Lord Jagannath The Meticulous Dresser

[krsna]

Lord Jagannath The Meticulous Dresser

 

One unique way Lord Jagannath is worshipped in Puri is in His variety of dress. The pandas or priests of Lord Jagannath decorate Him in ways that are not seen in any other tradition in India. This unique worship of Lord Krishna as practiced in Puri does not find its origin in Gaudiya Vaisnavism, but devotees coming in the line of Lord Caitanya eagerly go to see the Lord enjoying different pastimes in His Deity form.

 

Jagannath is Krishna, and Krishna is avatari — not an incarnation of the Lord, but rather the source of all incarnations. Srimad Bhagavatam describes, krsnas tu bhagavan svayam — Krishna is the original Personality of Godhead.1 A similar statement is made about Lord Jagannath in the Skanda Purana, Utkal Khanda, fifty-eighth chapter:

 

tat phalam lalate martya

drsta sri purusottama

dasavatara samjnasya

katitah putra te maya

 

The results obtained from the darsana of all of the ten incarnations of the Lord is available simply by once having darsana of Sri Purusottama, Lord Jagannath.

 

Therefore Puri is also sometimes called Dasavatara-ksetra, the place of the ten incarnations. Aside from His different daily dresses, Lord Jagannath occasionally accepts the garb of some of His Visnu incarnations, and over the course of the year He is offered several other unique dresses. Lord Jagannath has two particular types of servants who dress Him. Those who dress Him on a daily basis are known as puspalaka and those who decorate Him in special dresses on festive occasions are known as srngari. The following is a brief description of some of the ways in which Lord Jagannath is dressed in Puri.

 

Daily Dresses

 

Cemedi Vesa

 

Every morning for mangala-arati Lord Jagannath is dressed in a cotton sari. This is called His cemedi vesa.

 

Tadapa Vesa

 

For taking His morning bath, Lord Jagannath is dressed in a 16’ long by 4’ wide orange and white cotton cloth. This is called tadapa vesa.

 

Utari Vesa

 

Utari means cadar, or wrapper. After His morning darsana, Lord Jagannath wears a 24’ long silk cloth as a cadar.

 

Bada Srngara Vesa

 

Every evening at about 10:00 P.M., before Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra are put to rest, They are dressed in their bada srngara vesa. Bada means great, and srngara refers to the conjugal love of the gopis and Radharani for Krishna. The pandas consider that at this time every evening the gopis and Radha come to see Jagannath. The bada srngara vesa consists of gita-govindam khandua and eight floral ornaments.

 

The gita-govindam khandua are twelve foot long red silk cloths which are wrapped over each Deity’s head. On these cloths are written lines from Jayadeva Gosvami’s Gita-govinda. Gita-govinda is very dear to Lord Jagannath, so every evening it is recited for His pleasure, and He is dressed with the gita-govindam khandua. The eight floral ornaments are:

 

• Candrika with alaka panti — An alaka or forehead decoration made entirely of flowers.

 

• Puspa tilaka — A flower garland tilaka sign on Lord Jagannath’s head.

 

• Karapallaba — Made from fragrant dayana leaf and varieties of flowers, these are decorations representing the Lord’s hands and five fingers.

 

• Makara Kundala — Flower earrings shaped like sharks.

 

• Padaka — Round or heart shaped, about 18 inches in diameter, this decoration covers Lord Jagannath’s heart.

 

• Guna and Jhumpa — Nose decorations made from flowers.

 

• Puspa mala — Lord Jagannath is dressed with many flower garlands, each about twelve feet long, stretching from arm to arm.

 

• Tulasi mala — Lord Jagannath wears a crown of tulasi garlands which are wrapped on pieces of bamboo and tied together.

 

As noted in Pancaratra Pradipa: "Many temples in Vrndavana dress the Deity in the color corresponding to the planetary gem of the ruling planet of the day of the week." The same basic system is followed in Jagannath Puri for the different colors of cloth used for the the bada srngara vesa. They are as follows:

 

Sunday — Ruled by the sun. Lord Jagannath is generally dressed in red garments on this day, the color of the ruby.

 

Monday — Ruled by the moon. Jagannath wears white on this day, the color of the pearl.

 

Tuesday — Ruled by the planet Mars. Jagannath wears red or pink garments on this day, the color of coral.

 

Wednesday — Ruled by Mercury. Lord Jagannath wears green, the color of the emerald.

 

Thursday — Ruled by Jupiter. Jagannath wears yellow or gold dress, the color of the yellow sapphire.

 

Friday — Ruled by the planet Venus. Lord Jagannath wears white garments this day, the color of the diamond.

 

Saturday — Ruled by the planet Saturn. Jagannath wears black cloth on this day, corresponding to the color of the blue sapphire.