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Jagannath Cult : an Historical Perspective

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Jagannath Cult : an Historical Perspective Orissa Review June - 2009 Jagannath Cult : An Historical Perspective Dr. Janmejay Choudhury The Somavamsi ruler Yayati Kesari (Yayati-I) 'rediscovery' of Jagannath and reinstallment at established the first regional kingdom of Orissa1. Puri) corresponds more or less exactly with the Puri's late 16th century temple chronicles relate space of time between the historical reigns of construction of the first Jagannath temple and the Subhakaradeva and Yayati-I. renewal of the cult after an alleged Yavana The historical situation of late 16th century invasion of Orissa in the 5th century A.D. He Orissa, particularly the circumstances leading to made strenuous efforts to establish Brahmanism the downfall of the Gajapati empire in 1568 A.D. in Orissa. He also founded the cultural individuality the destruction of the 'Darumurti' of Puri's Holy of Orissa. From his time onwards, Orissa has been Trinity by Kalapahara, the alleged recovery of its a land of Hindus. most sacred portion, the Brahmapadartha, by The epigraphical evidence in the late 12th Bisar Mahanti3, the conquest of Orissa by the and the 13th centuries refers to the existence of a Mughal general Mansingh, the rise of a local Jagannath temple at Puri before Chodaganga successor state under Ramachandra Deva of Deva began the construction of the present temple Khurda, his renewal of the images at Khurda in in circa 1135 A.D. In his Dasgoba Copper Plate about 1587 and of the Jagannath cult at Puri in inscription, Chodaganga's grandson Rajaraja III 1590/92 and finally his acknowledgement by praised his grandfather for having built the Akbar in 15924, all these events are to well known Jagannath temple which had been neglected by that Kalapahara5, one of the Afghan generals with previous kings2. K.C.Panigrahi suggested that a small unit captured Puri, plundered the Puri's legendary account of the alleged invasion legendary temple treasure of Jagannath6 and of Orissa under the Yavana general Raktabahu in desecrated, and also damaged the temple with the 5th century A.D. during the reign of the the help of an Oriya, Kalapahara discovered the legendary king Sovanadeva may well contain a hidden image of Jagannath and burnt it and historical reminiscence of the conquest of Orissa afterwards cast it into the sea7. According to Oriya by the Rastrakuta King Govinda III during the chronicle-took it on an elephant to the Ganges reign of the Bhauma-Kara king Subhakaradeva and had it burnt there. After its desecration, Puri who ruled in coastal Orissa around 800 A.D. And "the stronghold of Jagannath (was made) into the moreover, he pointed out that Jagannath's Home of Islam".8 According to local tradition an legendary absence of 146 years in western Orissa Oriya named Bisar Mohanty had been able to (between Raktabahu's invasion and Yayati's secure the Brahma from the half-burnt image of 38 Orissa Review June - 2009 Jagannath which Kalapahara had thrown into the Vaishnav literature had been written regarding Ganga or Sea. He kept it for several years in Lord Jagannath and Jagannath temple which also Kujanga (a place in the Mahanadi delta) till never mentioned the name of Kalapahara11. So it Ramachandra Deva in a dream was ordered by is now the question how king Ramachandra Deva Lord Jagannath Himself to get the Brahma from achieved the title Gajapati and also became Kujanga, to set up new images of Holy Trinity 'second Indradyumna'? The legend of Yayati and to insert the Brahma into the new image of Kesari is to be regarded primarily as a construct the Lord. This legend established Ramachandra's of late 16th century Orissa for validation and claim to act like the former imperial Gajapati under legitimization of priestly and royal authority after the direct order of Jagannath. The legend also the downfall of the imperial Gajapatis. On the one proved the unbroken continuity of the cult which hand the legendary history of Yayati became he had reestablished as "second Indradyumna". closely adjusted to the history of Ramachandra It explained to Jagannath's devotees that even and, on the other hand, specified characteristics Kalapahara had actually not been able to destroy of the cult hero Yayati were transmitted to more of Jagannath's image than during the Ramachandra12. In 1978, H.Von Stietencron Navakalebara rituals is replaced regularly every pointed out that the author of the Madala Panji ten to twelve years. The image which was restored may have "transposed (events of the late 16th by the "second Indradyumna" was therefore century) into the remote past to link and equate essentially the same as the one which Vishnu Yayati's fame as founder of Somavamsi dynasty Himself had once set up for the mythical "First with that of Ramachandra, the founder of the Indradyumna" in the hoary past. Due to his Khurda dynasty13. historical and legendary achievements (i) The historical interruption of Puri's cult by Ramachandra Deva and his successors were Kalapahara depicts strange similarities with the acknowledged throughout Orissa as the new account of the legendary "Mughal" invasion by Gajapatis.9 This thing mentioned in Achuta Sagar Raktabahu in the 5th century A.D. According to Inscription and Achuta Ganga Inscription (The the Madala Panji it was followed by another Sriang Inscription of Achyuta Baliarsingh)10. "Mughal" occupation of Orissa. It lasted 35 years It is interesting that no Afghan invader till the rise of Yayati Kesari and thus corresponds attacked Puri in 1568 A.D. Before this period nearly exactly with the duration of the historical many Oriya literature like Oriya Mahabharat of Afghan-Mughal occupation of Orissa between Sarala Das, Oriya Bhagabat of Jagannath Das, 1568 and 1592: when Ramachandra Deva was Oriya (Dandi) Ramayan of Balaram Das, acknowledged by Akbar as local successor of Harivamsa and Sunyasamhita of Achutananda the erstwhile imperial Gajapatis. Like Das, Premabhakti Brahma Gita and Gobinda Ramachandra, Yayati Kesari thus brought to an Chandra Gita of Yasobant Das, Sunya Namadeva end the time of Arajaka as both "Kingless" periods and Hetu Udaya Bhagabat of Anant Das etc had of foreign rule are called in the chronicle. been written, but nowhere mentioned regarding (ii) The historical renewal of the Jagannath cult the name of Kalapahara and the Afghan invasion by Ramachandra Deva finds its equivalence in of Puri. Many Oriya Vaishnav literature also Yayati Kesari's legendary achievements. written after 1568 A.D. are silent on the painful According to Puri's chronicle, in both cases it took episode of the desecration of Jagannath temple. place after the recovery of Jagannath. Whereas During the period of Sri Chaitanya, many Bengali Ramachandra recovered Jagannath's most 39 Orissa Review June - 2009 sacred portion from Kujang where Bisar Mohanty of the many available Somavamsi inscriptions and had hidden it after its recovery from the Ganges, other literary sources which could have mentioned Yayati Kesari rediscovered and renewed or even praised Yayati Kesari and his great deeds Jagannath's dilapidated Murti near Sonepur. at Puri. In Purusottama Mahatmya which has (iii) Particularly revealing is the correspondence contained the Indradyumna legend and the origin between the historical and legendary stories of a of Jagannath's Daru Devata at Puri there is no 15 stepwise renewal of the cult. It took place only mention of Yayati Kesari . Although historians several years after both rulers had come to throne, have become reluctant in using an argumentum viz., in Ramachandra's 7th and Yayati's 9th regnal ex silentio, we are certainly entitled to ask why years. Moreover in both cases the images were the author of the Mahatmya should not have at renewed outside Puri. Under Ramachandra Deva least alluded to mention Yayati Kesari, the this happened in his capital Khurda whereas Yayati "Second Indradyumna", if his great achievements Kesari performed the great 'Vanayaga' ritual in for the Jagannath cult were known to him. There the vicinity of his former capital near Sonepur. is no name of Yayati Kesari among the 44 Kesari And most surprisingly, in both cases Jagannath kings and royal patrons of Jagannath temple. The was finally reinstalled on His Simhasana at Puri list of Jagannath's landed property contains only two years after the renewal of His murti. detailed accounts of the endowments by each king from "Chodagangadeva" onwards upto (iv) According to Madala Panji, Ramachandra Mukundadeva, the last imperial ruler before Deva was recognized by Akbar as successor to 156816. It is great important that no donation of the imperial Gajapatis in his 11th regnal year. Yayati Kesari is mentioned in this list. Kesari kings Yayati Kesari, too installed the images at Puri in are briefly mentioned as the builders of the his 11th regnal year and thus became the legendary Lingaraja temple at Bhubaneswar. founder of Orissan kingship. As long as no new evidence is at our (v) For their great achievements both disposal we have therefore to conclude that the Ramachandra Deva and Yayati Kesari were Yayati Kesari tradition was not existing in Puri hailed as 'Dwitiya or Abhinava' Indradyumna after before the re-etablishment of the Jagannath cult the mythical founder of the Jagannath Cult at 14 by Ramachandra Deva of Khurda in the nineties Puri. of the 16th century. Two things, however, seem These similarities between legendary to be clear. The legend was fully developed when accounts and historical events testify to an attempt the chronicle got its final shape in the 17th century to validate Ramachandra's still very precarious and, as has been shown, it exhibits a striking position by depicting him according to an allegedly correspondence with the overall political situation already existing model of the cult hero Yayati in Orissa in the late 16th century and in particular Kesari.
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