Origin of Sri Puri Jagannatha

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Origin of Sri Puri Jagannatha

 

 

King Indradyumna's Desire

 

 

 

King Indradyumna was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu and was very

eager to meet Him face to face. At one time, by the Lord's

arrangement, a devotee of the Lord arrived in the court of King

Indradyumna, and in the course of discussion he began to talk about

an incarnation of Lord Vishnu named Nila-Madhava. After hearing these

topics, King Indradyumna became very inspired and sent different

brahmanas in different directions to search for and inquire about

Lord Nila-Madhava. All of them, however, were unsuccessful and

returned to the capital city of the King, except for one priest of

the name Vidyapati. After wandering in many places, Vidyapati finally

came to a district where the population was of a non-Aryan type

called Sabara. There he took shelter in the house of a local of the

name Vishvavasu. When he arrived, the master of the house was not

here, but his young daughter Lalita, was there alone. In a short time

the master of the house returned and instructed his daughter to

render all services needed for hospitality to the brahmana guest. For

some time Vidyapati stayed there, and later, by the special request

of the Sabara he married the Sabara's young daughter.

 

 

 

Nila-Madhava Secret Revealed

 

 

While Vidyapati lived in the house of the Sabara, he noticed some

peculiarity in his host's behavior. Every night the Sabara would go

out, and on the next day at about noon he would return to the house

scented with various fragrances such as camphor musk and sandalwood.

Vidyapati inquired from his wife about the reason for this, and she

informed that her father would go out to a secret place to worship

Sri Nilamadhava. After that day, Vidyapati's joy knew no bounds.

Actually Lalita had been ordered by her father not to tell anyone

about Nila-Madhava, but she overstepped that order by telling her

husband.

 

Vidyapati became eager to see Sri Nila-Madhava, and finally one day,

by the repeated request of his daughter, the sabara Vishvasu bound

the eyes of vidyapati and took him to see Sri Nila-Madhava. As they

were leaving. Vidyapati's cloth, and so while passing along the path

he threw them down to mark the way.

 

 

 

When they reached Sri Nila Madhava the Sabara removed the blindfold,

and Vidyapati, seeing the unprecedented beauty of the Deity of Sri

Nila Madhava, began to dance in ecstasy and offer prayers.

 

 

 

Here it is clearly seen that Sri Nila Madhava was a Deity incarnation

of the Supreme Lord. Deity incarnation are called arcavigraha. The

Lord appears in Deity forms to benefit His devotees, especially to

those who are less advanced devotees, He appears as the Deity to

accept worship. Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita (9.34).

 

 

 

man-mana bhava mad-bhakto

mad-yaji mam namaskuru

mam evaishyasi yuktvaivam

atmanam mat-parayanah

 

 

 

Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer Me your

obeisances. Therefore he appears as the Deity to accept the worship

and obeisances of His devotees. He puts Himself in the hands of His

devotees to receive their service and help them develop love for Him.

This is an aspect of Krishna's great mercy and His desire to free all

the conditioned souls from bondage in this material world. Thus

Vidyapati personally witnessed the mercy of Sri Nila-madhava.

 

 

 

Crows get Liberated

 

 

 

After Vidyapati finished his prayers, the Sabara kept him near the

Deity and went out to collect roots and forest flowers for worship.

While the Sabara was out Vidyapati witnessed an astounding thing. A

sleeping crow fell off a branch of a tree into a nearby lake and

drowned. It immediatedly took a four-armed Vaikuntha (spiritual) from

and started back to the spiritual sky. Seeing this, the brahmana

climbed up the tree and was about to jump into the lake, following

the liberated crow.

 

 

 

As he was about to jump, however, a voice in the sky said, " O

brahamana, since you have been able to see Sri Nila-Madhava, you

should before all else inform King Indradyumna " . Thus the brahmana

climbed down from the tree and waited.

 

 

 

Dissapearance of Nilamadhava

 

 

 

The Sabara soon returned carrying forest flowers and roots started

his daily workship of Lord Nila-Madhava. As he was engaged in the

service of the Lord, the Lord spoke to him saying, " I have for so

many days accepted the simple forest flowers and roots offered to Me

by you.Now I desire the royal service offered to Me by My devotee

King Indradyumna.

 

When the Sabara heard this, he thought, " I Shall be cheated from the

services of Sri Nila-Madhava " . Therefore he bound his son-in-law

Vidyapati and kept him in his house. After a time, however, at the

repeated request of his daughter, he freed the brahmana and allowed

hi to go. The brahmana then immediately went to King Indradyumna and

informed him of the discovery.

 

The King, in great ecstasy, went forth with many people to bring back

Sri Nila-Madhava. From the mustard seeds thrown along the path by

Vidyapati, small plants had grown. So by following these plants the

King was able to trace the path to Sri Nila-Madhava. When they

reached the spot, however, they did not find Him.

 

Nilamadhava shows mercy to Indradyumna

 

 

 

Not being able to see the beautiful from of the Lord, King

Indradyumna besieged the village of the Sabaras and arrested the

Sabara named Vishvavasu. Suddenly, however a voice in the sky said to

the King, " Release this Sabara ! On top of Nila Hill you should

construct a temple. There as Daru-brahman, or the Absolute Truth

manifest in a wooden form, you will see Me. You will not see Me as

Nila-Madhava " .

 

 

 

A Temple for Nilamadhava

 

 

 

To build the temple, King Indradyumna made arrangements to bring

stone from a place called Baulamala by building a road from there to

the Nila-Kandhara Hill. The holy abode of SriKshetra, or Puri, is in

the shape of a conch, and in the naval of that conch the king

established a town of the name Rama-Krishnapura and constructed the

temple. The temple extended 60 cubit beneath the earth and rose 120

cubits above the surface.

 

 

At the top of the temple the king built a Kalasha, or round pinnacle

and on top of that a chakra, or disc. He also had the temple

decorated with golden ornamentations. Then King Indradyumna, desiring

for Lord Brahma to consecrate the temple, travelled to Brahmaloka and

spent long time there waiting for him. During that time, the temple,

which is very near the sea became covered with sand from the shore.

 

When King Indradyumna was away, first Suradeva and then Galamadhava

took over as the kings of that area. It was Galamadhava who raised

the temple from within the sands, where it had been buried for a long

time. Shortly after the temple was uncovered however, King

Indradyumna returned from Lord Brahma's abode. Indradyumna claimed

that he had constructed the temple, but Galamadhava put forward the

claim that he was its constructor. In a banyan tree near the temple,

however, lived a bhusandi crow who had been living through many ages,

constantly singing the name of Lord Rama. From his abode on the

branches of that banyan tree, the crow had seen the whole

construction of the temple. Therefore he made it know than actually

King Indradyumna had constructed the temple and that in his absence

it had been covered by sand. He further said that King Galamadhava

had concealed the truth, Lord Brahma then ordered him to reside

outside the grounds of the temple, on the western side of the lake

called Indradyumna sarovara.

 

Lord Jagannatha Manifests His Eternal Form

 

 

 

Indradyumna then prayed to Lord Brahma to consecrate the temple, and

the surrounding area, known as Sri Kshetra which gives the highest

type of liberation. But Lord Brahma said, " This Sri Kshetra is

manifested by the Supreme Lord's own internal potency, and the

Supereme Lord manifests Himself. Therefore it is not within my power

to install the Lord there.

 

Lord Jagannatha and his abode are eternally situated in his material

world by His own mercy. Therefore I shall simply place a flag on top

of the temple and give this blessing that " any one who from a

distance sees this flag and bows down, offering his prostrated

obeisances, shall easily become liberated " .

 

 

 

After some time King Indradyumna became discouraged at so much delay

in seeing Sri Nila-Madhava. Deciding that his life was useless, he

lay down on a bed of kusa grass, being determined to give up his life

by fasting. At that time Lord Jagannatha spoke to him in his dream as

follows: " My dear King, don't be anxious. I shall come floating in

the sea in My wooden form as Daru-brahman at the place called

Dhinkimuha. " With a company of soldiers, the King then went to that

place and saw on the shore a huge piece of wood marked with conch,

disc, club and lotus. Although he engaged many man and elephants to

move that Darubrahman, or woody- Brahman they could not even budge

it.

 

But that night in a dream Lord Jagannatha again spoke to the king,

saying, " Bring My previous servant Vishvavasu, who used to serve Me

as Nila-Madhava, and place a golden chariot in front of Daru-

brahman ! " . The King began to work according to the instruction of

that dream. He brought the Saraba Visvavasu and put him on one side

of Daru-bhraman, and on the other side he put the brahmana Vidyapati.

 

Placing a golden chariot before the Daru-brahmana, he then stared

kirtan chanting of the holy names of the Supreme Lord. Then the King

caught hold of Daru-brahman and prayed for the Lord to mount the

chariot. Daru-brahman was then easily placed on the chariot and taken

to an appointed place on the raised platform of the sacrifice. It is

said that the place where the present temple stands is the place

where the sacrifice was performed and that the Narasimha Deity now

standing at the western side of the Mukti-mandapa in the temple

compound is that original Narasimha Deity.

 

To carve the Deity of Lord Jagannatha from the Daru-brahman, King

Indradyumna called many sculptors. None of them, however, was able to

touch Daru-brahman for as soon as they started, their chisels broke

and fell to pieces. Finally the Supreme Lord Himself came in the

disguise of an old artist who introduced himself a Ananta Maharana.

He promised that if he were allowed to work behind closed doors for

twenty-one days, the Deity would be carved. Immediately preparations

were made.

 

According to the old sculptor's directions, all the other artists

were engaged in making three chariots. The old sculptor then took

Daru-brahman into the temple and closed the doors, After making the

king promise that the sculptor would reside alone and the king would

not open the doors of the temple even slightly before the twenty-one

days were up. After fourteen days had passed, however, the king was

unable to hear the sounds of the artistic tools, and so he became

full of anxiety.

 

Although his minister again and again forbade him, the King, on the

advice of his queen, by force opened the door of the temple with his

own hands. Inside, the king did not find the old sculptor, but

instead he saw that Daru-brahman was manifested in three forms as

Lord Jagannatha, Subhadra and Balarama. Going forward in front of

these three Deities, he saw that their fingers and toes were

unfinished. The King's wise minister then informed him that the

architect was none other than Lord Jagannatha Himself and that

because the King had broken his promise by opening the doors seven

days too soon, Lord Jagannatha had manifested Himself in that way.

 

Then the King, thinking himself a great offender, decided to end his

life, Thus again he lay down on a bed of kusha and began fasting.

When half the night had passed, Lord Jagannatha appeared to the king

in his dreams. The Lord said, " I am eternally situated here in

Nilacala in the form of Lord Jagannatha as Daru-brahman. In this

material world, I descend in twenty four Deity incarnations with My

abode. I have no material hands and feet, but with my transcendental

senses I accept all the items offered in service by My devotees, and

for the benefit of the world I move from one place to another. You

have broken your promise, but that is just part of the sweetness of

My pastime to manifest this Jagannatha form, which protects the

eternal words of Vedas.

 

 

 

Anyway, those devotees whose eyes are smeared with the salve of love

will always see Me as Syamasundara, holding a flute. If your desire

is to serve Me in opulence, then from time to time I may be decorated

with hands and feet made of gold and silver. You should certainly

know, however, that My limbs are the ornaments of all ornaments " .

 

 

 

The Vedas state:

 

 

 

apani-pado javano grahita pasyaty

acakshuh sa smoty akamahsa vetti

bedyam na ca tyasyati vetta tam

ahur agryam purusham mahatam

- Shvetashvatara Upanishad 3.19

 

 

 

" Without legs and hands, He moves and accepts. Without eyes He sees,

and without ears He hears. He knows all that is knowable, but no one

know Him. They call Him the original Supreme Person " .

 

To protect this assertion of the Vedas, Lord Jagannatha takes His

form without hands and legs. Still, Lord Jagannatha is able to accept

fifty-six different types of food, offered eight times daily, and He

tours the world in His splendid carts.

 

 

 

Lord Jagannatha Fulfills the King's Desire

 

 

 

Hearing the worlds of Lord Jagannatha in his dream, the King became

satisfied and prayed to him as follows: " My Lord, grant that those

who appear in the family of the sculptor who manifested Your form may

age after age assist in constructing the three carts " .

 

Lord Jagannath, slightly smiling replied, " That shall be " . Then Lord

Jagannatha said to the King. " The descendants of Vishvavasu who used

to serve Me as Nila-Madhava, should generation after generation serve

Me. They may be called My dayitas. The descendents of Vidyapati born

from from his brahmana wife should perform the Deity workship for Me.

And his descendants born from his Sabari wife Lalita, should cook My

food. They shall be known as suydras. The King Indradyumna said to

Lord Jagannath, " My Lord, kindly grant one favour to me. Let the

doors to Your temple be closed for only three hours a day. The rest

of the time, let the doors be open so that all residents of the

Universe may have access to see you. Further, let it be that all day

long your eating may go on and that Your lotus fingers may thus never

become dry " .

 

Lord Jagannatha replied, " Tathastu, so be it. And for yourself, what

benediction do you ask? "

 

The King replied, " So that no one in the future will be able to claim

Your temple as his own property, I desire to be without descendants.

Kindly just grant me this one benediction " . Lord Jagannatha

replied, " Tathastu, so be it " .

 

 

 

Thus the merciful Lord Jagannath, Balarama and Subhadra appeared in

this material world to benefit all living beings. What is the benefit

They bestow? That is stated in the Narada Purana

 

 

 

pratiman tatra tam drishtva svayam devena nirmitam

 

anayasena vai yanti bhavanam me tato narah

 

- U.Kh.52.12

 

 

 

The Supreme Lord Narayana tells Lakshmi devi. " In that great abode

known as Purushottama-kshetra, which is rarely achieved among all the

three worlds, the Kesava Deity, who was fashioned by the Supreme Lord

Himself, is situated. If men simply see that Deity, they are easily

able to come to My abode " . In this way Lord Jagannatha is delivering

the whole universe especially as He rides on is cart before the eyes

of all.