History of Lord Jagannath
The History of the Lord Jagannath cult is so ancient that the circumstances surrounding it cannot be appropriately articulated. Our history claims emphatically that the cult of Jagannath is as ancient as human civilization itself. Scholars refer to an ancient verse from the Rig-Veda, “Addo Yaddaru Plavate” – this means the Lord Jagannath tradition reaches back to the age of the Rig-Veda.
History suggests the existing temple of Lord Jagannath was only recently constructed. Historians agree that Puri’s present temple of Lord Jagannath was built by Anangabhima Deva, considered an able descendant of King Chodaganga Deva, the creator of the Ganga dynasty in Odisha in the twelfth century. However, this does not mean all the temples of other gods surrounding the Jagannath temple are similarly ancient, for some may have been erected relatively recently.
However, Lord Jagannath’s original temple was repaired and reconstructed by King Jajati Keshari, one of the well known emperors of the Keshari dynasty in Odisha, probably in the fourteenth century A. D. The history suggests that the original cult of Lord Jagannath, is of 2nd century B.C. when Kharavela was the emperor of Kalinga which is another old name of Odisha. The historic Elephant Cave (Hati Ghumpha) inscription of this emperor, placed on the top of Udayagiri (a hill), near Bhubaneswar, refers to the Jinshasan, which is identified with the Lord Jagannath. But the authentic and historic reference can be available from the 9th century.
History of Lord Jagannath
There was Buddhism’s influence in the tradition of the Savara Deity. Buddhism came into Odisha after Emperor Ashoka. Who are the three deities: Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra? They cannot be Ram, Laxma, and Sita because Subhadra is the sister and Balabhadra is the elder brother. The three deities have a lot of similarities with the Buddhist triad: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Jagannath is Buddha, and Balabhadra stands for Sangha. Is it not necessary to have an elder to run a Sangha (Monastic order)? Subhadra is the symbol of Dharma.
Sauvada is Dharma in Buddhist Philosophy and is viewed as feminine. Not only that, there are not three, but four deities – Chaturdha Murti- having Sudarsana Chakra. What does Sudarsana Chakra stand for? The chakra occurs as a symbol in all religions. The wheel in Buddhism is the symbol of religious essence. The ideas that Buddha preached to the five ascetics at Sarnath are treated as the starting point of establishing a Dharma Chakra. In the Hindu religion, the Chakra is the weapon of Vishnu.
The Ratha Yatra is also influenced by Buddhism. The practice of parading the idol and the Tooth of Buddha around the city on a chariot can been attested to by the Chinese traveller, Fahien. Some say that Indra Ratha” comes from the Vedas and that the Gita refers to the body as chariot and Soul as charioteer – “Atmanam Rathinam Vidhi”. But these have no connection with the Ratha Yatra. After all, it was quite customary for kings and warriors to ride chariots. In the history of the Buddhist religion, we first see the reference to Gods riding on Chariots.
Ancient Age
Before ‘Jagannatha’, Lord Supreme was worshipped as ‘Purushottama’. The word Purushottama is made from two words in Sanskrit, ‘Purusha’ and ‘Uttama’. In Rigveda, while there are many Gods and Goddesses, we have a God ‘Purusha’. Among 1028 hymns there are 16 verses to him, that hymn is called ‘Purusha-Sukta’. The hymn mentions the God Purusha as the Creator of the whole world, in which he himself resides as the Creator, he is also the Protector and Destroyer of the world, so the ‘Purusha-Sukta’ conceives a Supreme God as opposed to a myriad of Gods.
This Supreme God, Purusha is later identified as Purushottama when concept of ‘Brahman’ grew. In Bhagabat Gita, Krushna himself says, there are two Purushas in the world- ‘Kshara Purusha’ and ‘Akshara Purusha’, but he himself is beyond both ‘Kshara’ and ‘Akshara’ Purushas and therefore is labelled ‘Purushottama’. All the persons who know him as ‘Purushottama’ know everything and worship him.
Puri is the most prominent domicile of Purushottama, and the worship of Vishnu, in Puri, is worshipped in the name and character of Purushottama there. Clearly, Puri is the original, most ancient Kshetra of Purushottama Jagannatha.
The nationality of the holy city of Puri gets into the picture when worship of Lord Supreme begins. Sayanacharya, the prominent commentator of Vedas, traces the establishment of this Kshetra back as far as Vedic time, from “Alakshmi” hymn of Rigveda. In his Rigveda Samhita he has interpreted the word “Daru” of “Ado Yaddaru plavate…” as Daru/wood, and connected it with the wooden body of God called Purushottama. In Skanda Purana, Sri Purushottama Kshetra Mahatmya, a similar interpretation has also been provided. They reproduced this Vedic verse in Anustuv meter as verse-3: “Ya esha plavate daruh…” from chapter 23. It says “The divine plateau that has floated to the sea-coast is beyond human understanding. By worshipping this beyond worship and with devotion, one attains salvation – a state of extreme rarity.”
The Uttara Kanda of the Ramayana also mentions Jagannatha, who was the family god of the Iksaku Dynasty. According to the description, Rama had advised Vibhisana to worship Jagannatha regularly. However, some scholars bring it into question whether the Jagannatha of the Ramayana can be equated with the Lord Jagannatha of Puri.
Similarly, there are references in several Puranas to the name Jagannatha and Purushottama. The kshetra of Purushottama, at Puri is described in the 56th Chapter of Skanda Purana. The chapters 42-69 of Brahma Purana also describes Purushottama Puri. Bruhad Naradiya Purana also has a description of the shrine of Purushottama, spanning from chapters 51-62.
Padma Purana refers to the visit of Satrughna, the younger brother of Rama to this holy Place in chapters 17-22. We find reference to this holy kshetra of Puri in Garuda, Matsya, Agni, Vayu, Kurma and Vamana Puranas . In Vishnu Purana and Bhagabata Purana too, words Purushottama and Jagannatha are profusely used; but, with regards to the context, it is difficult to refer them to Purushottama Kshetra or abode of jagannatha of Puri.
However, subsequent texts in Sanskrit such as KapilaSamhita, VamadebaSamhita, NiladiriMahodaya, Sri MahapurushaVidya and some others apparently composed in Odisha mention this kshetra. However, while scholars vary so much on the dates of the emanation of these Puranas the accounts of Purushottama-Jagannatha more than adequately demonstrate that Puri was an ancient city, and the holy abode of the Supreme Lord Shree Jagannatha.
The Sailodbhaba kings ruled over Kangoda from 6th to 8th century AD. Although the kings may have appeared to favour Shaivism, in later eras they were referred to as favours of the Brahmanical religion as a whole.
As per eminent historian Dr. Satya Narayan Rajaguru, the Sailodbhaba king Madhavaraja-II (620-670 AD) established the shrine of Madhava at Puri and wished that the deity be named Neelamadhava, on account of the form of the blue stone image. Who also made some establishment at Puri and either made a tribal chief as head and made arrangements for daily worship.
After the Sailodbhabas, the Bhaumakaras established a kingdom and their administrative headquarters was Guhadeva Pataka or Guheswara Pataka, Jajpur in modern Odisha. The dynasty had 17 kings and queens ruling Odisha from 8th to 10th centuries CE. Although they were originally Buddhists, they were tolerant of Brahmanism including Vaishnavism and Saivism. Thus, they continued the worship of Madhava at Puri. The succession of the Bhaumakara rulers resulted in the conversion to Saivism and Vaishnavism. The Queens Tribhuvana Mahadevi I, II and III- were all Vaishnavis.
The Bhaumakaras were prior Mahayani Buddhists. They were said to have included some Tantric aspects into the worship of Jagannatha, because Buddhism is said to have gone from Mahayana to Tantrayana, Bajrayana, Kalachakrayana and Sahajayana. All these forms of religion developed in Odisha. As stated by some researchers, several tantric ideas entered into the rituals of Jagannatha during this period, some of which still exist today.
The dynasty of Bhaumakaras came to end in 1st quarter of 10 century AD and a new power called Somavansa (Soma dynasty) emerged in Odisha. The temple chronicle ‘Madala Panji’ states that Yayati Keshari was the first King in the genealogy of Somavamsis. The Panji says that Yayati Keshari was the builder of a temple to Jagannatha called ‘Paramesvara’ and that temple was 38 cubits high. There is a mention in the Panji that for 146 years before King Yayati’s reign a character called Raktavahu invaded the country; the priests had taken away the images to a place called Gopali in Sonepur state (now district) of Odisha. Yayati Keshari in his 11th years of reign became aware of this and upon recovering the ‘Brahma’ and fashioning new images, he consecrated and installed these new images in the new temple he had built.
According to a version of Madala Panji, a great influence on the consecration of the new deities during Yayati Keshari was Sri Sankaracharya, who flourished in the 8th century; however, there is divergence among different scholars with regard to the reign periods of different Somavamsi Kings, and as to the period of Sri Sankaracharya.
The rule of the Somavamsis was eventually complemented by the Gangas, when Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva annexed Odisha and moved his capital to Varanasi Kataka (present day Cuttack) in 1110AD.
The Anargharaghava Nataka of Murari Mishra is a Sanskrit drama and according to scholars it is composed between 9th-10th century AD. It mentions a festival in honour of Purushottama. The other drama in Sanskrit is the Probodha Chandrodaya Nataka, and this was written by Krushna Mishra in the 11th century AD, Purushottama has been mentioned as the name of a country. A character of the drama states that they have come to this country. These two tenuous references allude to the fact that the holy city and the shrine of the Lord Supreme was very much still in existence by 10th century AD. Another important reference has been traced in the Ratnamala of Satananda Acharya, a smruti writer of 11th century AD. He has prayed to Purushottama at the beginning of the work.
Epigraphic sources also confirm the ethnicity of this ancient Kshetra. The Maihar Temple inscription of 10th century AD of Madhya Pradesh has reference to Purushottama of Odra Desha. The Kalidindi inscription of Rajaraja-I of East Chalukya dynasty, issued in 1031 AD mentions Sridhama and Purushottama; Rajaraja-I was related to emperor Chodaganga Deva of Odisha, who has built the present temple of Lord Jagannatha. The Nagpur inscription of Lakshmideva issued in 1104 AD also contains invocation to Purushottama.
References regarding pilgrimage to Purushottama have been found in other inscriptions like Govindpur inscription of Rudradamana, issued in 1137 AD and inscription of Naga king Gopaladeva of Madhya Pradesh. These references provide sufficient evidence that the Purushottama Kshetra or Puri and shrine of the Lord had attained immense popularity during 10th-11th century AD.