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“Management is the process of designing andmaintaining an environment in which individuals,working together in groups, efficiently accomplishselected aims.” - Harold Koontz and HeinzWeihrich Management, in the modern world iswidely used word in the society. Managementincludes managing efficiently everything inan organization. It includesmanaging, manpower,mobilization of funds, efficientallocation of funds etc.

Lord of the Universefrom the millions years agomanages this universetactfully. Lord Jagannath is thelord of universe, almighty andomnipresent. It is believedthat Lord of Universe (LordVishnu) in the name of LordJagannath is placed in the templecalled as Sri Mandir (Bada Deula).The name Jagannath (Lord of theUniverse) is a combination of the Sanskrit wordsJagat (Universe) and Nath (Lord). JagannathaPuri, a town of 75,000, is one of the mostimportant pilgrimage centres and one of the fourholiest cities in India. These four cities areBadrinatha in the north, Dvaraka in the west,Ramesvaram in the south, and Puri in the east.

Badrinarayan in Badrinatha was especiallyworshipped in Satya-Yuga, Rama in Ramesvaramin Treta-Yuga, Dvarakanatha in Dvaraka wasespecially worshipped in Dvapara-Yuga, but LordJagannatha in Puri can be worshipped by everyone

in Kali-Yuga. In fact, the importance ofJagannatha Puri, sometimes called

Purushottama-Kshetra, isexplained in chapters 52

through 57 of theUttarabhaga section of theNarada Purana. There wefind it is stated that simply byvisiting Puri, which is rarelyachieved except for thosewho have performed manypious acts, and by seeing theDeity of Jagannatha, one caneasily attain freedom from

rebirth and reach the spiritualabode. From the Skanda Purana

we get information that the originalconstruction of the first Jagannatha temple was inSatya-Yuga, millions of years ago. It is relatedthat Lord Jagannatha told Maharaja Indradyumnathat He first appeared in the SvayambhuvaManvantara of the first part of Satya-Yuga, onthe full moon day, after being pleased by devotion.This is about 153 million years ago. Then Brahma

Sri Jagannath - A Great Manager

Dr. Rashmita Sahoo

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installed the Deities in the temple.” In 795 AD,the king Yayati Kesari-I of Kesari or Somadynasty of Kosala united Kosala and Utkala intoa single empire. He is also supposed to have builtthe first Jagannath Temple at Puri although thecurrent structure of the temple is entirely differentand was built by Kings Chodagangadeva andAnangabhima Deva of the Eastern Ganga Dynastyin the 12th century.

Lord Jagannath is worshipped throughoutthe world because he is generous and kind to all.He is looking at great and small, rich and poor,ruled and ruler, Brahmin and Chandal with anequal eye. In this look, there is no question ofcaste, creed or religion, no place for egoism,aristocracy nor any place for communalism. Hereworshipped and worshipper are equal and as suchtheir separateness vanishes which is symbolizedin embracing of Lord Jagannath by a visitor during Ratha Yatra. The Skanda Purana fixes the dateof the Ratha-Yatra festival, which should becelebrated on the second day of the brightfortnight if the month of Ashadha, a day calledPushyami Nakshatra by astrological calculations.

If we observe the functions andfunctioning of Sri Jagannath, we can observe thateach one is having some significance and meaningbehind it. World famous festival Rath Yatra is oneof them, which draws millions of deity andtransforms the small town of Puri into a hub ofactivity. Annually car festival takes place and itinvolves the pulling of chariots of Lord Jagannathand His siblings by the thousands of devoteesirrespective of caste and religion. Significance ofthis Yatra is that, non Hindus are not allowed toenter to the temple. But in the eyes of the Lord allare equal, to prove that and to meet His peopleand to know their problem directly He is comingout once in a year. Another thing is that in a goodmanaged organization, higher officials should have

personal contact with their people at least oncein a year.

One thing is to be noted that while theimages of the Hindu deities are made of stone ormetal, the image of the Supreme Being PurusottamJagannath is made of wood. Since the originalname of the Savara deity was Nilamadhava, thename of his new place came to be known asNilachala. It is said that wooden idols ofJagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Sudarshanrepresent the primitive art of the Savaras.Jagannath was the God of the Savaras. SaralaDasa described Jagannath as “Savari Narayana”in his Mahabharata written in 15th century. In thisway he has given importance to the tribal peopleas well as shown the importance of nature in ourlife.

Viswavashu first worshippedNilamadhaba, that’s why Savaras are having aposition among the Sevakas of Sri Jagannath. Itshows all are having importance in an organization.

Consonant to traditions of the temple, theLord comes out of the temple once a year to visithis Aunt's place. They stay over there for a periodof nine days and then return back to the JagannathTemple with the same amount of pomp and showin the ceremonial procedures. At that moment thewhole atmosphere becomes electrified with thebeat of cymbals, drums and chanting of Holynames by the devotees. Full of spectacles, dramaand colour, the festival is known for its grandeur.It teaches us the importance of Relatives in ourlife and when He from His busy schedule can findout time for the family then why not we. It is alsothe living embodiment of the synthesis of the tribaland the folk culture of Odisha. Today worldbelieves in nuclear family, where The Lord givesimportance to His siblings than His wife.

Among a series of rituals, special mentionis the ‘sweeping’ of the chariots by the Gajapati

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Maharaja of Puri with a golden broom, to proclaimthat he is the first of the Lord’s servants and onthis particular day he performs the duty of ascavenger to demonstrate socialism in action andthe dignity of labour.

In today’s world marketing is givenutmost importance from sales point of view.Everyone knows that tourism is regarded now asa promoter of cultural heritage, a medium ofcultural conservation and a source of revenue andemployment generation. As a major economicactivity, particularly, for revival of intangible culturalheritage, Tourism is considered as a driving force.Festivals are part of our rich cultural heritage anduphold age-old tradition in its living form, whichis otherwise known as intangible heritage. Fromancient times, pilgrims from all parts of India, aswell as from the world used to come every yearin order to witness the Car festival of LordJagannath and Jagannath Temple without anypromotional activites. It indicates Truth neverneeds any advertisement.

As a good entrepreneur creates jobopportunity, also Jagannath Dham created a hugeemployment opportunity. Simply we can see inAnand Bazar, everyday thousand of clay pots areused. Likewise each and every action of the Lordmakes thousands of people engaged. The BrahminPriests (Pandas) of Puri were deputed to differentareas of India in order to preach glory of LordJagannath. At the same time they were givenresponsibility to look after the incoming pilgrimsof different parts of India. To this day, the priestscontinue to be the Panda for various Indian States.

In the modern times particularly after1980, number of new systems developed andmore and more organizations, GovernmentDepartments involved in the marketing activities.Marketing helps to create new customers by wayof first identifying their needs and then trying to

satisfy these. Customer satisfaction becomes acrucial part of travel sales. The first task of themarketer is identification of the customers’ needsin order to guide the development of suitableproducts and services. The second task is tomotivate all the potential customers, throughvarious means, to purchase these products andservices. There are number of tour and traveloperators trying to market the holy event in variouslevels. Some of them are Sri Jagannath TempleAdministration, with District Administration andState Administration as a whole, State TourismDepartment, India Tourism and various otherTravel and Tour Operators.

As in organization, organization growthmatters lot than individualism, also Jagannathculture teaches us to believe in universality butnot in sectarianism. Lord Jagannath as we knowas the God of masses, but not of individuals withindividual choice thus naturally Jagannath culturehas been observed as a mass culture. People ofdiverse faiths with their distinct social backgroundshave worshipped Lord Jagannath as their own.

His worship, attire, foods rites and ritualsare nothing, but a synthesis of various culturesand beliefs. But, at the same time it is free from alltypes of regional separatism, scripturalexclusiveness and regional narrowness. By itswonderful power of assimilation it has effectedthe synthesis of all cultural communities, Statesand Universe. This teaches that an organizationculture is the mixture of various cultures andbeliefs. In front of Him there is no question ofcaste, creed or religion, no place for egoism,aristocracy nor any place for communalism.

Another place is Anand Bazar wherepeople of various categories right from Brahminsto Sudras, industrialists to beggars partakeMahaprasad in a common platform and from acommon container. This indicates that there is no

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sense of segregation between rich and poor,Brahmin and non-Brahmin or between thetouchable and untouchable or between Hindus,Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs. All are same in theeyes of Universal Lord. Lord Jagannath is woodendeity (Saura) without any sense organ and lotuseyes widely open. That makes us feel that thosewho are supreme of any organization should bealert always and should not create anydiscrepancy.

One of the major salient feature ofJagannath culture is tolerance which is anoutstanding human value propagated by thisculture which postulates with every way of life asits contribution in its specific way to the humanwelfare. The culture of Lord Jagannath stands forreligious tolerance, co-existence of all religionscommunal harmony and international integrations.As a result, the entire universe and inhabitants ofuniverse are part and parcel of the concept ofculture of Lord Jagannath. Culture of LordJagannath has taught us unity in diversity by faith,and integrated human society with the help ofhuman values.

The significance of the Jagannath culturelies in the fact that it has absorbed all religionsand all religious beliefs within itself. Within its all-embracing fold, one finds the essence of theevolution of Indian religions and cult. The uniquefeature of Hinduism from ancient times was selffreedom of every individual to think of God in hisown way. Every group, community or caste wasalso given freedom to develop own religioustradition. There was neither rigidity nor intolerancein the Hindu way of life.

In this atmosphere of perfect freedomand liberalism that there developed in Indianumerous religious customs and systems, modelof worship and prayer, higher human ideal as wellas blind superstitions. In this overall background

the culture of Jagannath developed itself in such away as to accommodate all varieties of beliefswithin itself. Diversity in unity and unity in diversityis prime character of Jagannath Culture. TheSupreme Being one and the same; Jagannath isthe Lord of the Universe. Lord Jagannath isrepresenting in Vedic Brahmanism, Jainism,Buddhism, Puranic Hinduism, Saivism, Saktism,Taoism and Vaishnavism in various phases of time.In the shape of wooden idols, Lord Jagannath isthat Absolute Being who is beyond description,beyond form, and beyond comprehension. He isthe Saviour of all, irrespective of caste, colour orcreed.

Conclusion :

From the time immemorial Jagannathculture taught us the integrity, universalism, loveand peace. In His eyes all are same irrespectiveof great and small, rich and poor, ruled and ruler,touchable and untouchable. Let us follow a littlebit of management techniques and make thisworld a well managed destination to work andlive.

References:

1. Rajendra Kumar Mohanty (Dec. 2005) Influence ofJagannath Culture on People of Orissa, OrissaReview, p. 27-32.

2. M.M.Tripathy(1995), A Brief Look at Sri JagannäthaTemple, Puri, p.86.

3. Truptimayee Dash(July. 2008)Orissa Review, p.98-100.

4. Hinduism.about.com

5. www.riiti.com

6. Shrijagannath.info

Dr. Rashmita Sahoo, Assistant Professor, Departmentof Business Administration, Utkal University,Bhubaneswar.