and she later gave birth to a great devotee of Lord Jagannatha, who became famous as King Prataparudra.

Om Namo Narayanaya!

Bhaktasevak

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