Orissa Review June-July - 2007

Jagannath and the Orissan Society

Dr. Narayan Misra

Orissa, a small, poverty stricken and politically deity of India. Jagannath binds three religious impotent State of Eastern India, has carved a denominations : , Jainism and Buddhism. bigger cultural space in the country. The factor Pandit Nilakantha Das opined that that is responsible for this elevation is Lord Jagannath represented Jainism. He was of the Jagannath and the cult of Lord Jagannath. This view that the rites and rituals connected with the makes Orissa to be better known as the land of Lord are non-vedic. The three deities Balabhadra, Jagannath. The area is known for other Subhadra and Jagannath represent the Jaina contributions as well. Here, Emperor Trinity of Samyakjnana, Samyakcharita Ashok, who faught a bloody war in and Samyakdristi. Other 261 BC, known as Kalinga war, researchers contest this Jaina was converted from view of Jagannath Chandashoka to advocated by Pandit Dharmashoka. During Das. the first century B.C., Orissan emperor Though, the daru Kharavela enhanced the connection available in reputation of the land by the and winning battles and expanding territorial limits of Atharva Veda hint towards vedic origin of the state. Throughout history, Orissa is a suitable Jagannath. Yet, it is not sufficient to establish 'His' place for intellectual, religious and spiritual vedic identity. attainments. Further, the state was a meeting place From the legend presentations, King of , Buddhists and Jainas and had created Indradyumna is presented as the person linked a creditable climate to systematise and assimilate with construction of a temple for the worshipping the essence of these three spiritually intellectual of the Lord. The story further narrates about the belief order. divine instructions and association of Viswakarma According to various research studies, the for the construction of the images out of the log earliest references about Lord Jagannath are found of woods collected from sea under advice to the in different puranic literatures. Further, there are king by the Lord. The incomplete images of the several copper-plate inscriptions which provide trinity was due to impatience of queen Gundicha, information about Lord Jagannath as the supreme who forced the king to open the door where the

67 Orissa Review June-July - 2007 disguised carpenter was engaged in image making. with him. He looked into the tribal origin of the It was surprising, the legend depicts, that the deity. He observed that "starting from a local deity carpenter was absent and the three unfinished of an unknown tribe in the dense forest, Jagannath images of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra manifested 'Himself' as one of the greatest religious were seen. Since then, the three deities are centres of the whole world. It has found unity in worshipped and several incarnations in the ritual diversity. Inspite of heterogeneous ritualistic of 'Nabakalebar' have passed. practices Jagannath stands supreme. He is not Adikabi Sarala Das found in the three meant for any sect or tribe only. He is universal." deities the replica of , and According to eminent researcher K.C. Maheswar, Subhadra representing Brahma, and Misra, the philosophy of Jagannath is one of the Vishnu and Maheswar are presented as Jagannath most difficult philosophies in the history of religions and Balabhadra. But, the Vaishnabas have with the changing needs of the times several something else to say. According to them these interpretations about this deity have come to the deities are puranic deities who are Balabhadra surface. As with the most of the oriental and Jagannath representing Balarama and philosophies, the philosophies of Jagannath defies with their sister Subhadra. a definite definition. Rather different kinds of Budhist scholars opine that three deities interpretation have merged into the philosophy of represent three Ratnas - Buddha, and Jagannath. As a matter of fact, the history of Sangha. They say that the image of Jagannath Jagannath is a curious assemblage of essence of contain a relic of Lord Buddha. The scholars Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. Professor K.C. observed that the world famous Car Festival Misra observed that as a Jaina institution, resembles the Buddhist festivals which became Jagannath meant not the Lord of the Univese but popular during Gupta Age. Again, Jagannath is Jagat as the Univese itself. This is a new dimension taken as Nirakar and Buddhism does not accept because it is rare to find God being identified with the concept of God. Yet, the claims of such the universe. The Jaina belief of transmigration as scholars are yet to be accepted as whole truth. a consequence of being loudly accepted in Jagannath cult. Further, the idea of Nirvana had The Jainas claim that the existence of found its place in the philosophy of Jagannath in Kalpabata, Nilachakra and the affix 'Nath' as well different degrees. Professor Misra further says as 'Purushottam Vada' are the contributions of that the philosophy of Tantra, which in course of Jainism to Jagannath Cult. time, became an integral part of Buddhism had a Thus, Jagannath, the very name provides special place in the philosophy of Jagannath. This the idea that 'He' is an institution of diverse is one of the most important contributions of yogic religions. Even Jagannath religion is an excellent and tantric methods of expounding a philosophy contribution to the various religious practices. It of Mukti, Nirvana and Kaivalya. is a splendid synthesis of diverse beliefs and a Jagannath is worshipped in four forms - meeting place of various views of philosophy. Sudarshana which is a pillar with indifferent colour, It has been accepted that Jagannath is a Balabhadra with white face with eyes and hands, resultant composite of many divine concepts and Subhadra in the form of a woman with yellow gods. According to W.J.Wilkins, Jagannath is the face and eyes but no hands, and Jagannath with sole source of man's needs, and the search ends black face with brilliant eyes and hands.

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Balabhadra is the transcedent, the unchallengeable the basic fraternity and equality of all men as and the unqualified, the Unmanifest. Balabhadra devotees of the Lord, the absence of commercial is a unique one. He is supremely excellent. taboos among castes while partaking of the Jagannath is supremely manifest with pure sanctified food offered to the Lord, the folk qualities, changeable in order, qualified with medicine administered to the god at the time of diverse dimensions and also supramundane. The illness and the divine directions in dreams, visions concept of Jagannath is a synthesis of , and miracles are all integrated into the cult system. Jnana, Prema and . Subhadra is a Here, the 'Little traditions' associated with the mysterious deity and she is accepted as symbol Lord co-exist and are valued along with elements of karma or Action. Sudarshan represents the of 'great traditions' rituals and institutions symbol of the unknown. It represents time and introduced and mediated by the priests change. It is connected with the unchangeable and and Rajas. (Mohapatra) the eternal force. Orissa had a checkered political history. Anthropologists talk about 'Great But its cultural continuity over a wide area in Traditions' and 'Little Traditions'. The little ancient Kalinga / Utkal is significant. The traditions of the rural society or tribal communities cornerstone of this cultural continuity in the pre- are plentily observed in the Indian society. Islam past has been the cult of Lord Jagannath, Jagannath cult is derived from the little traditions who is worshipped as the Lord of the universe. of worship by the savara tribal has been Puri is treated as one of the four most sacred sanskritised by Brahman priests and Rajas at Puri. centres of piligrimage for the Hindus. Lord The new seat for worship is located here. But Jagannath is looked upon as the protector and this ritual has undergone universalisation by being even sovereign of Orissa and the Raja of Puri elevated the supreme god head of the Hindu life. officiates as His earthly deputy. The king is Jagannath has been identified as Vishnu, the respected as 'Chalanti Vishnu'. He is also called Supreme Lord of the Universe. He is the as 'Thakur Raja'. The king functions as the head penultimate incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Professor of ritual functionary of the Jagannath temple. The L.K. Mohapatra, the noted Anthropologist paramount Raja of Orissa since the Ganga era observes : If this is a process of Universalisation, has made the Jagannath cult as the state cult. in Orissa the cult itself has undergone the process Though Jagannath has not been conceived of parochialisation, too, as in western Orissa, as one among the well known vedic deities like where each village celebrates of Lord , Varun, , Surya and so on and so forth, Jagannath in its own ways in emulation of the world yet there is no dearth of vedic rites in the Jagannath famous Car Festival of Lord at Puri. Similarly, if cult. All the sects like Saiva, Shakta, Ganapatya the supreme god heads of holy trinity Vishnu, and Vaishnava offer their prayer to the Lord. and Brahma belong to great tradition, their Jagannath temple attracts both the Aryans and worhsip has been parochialised in the little Non-Aryans. This brings whole lot of people living traditions for the last two hundred years or so in in Orissa and outside to have their devotional Orissa by holding Trinath Mela. agenda set at the Lord's temple, both inside and Integration of little and great tradition is outside its precinct. exemplified in Jagannath Cult. This cult has evolved as the magnetic central cult of Orissa with all aspects of regional cultural development. The Dr. Surya Narayan Mishra is a Professor in Department associated values of tribal heritage in this cult - of Political Science, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar.

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