lord jagannatha culture

8/13/2019 Lord Jagannatha Culture

1/5

SYNTHETIC CHARACTER OF JAGANNATHA CULTURE

In the remote past, Orissa was inhabited by the aboriginal tribes, who had acivilization and culture quite distinct from that of the Vedic Aryans. The Aryans

migrated to Orissa at a later stage and the Vedic religion and culture along withthe Upanisadic philosophy and Smarta rituals then began to spread in thiscountry. Buddhism had better times during the rule of the Mouryan emperor

Asoka, who conquered Kalinga (the coastal region of Orissa as known by thattime) after a dreadful war in the third century B.C. It is said that after theconquest of Kalinga, Asoka abandoned violence, embraced Buddhism and leftno stone unturned to propagate it . throughout India including the newlyconquered Kalinga. It continued to be popular in Orissa for several countriesbefore Sankaracarya visited Puri in the ninth century A.D. Jainism was perhapsat the height of its glory when Kharavela espoused its cause and took all steps topropagate it in the second century B.C. It is, therefore, historically reasonable to

hold that the cult and culture of Jagannatha found its origin in the primitivesystem of worship of the non-Aryan tribals who had established a shrine forJagannatha here, in this part of the country in a very ancient time, with all theirreligious fervour. The. Aryans must then have taken it over to worshipJagannatha in Vedic rites and rituals with all religious practices connected withthem. Buddhism and Jainism must have penetrated in to the innermostapartments of the shrine of Jagannatha with all their religious and spiritualimplications. But it has not been possible till now to speak with an air of authority,as to which of the rites; rituals and details of the day-to-day service (Vidhis) ofLord Jagannatha owe their origin either to Jainism or to Buddhism.

The Puranic texts corroborate that Jagannatha was originally a deity of theaboriginal tribes and was known as Nila Madhava, his image being made ofsome sort of blue stone. Later, the god manifested himself in the form of fourwooden images that we worship now and came to be known by the present-daynames in an atmosphere of Vedic re-orientation. Thus, Jagannatha is equallyclaimed by the aboriginal tribes and the Vedic Hindus to be their original deity ofworship.

When we think of the Puri temple, we also think of the presiding deities therein aswell as the pattern of cultural life that is in vogue around it, which inspire thepilgrims with the lofty ideal of emotional integration in the country. Hence the cultof Jagannatha as we call it now (by way of translating the words JagannathaDharma) has to be understood, interpreted and appreciated with all its social,cultural, religious and spiritual implications. Thus, the glory and greatness ofJagannathism may be brought out in the following manner.


2/5

At a time when Jagannatha gained immense popularity all important religiouscults and creeds known to the people of India in' those days were assimilatedinto the texture of Jagannathism. Such a board-based system of religious life isnot to be found anywhere in the world.'

There are in India numerous religious cults and creeds that draw inspiration fromthe Vedas and also from other important Hindu scriptures. The pantheistic way ofIndian religious life has resulted in the establishment of a large number of centersof worship all over the country dedicated to various gods and, goddesses bydifferent sects and communities. There are evidences in history that at some

point of time, there were bloody clashes between different communities eacheulogizing its communal gods and goddesses. Such internal feuds among thereligious communities helped in the growth of Jainism and Buddhism. There wasanother class of religious practitioners who believed in occult practices and forachievement of their objects, worshipped many gods and goddesses. Suchesoterism (Tantra) gave rise to the worship of Sakti in her ferocious form. Theworshippers of Siva and Visnu also contemplated different forms of their gods,their consorts, family members and incarnations. Ultimately the followers of Visnudominated and claimed the gods and goddesses of other communities to be thesubordinates of Visnu. Finally in the 9th century, Sankara advocated non-dualismand preached for one ultimate god. Findings that the Hindus believed in the

worship of a number of gods and goddesses, he recommended the worship ofselected gods and goddesses each symbolising some aspect of humanaspiration, and in course of time five of them became the most important. Theyare: (a) VISNU: The cosmic sustainer of the phenomenal universe and bestowerof salvation. He is the supreme god of Vaisnava sect. (b) SIVA: The cosmicdestroyer of the universe and the supreme god of Saiva sect. (c) DURGA: TheMother goddess, the source of all energy (Sakti)) the deity of the Tantticworshippers. (d) GANESA: The destroyer of obstacles and the fulfiller of desiresand (e) SURYA: (the Sun) The most brilliant manifestation of the synthesis of thecosmic trio of the Hindus.

Subsequently different Vaisnava saints advocated for worship of different formsof Visnu and his a avatars or incarnations. They are Ramanuja, Ramananda,Nimbarka, Vallabha, Madhva, Caitanya, Kabir, Nanak. Tuisi Das etc. and theseforms and incarnations are, to name a few, Nrsimha, Krisna, Rama, Narayana,Gopinatha, Madhava, Ananta Sayana and Vasudeva. Worship of Laksmi andSaraswati as the wives of Visnu, either with their husband or alone alsoprevailed. Similarly Radha and Slta were also worshipped along with Krisna andRama respectively.


3/5

There are many temples in different parts of India which are dedicated to one ormore of these five deities and their different forms and manifestations. Butexcepting a very few, where the presiding deity of the temple is worshipped as anassimilation of only one or

two deities, all the rest are meant for the worship of only one of these deities inthe body of one image installed in the temple.

It will be revelation to many that Jagannatha is worshipped as Narayan or Visnuwhen he is on the dias (Ratnavedi) in the sanctum sanctorum, as Ganesa whenon the, Snanavedi during the Snana . Festival, as Rudra (an expression of Siva)during the Nava- Kalevara ceremony, as Durga in: the Sayana festival and as the

Sun when on the chariot-during the Car festival. This apart, when the followersof different religious cu.1ts visit Puri on pilgrimage, they worship Jagannatha asthe highest expression of the God, whom or whose image they worshipaccording to their particular schools of philosophy and theosophy, forgetting atthe moment as to how he, in the Puri temple, is viewed by the devotees of theother religious cults. The Vaisnavas of Ramanuja sect worship Jagannatha asNarayan, Vasudeva, Nrsimha, Hariand so on, while those of Ramananda lookupon him as Ramacandra. Other Vaisnavas sects treat Jagannatha as Krisna.Orissan Vaisnavas consider Jagannatha as the combined body of Radha andKrisna. It will be lengthy to give a complete list of such interpretations andrepresentations. This would explain that Jagannatha represents an assimilation

of all religious cults, creeds and sectarian philosophies that come under thepurview of Hinduism in the broadest sense of the term.

With such a cultural background of Indian social life, one may like to know, if theworld famous temple of Jagannatha has got any message to deliver. There is asaying in Orissa that 'In Puri, there is no caste system. In other temples of India,people of some castes such as the sweepers, the washer men etc. are notallowed into the inner apartments, but in the Puri temple, they are not onlyallowed entry, but people of these castes discharge certain specific duties andservices for the performance of some traditional rites for Jagannatha.

There is yet another aspect. of the question that deserves to be mentioned hereclearly. As stated earlier, Vidyapati, who is credited with the discovery of NilaMadhava (the original form or image of Jagannatha) married the daughter ofViswavasu, the chief of the' aboriginal tribes. Later on, he was blessed withchildren through this lady. It is really interesting to note that even to this day, ..thedescendants 'of both Viswavasu and Vidyapati discharge the most importantvidhi of the temple. They are known as Daita-Pati i.e. descendants of VisWavasuand Vidyapati. Most likely the word Daila is from Daitya or a person of non-Aryan


4/5

society and Pati is from Vidyapati and they have been combined to connote thatthey, divided into two sections, are the descendants of both the aboriginal chiefand the Brahmin priest.

In a society torn under caste discriminations, the so-called high-caste Brahmins

do not partake food if touched by the so-called low caste people. But the foodofferings of the Jagannatha temple which is called Mahaprasada (literally thegreat grace) is a wonder of

the Hindu world. It is the established practice that the moment this Mahaprasadais served, no Hindu of the so called high castes objects to partake it even fromthe same plate with any person of the so-called low castes. Usually persons of allcastes are seen enjoying Mahaprasada sitting of one place in a row.

The Car Festival held in June-July every year is symbolic of many lofty ideals ofa highly developed society where equality in treatment and of opportunities areconsidered to be the fundamental right of every individual. When theosophy andreligion are viewed from this point, it becomes imperative that everybody shouldbe treated as equal in the eyes of God.

The Car Festival, participated by lakhs of pilgrims from the whole of India, has anumber of vidhis or practices in connection with the pulling of the chariots andthe journey of Jagannatha to the garden house. One of the vidhis is calledCherapahianra. This literally means, the sweeping of the floor. On this occasion,

when the deities are brought from the main temple and placed on the specialseats designed for them on the chariots, the Raja of Puri who is recognised asthe scion of the earlier sovereign emperors of Orissa and presently holds themost important office of Chairman in the management of the temple, is requiredto sweep .the floor of the chariots in front of the deities with a golden broom-slick.Thousands of eyes watch the performance with rapt attention. Amidst uproariousclappings, the mammoth gathering offers its felicitations to the traditional head ofthe State as he performs the duties of a sweeper. This vidhi bring home the ideato everybody that the highest political head of the State is not superior to asweeper in the eyes of God, who is the supreme object of, worship by everybodyon the face of earth. Needless to say, this vidhi or practice is symbolic of thehighest form of social justice and equality that has remained an objective to berealized by humanity in. all walks of life

It is a fact that non-Hindus are not admitted into the Puri temple, but the Hindusof all castes, including the aboriginal tribes, the Jainas, the Sikhs and theBuddhists are all allowed into it. The reason why the temple of Jagannatha is sopopular may properly be appreciated when it is realized that it is very broad-based from the view points of theosophy find religious culture.


5/5

lord jagannatha culture

Documents