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The name of Jagannath tallies with Hisprimordial religio-philosophical concept.

Philosophically conceived, He is the ultimateReality-the cause, the substance, and the effectof all things and beings, the subject of all actionsand thought. Jagannath is the Supreme Beingsolicited by us as Lord and the Dear within andwithout. In form He is worshipped as the SupremeDivine, our near and dear Lord, in His grandtemple at Puri, the city of Lord. His ineffable nameJagannath, unlike that of other premier Deities,Badrinath, Balaji, Venketeswar, Veetalnath,Ramanath and Dwarakanath etc. is all assuringuniversal and highly connotative. The cult ofJagannath is the rendezvous of religion withphilosophy. Of the four Dhams, the last one Puriis the most popular for its presiding Deity isacknowledged as complete Godhead (PurnaBrahma) transcending sectarian consideration1.

Rig Veda - Taittiriya Sruti,2 Atharva Vedaand Utkal Khanda of Skanda Purana explainabout “Apurusa Daru”, Uttarakhanda ofRamayan mentions the worship of LordPurushottama.3 The Santi Parva of Mahabharatalso describes the same thing. 4 Vishnu Puran, 5

Matsya Puran,6 Skanda Purana, Agni Puran,Padma Puran, Kalika Purana, Tantra Yamala,Rudra Yamala, Kapila Samhita etc, mentionvariously about Odra /Puri /Nilagiri / Purushottama

The Evolution of SriJagannath Cult

Dr. Janmejay Choudhury

Kshetra/ Nilachala Kshetra/ Jagannath Kshetra/Daru Brahma/ Indradyumna etc. In the Kailancopper plate of Sridharana Rata, the chief ofSamanta, which has been dated to the secondhalf of the seventh century A.D., there is areference to Bhagvan Purushottama Jagannath,as the Creator, Preserver and the Destroyer ofthe world. In the Neulpur Plate dated 790 A.D.of Subhakara Deva-1(780-800A.D.) ofBhaumakar Dynasty, lands were donated to twohundred brahmins, all of whom are named in therecord. In this list there are four persons bearingthe name of Purushottama, three persons bearingthe name of Balabhadra, and one person of thename of Haladhara, which suggest thatPurushottama and Balabhadra were populardeities of the region by this period. The Copperplate grant discovered in the village of Maihar inSatna District of Madya Pradesh, and which hasbeen dated to the middle of the 10th century A.D,mentions Purushottama. The invocation to theKalidindi grant dated 1031 A.D of the EasternChalukya king Rajaraja 1, who ascended thethrone in 1022 A.D, speaks about Purusottam ofSri Dhama. Similarly, the Pujari Palli inscriptionand the Boram Deo Temple inscription (1033A.D) of one Gopal Deva of the Naga family andthe Nagpur stone inscription of 1104 A.D. of theruler of Malwa mention Purushottama/Purushottama Kshetra7.

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Indrabhuti, the king of Uddiyana in the7th-8th century and the founder of Vajrayana,begins his “magnum opus” “Jnanasidhi” by offeringobeisance to Jagannath (Pranipata Jagannatham).Trikhandasetha, a 9th century lexican byPurushottama Deva has listed Jagannath in thecategory of name of Vishnu. Another 9th centurydrama, Anargha Raghaba by Murari Mishra issaid to have been staged in the yatra ofPurushottama of Sri Jagannatha.8 The Sanskritdrama Prabodhachandrodaya written by KrushnaMishra, the court poet of Chandalla kingKirtivarman (1041-70A.D) mentions theDevayatana of the God Purusottama.9

Anangabhima deva III (1211-38A.D) and his sonNarasingh Deva (1238-64A.D) regardedthemselves as the Raut and the son ofPurushottama. Sri Jagannath was regarded as theGajapati of the empire of Utkal. Kapilendra Deva(1435-68A.D) described himself as the Sevakaor servant of Sri Jagannath. Sri Jagannath is thefocal point of the cultural synthesis that is Orissa.Here, at the shrine of Sri Jagannath, variousreligious cults, creeds and strands-Saivism,Saktism, Vaishnaivsm, Buddhism, Jainism,Tantricism, Surya-cult, Ganapati-cult etc. werewelded into an organic entity called the JagannathDharma. Scholars like Cunningham, Wilson,Fergusson, Louis Rozvit, N.N Bose, R.L. Mitra,H.K. Mahatab etc. have discerned Buddhisticinfluence on the cult of Sri Jagannath. The OriyaMahabharat of Sarala Dasa, Garuda Gita andSunya Samhita of Achyutananda, SashisenaKabya of Pratap Ray, Deulatola of NilambaraDas and Gupta Geeta of Ananta Narayan Dasdescribe Jagannath as Buddha or Baudha.Scholars like Binayak Mishra, Kedar NathMohapatra, Nilakantha Das etc have traced Jaininfluence on Jagannath cult. Yet others scholarslike Peterson, M.Ganguly, S.N.Das, SadasivaMishra, P.Mukharjee etc. have upheld Jagannathto be a Bramhinical deity.

Sri Jagannath and Sri Krishna have beenheld to be one and the same. Brahma Purana,Skanda Purana, the Copper Plate inscriptiondated 1198 A.D of Rajaraja Deva, the stoneinscription dated 1278A.D of Chandrika Devi,daughter of Anagabhimadeva10, Sri KrishnaLilamrita of poet Nityananda, Musali Parva ofSarala’s Mahabhaarat, Jagannath Charitamrita ofDibakar Das, Sunya Samhita of Achyutananda,Gopakeli and Parimal Kabya of Narasingh Sena,Rumkini Bibaha Kabya of Kartika Das, RahasyaManjari Kabya of Deba Dullabha Das—asuccession of inscriptions, Puranic and literaryworks have proclaimed Sri Jagannath and SriKrishna to be one. Again, Jagannath Charitamritaof Dibakar Das, Vedantasara Gupta Geeta ofBalaram Das11 , Namaratna Geeta andRasokollala of Dinakrushna Das, Solachaupadiof Jagannath Das, Premabhakti Geeta ofYasobanta Das, Sunya Samhita of AchyutanandaDas have described Sri Jagannath as the primecause or source of all incarnation means Abatarinot Abatara. The Trinity- Jagannath, Balabhadraand Subhadra have been variously conceived ofas being the symbols of various “Principles”. Somehold that they represent Vishnu, Siva and Durga;that is Vaishanavism, Saivism and Saktism. Othershold that they are Vishnu, Siva and Brahma, thatis, they symbolise the creative, destructive andpreserving principles. Some have said that theyrepresent the principles Kling, Hling and Sling;others have held that they represent the principlesKling, Sling, and Hling respectively. Somescholars have propounded the view that theyrepresent respectively the cultures of the Aryans,Jainism or Dravidas and Savaras. Balaram Dasportrayed them as Rama, Laxman and Sita. Otherscholars have said that they represent the BuddhistTriratna; Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. The Sunworshippers treat Jagannath as the Sun, Ganapatiworshippers treat Him as the Ganapati and soon.12

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Mayan civilisation flourished before 500B.C.13. The tradition of making gods out of woodby God carvers, closeted in a room seem to be ageneral feature of ancient civilisations. It may bereasonable to assume that on the evolutionaryladder of a society, such traditions appear as apart of a natural growth process in certainparticular stages of evolution of that society. Onthis basis, the tradition, culminating in theincomplete images of Jagannath Trinity, can beheld to be remote antiquity and of possessing ahistoric perspect. The evolution of Jagannath-trinity apper to be unsatisfactory and insufficient.Here, it may be in order to ask whether thisprocess of evolution of Trinity can be looked uponas a part of the natural outcome of the process ofDaru-worship in the context of the particular stageof evolution of the society in which it appeared.

Jagannath is the self-manifested Lord ofthe masses. The legends about His origin from alog of wood come ashore floating and carved bynone but Himself as carpenter, or His appearanceas pacified Nrusimha over the sacrificial fire toking Indradyumna are admittedly myths. In thepost - Vedic era, this holy land that has come tobe known as Orissa was being inhabited by boththe Austric population popularly known as Savaraand the Arya people of diverse faiths, Jainism,Buddhism and Hinduism including its severalcomponent sects. All of them had had theirAdorables for community worship in form of log(Daru), Pole (Yupa), Pillar (Stambha), Altar(Stupa) and so on. Meanwhile the Agamas cameforward recommending worship of images(Archhabigraha) with rituals like Prana-pratistha,Nyasa and Uppacharas. The tidal waves ofBhagabat religion founded by Vasudeva Krishnain the north-east of the Vedic mainland begangradually to sweep the coastland of Orissa. Whatwith the benign influence of the aforesaid

circumstances and what with the awakening ofunifying spirit of devotion for a single personalGod, the time must have been ripe for a religioussynthesis. That universally accepted single deitywas the Lord of the laity, Jagannath. The cult ofJagannath is a natural outcome of the religiousaspiration of the people intent upon devotion-based worship of a single personal God (AikantikaBhakti). This must have happened in the post-Vedic period when the common men ceased totake interest in Brahminical polytheism demandingritualistic sacrifices (Karma/Yajna) in honour ofunseen Gods as well as Upanisadic monotheismrequiring realisation (jnana) of the imponderableself. The Upanishads term Him as Brahma, theeternal entity without any before or after, both informless and formed aspects. Religiously viewed,He is the Supreme Divine, also Sat-chit-ananda.pervading the Universe and transcending itsimultaneously. In His iconic manifestation He isinvested with a gracious personality possessedof lordly Attributes- knowledge, power, majesty,strength, energy and self-sufficiency, to quote theclassic six-Sadguna people with insight envisageHim as Lokayata Brahma. To the devout He isGod in person invoked in a variety of terms rangingfrom your Majesty (Manima) down to thecommonest terms, even by name14.

Jagannath, has two very characteristicnames, Purushottama and Jagannath; the formermay be from the knowledgeable inception till the13th century, the latter overshadowing the formersince then. The universally accepted nameJagannath was the name of the family deity of theGanga kings and has been a name ofPurushottama according to Saradatilaka. Butmore than these incidental reasons are three other,scriptural, historical and popular.

Scripturally, He is the supreme God(sarvadevamaya devah), the Incarnator of

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incarnations. Historically, king Anaghabhima IIIin 1230 A.D declared Him as Lord of theUniverse and Emperor of PurushottamaSamrajya, reducing the sovereign to the positionof His deputy (Rauta).

In the course of history the imageformation of the Lord has changed from a singlefigure to four, or rather Seven (Saptavarrana). Theinitial single figure changed to a two with theaddition of Laxmi under the Agamic model byabout the 6th century A.D. Next, thetransformation into Trinity was as much a politicalconsideration as a religious necessity. ChodagangDeva used to worship the Trinity in Nrusimhatemple. The Triad was extended to Tetrad in the11th century when the Pancharatra system ofVyuha worship was reinforced under the influenceof Ramanuja. The 4th constituent now added, SriSudarshana symbolizes the active power ( kriyasakti) of Jagannath, while serving as a complementto the Lord’s volitional power(ichha sakti)representrd by Subhadra. The Tetrad form hasbeen still further extended to Septad by theaddition of three more figures-Madhava, therepresentative of Lord Jagannath for going outon all festivals except Rathayatra, Bhudevi andSridevi, two forms of Laxmi presiding over landand wealth respectively.

Lord Jagannath is a total symbol ofOrissa’s identity- social, cultural, religious andspiritual. He is the source of our beliefs, socialnorms and relationships, cultural excellence andvalue systems. But the cult of Jagannath is anintegrated whole. It has absorbed the Narayancult of Bhagabata religion, Madhava cult ofOrissa, the atheist cult of Buddhism and Gopinath

Cult of Vaishnavism in course of time. Jagannathis primarily the Lord of devotion. Jagannath is theDeity most widely studied, intensively researchedand extensively written about. His worship as aninstitution has spread far and wide in the countryand to several parts of the Universe.

References :

1. OHRJ, Vol.XXIX.NO.1, P.39.

2. Rig Veda : 90.2.

3. Ramayan Uttarakanda.7.

4. Mahabharata. 135.12.

5. Vishnu Purana, Gita Press, Gorakhapur, v.33.41.

6. Matsya Purana (Vangavasi).13 sl.35.

7. Eschamann, A.Kulke, H.Tripathy, G. C(ed); Cult ofJagannath and Regional Tradition of Orissa. Delhi1986. P.41.

8. Anargha Raghava of Murari Mishra,Bombay,1937. P.8.

9. Prabodha Chandrodaya, Bombay 1935, P.78.

10. Sircar, D.C. The Nagari Plate of AnangabhimaDeva III E.I.Vol.28.

11. Vedantasaraguptagita, Prachi Edition, P.37.

12. Sahu, N.K. Odia Jatira Itihas (O).1977. C-III.

13. Table V of Study of History, Vol.I by A.J.Toynbee,abridged edition.

14. Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, P.450.

Dr. Janmejay Choudhury, Lecturer in History,Sri Jagannath College, Kaipadar, Khurda.