Lord Jagannath in Religions
Jagannath culture involves universality and not sectarianism. Lord Jagannath is the God of the masses, and so, Jagannath culture is a mass culture. Besides influencing other culture, it has absorbed into its fold the cultures of different faiths. It seeks to bring all of the human community of the world into the fold of a family.
The scholarship suggest that the three idols of Jagannath Temple signify the Buddhist Triad of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Lord Jagannath has been accepted as an incarnation of Buddha. There is not another Deity in Indian pantheon except Lord Jagannath, that are treated as incaranation of Buddha. It can be seen by the writings of Ramai Pandit, who lived during the succession of King Devapala of Bengal in the 9th century A.D. Sarala Das, one of the best ancient poets, say in the Sabha Parva of his Mahabharata that, ” Jagannath has appeared in the form of Buddha to redeem the people of the world.” So, this Deity of the Savara tribe became a Buddhist Deity, with stages of time.
The great Hindu preacher Sankaracharya of the 9th century wrote a stotra beginning with “Jagannath Swami”. Sankaracharya regarded Puri as one of the four most important places of the Hindus and established the Gobardhan Matha. Following Sankaracharya a young aspirant named Sri Ramanuja emerged as another great preacher. He went to Puri in the 12th century A.D. during the reign of Chodaganga Deva and he influenced the King with a semblance of religious ideas. He attempted to introduce Vaishnava rites in the worship of Jagannath and was partly successful. Vaishnavism was introduced into Odisha. The shrine of Laxmi was built during that period. Before that, there was no custom of worshipping Laxmi in the temple. The Emar Matha was established around that time.
After Ramanuja, it was Madhvacharya who next came to Puri. He was soon followed by many of his disciples, who came to Puri and Odisha to preach Vaishnavism. And so, Puri became a focal point where Advaita philosophy from Sankara mixed with Visishtadvaita philosophy from Ramanuja combined with the Dvaita philosophy from Madhava, which all came together in the holy land of Jagannath. The major proponent after them was Sri Chaitanya, who brought in the Radha-Krishna cult.
Sri Chaitanya and his followers had rolled on the Bada Danda, the Grand Road of Puri. They covered their bodies with the dust of the great road during the Ratha Yatra. Under the influence of Chaitanya, King Prataparudra lost himself in the various devotional songs with the music of drums and cymbals and disregarded his royal status. The whole of Odisha was inundated with the devotional sweetness of the cult of Sri Chaitanya.
Then came Guru Nanak, the founding personality of Sikh religion, who has his visit to Odisha commemorated at the Gurudwara of Kaliaboda, which is a true place of devotion for Sikh people, who came to accept Jagannath as their God. Hunter, in this book, History of Odisha, mentions that the great Sikh leader Ranjit Singh presented the Kohinoor diamond to Jagannath. Regrettably, this Kohinoor, should have been an addition to the treasures of Jagannath ended up being mounted in the crown of the Queen of England.
This is not the last chapter in the saga of the religious synthesis. Kabir, Salabega and among the Muslims Haridas have sung the glory of Jagannath. The bhajans of Salabega are now among the most famous prayers addressed to Jagannath. Though they were their God, either Haridas or Kabir were welcomed to worship, and one of the Gajapati Kings of Odisha Ramachandra Dev converted himself into a Muslim. In order to facilitate his worship of Jagannath, the Deity of Patitapabana was placed at the entrance of the Lion’s Gate of the Jagannath Temple.
