Jagannatha
Who is Jagannatha?
What is unique about the temple image (murti) of Jagannatha?
What is the Rathayatra festival?
Jagannatha, Hindu god worshipped in the Indian states of Odisha and West Bengal and by the Odia community (people from Odisha) across the world. Jagannatha is the presiding deity at the 12th-century Jagannatha Temple in Puri, Odisha. He is widely understood as a form of the Hindu god Vishnu, particularly in his avatar as Krishna. The conception and worship of Jagannatha are shaped by local religious traditions, royal patronage, and temple rituals. Temple images (murtis) of Jagannatha are carved from wood and have oversized eyes, making them unique among images of Hindu gods, which are typically made out of clay, stone, or metal.
Wooden forms in the temple sanctuary at Puri represent Jagannatha, worshiped as a form of Krishna, alongside Krishna’s elder brother, Balabhadra (Balarama), and his sister, Subhadra. Modern representations of the 10 avatars (incarnations) of Vishnu made in Puri often show Jagannatha as one of the 10 in place of the Buddha, who is included in some traditions as an avatar.
" height="20" alt="HEW Logo">
Origins and history
The Hindu god Vishnu is known by more than 1,000 names. Some of these names are Lakshmipati, Krishna, Vaikuntha, Garudadhvaja, Parabrahma, Jagannatha, Vasudeva, Narayana, Madhava, Rama, Kalki, Hayanana, Dattatreya, Achyuta, and Purushottama.
The origin of Jagannatha is uncertain. Jagannatha was a regional god worshipped by the Savara (Saora) tribal community in Odisha and neighboring regions. In mythology he originated in a fairly distant past, but the archaeological and inscriptional evidence only dates back to the 10th century. Yet it would be misleading to describe Jagannatha simply as a tribal god that was later incorporated into Hinduism.
Jagannatha emerged through an interplay between earlier local traditions and Hindu religious concepts: Tribal rituals shaped his worship even as they were reshaped by Hindu traditions, and he gradually became associated with deities such as Vishnu and Krishna.
While Jagannatha is commonly understood as a form of the Hindu gods Vishnu or Krishna, worshippers and theologians have interpreted him through Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, and tribal and other religious traditions.
In Puri, Jagannatha is commonly referred to by the epithet Purushottama, meaning “supreme person.” Since this is also an epithet of Vishnu, its use perhaps helped establish Jagannatha’s association with the Vaishnava tradition. Evidence from the early development of Jagannatha worship suggests that he had a close connection to Narasimha, Vishnu’s man-lion avatar. It shows that Narasimha traditions contributed significantly to the development of Jagannatha worship.
The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.
SUBSCRIBE
According to local tradition, Krishna decreed that he would be worshipped in Puri in the Kali Yuga, the final era of degenerative dharma (adherence to moral law) in Hindu cosmology. The end of the Mahabharata war and Krishna’s death in Dwarka (in present-day Gujarat, on the western coast of India) marked the end of the Dvapara Yuga and the beginning of the Kali Yuga. Various myths explain the reappearance of Krishna as Jagannatha and as a wooden murti on the opposite coast of peninsular India in Puri.
Mythologized historical accounts credit the construction of the Jagannatha Temple at Puri to King Indradyumna, but the rise of Jagannatha can be attributed to the Eastern Ganga dynasty’s King Anantavarman Chodagangadeva, who ruled during the late 11th and early 12th centuries. At Puri he began the temple’s construction, which was probably completed by his successors. In 1230 King Anangabhima III represented himself as a deputy and son of Purushottama and not as the ruler of the kingdom. Thus, the king became Jagannatha’s earthly servant. The earliest inscription with a triad corresponding to Balabhadra, Krishna, and Subhadra dates from this reign, in 1237. Under the powerful Gajapati Empire (1434–1541), Jagannatha became the state deity, and the king continued as Jagannatha’s earthly servant.
The identification of Jagannatha with Krishna acquired particular importance in the 16th century devotional tradition associated with Chaitanya, a Bengali Vaishnava saint who spent much of his later life in Puri. Chaitanya worshipped Jagannatha as the Hindu god Krishna and interpreted the Rathayatra as Krishna separated from and longing for Radha, his beloved, and the pastoral world of Vrindavan, where Krishna spent his youth. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Jagannatha became an important emblem of Odia cultural identity.
In mythology
A widely recounted legend of Jagannatha’s creation appears in the Purushottama Kshetra Mahatmya section of the Skanda Purana. According to the legend, King Indradyumna in Avanti (modern-day Ujjain) yearned to worship the Hindu god Vishnu in a visible and personal form. He asked the priests, scholars, poets, and astrologers of his court to find the “excellent holy spot...where we can see Jagannatha (‘Lord of the worlds’) with these (mortal) eyes.”
A priest said that Purushottama (also the original name of the city of Puri) in Odisha is one of the holiest sites and that liberation could be attained there. In the Purushottama forest stood a shrine of Nilamadhava (a form of Vishnu), who granted liberation to all who worshipped him.
The king’s younger brother Vidyapati was sent to find the shrine. In the forest he met the Savara chief Vishvavasu and asked to see the hidden shrine. Vishvavasu was torn: The Savaras had long worshipped Nilamadhava in secret, and a prophecy warned that revealing the deity would lead to his disappearance. Yet he also believed that refusing the upper-caste Brahmin guest would be sinful. He finally agreed to take Vidyapati to the shrine.
Vidyapati now explained to Vishvavasu that the king intended to build a great temple for the deity at the site. Vishvavasu warned that since the deity had been revealed, he would vanish as destined, though he would later appear in a dream to instruct Indradyumna to install four wooden images. Soon after, a powerful wind covered Nilamadhava with golden sand before Indradyumna arrived. Grief-stricken, the king resolved to worship Vishnu there, while Narada assured him that the disappearance formed part of a divine plan and that the lord would reveal himself in a wooden form. To prove his devotion Indradyumna performed a thousand-horse sacrifice, after which a sacred tree marked with Vishnu’s symbols appeared floating in the sea. Narada instructed the king to bring it ashore.
As the king contemplated how the murtis should be made, a divine voice announced that the deity would manifest himself on a great hidden altar. The voice directed the king to allow an elderly carpenter to carve the sacred wood at this altar. While the carpenter worked, this space was to remain shut for 15 days with music masking the sound of the work. Any intrusion would have severe consequences, such as blindness. Vishnu would announce the completion of the work himself.
Vishnu, disguised as an elderly carpenter, appeared, declaring that he would build the forms that the divine voice had directed the king to make. When he completed the task in a fortnight, the deity manifested as four wooden forms: Jagannatha, Balabhadra, Subhadra, and Vishnu’s discus, Sudarshana Chakra. Their forms were then painted, ornamented, and covered so that the raw wood would not be exposed.
Rathayatra
The most important of the numerous yearly festivals in honor of Jagannatha is the Rathayatra, the Chariot Festival, which takes place on the second day of the bright fortnight of Ashadha (June–July). Rathayatra is observed by taking murtis of Jagannatha; his elder brother, Balabhadra; and their sister, Subhadra, in a procession (Sanskrit: yatra) through the streets around the temple, or from one temple to another, in wooden chariots (rathas). The most famous Rathayatra takes place annually in Puri, Odisha. The journey takes several days, and thousands of pilgrims participate.