One of the greatest and most famous
Hindu Temple is the temple of Lord Jagannaatha (Lord of the world).
It yearly attracts hundred thousands of pilgrims, as in Puri (Orissa).
Every pious Hindu longs to have been to at least once in his life, in
Jagannatha Dama. The most auspicious occasion to visit Puri
is the famous Ratha Yatra, the car festival, when the Gods are taken out
to three hug cars, newly constructed every year, and pulled by the pilgrims
to their summer residence, the Gundicha temple. It was this festival
which most shocked the first Christian missionaries in Orissa, who standing
at the temple's main gate, the Lion Gate, preached against the moloch.
Because of the missionaries fervid propaganda against the involvement
of the British government with the administration of a 'heathen' temple,
that the Lord Jagannatha, and its corruption juggernaut, became
a common term in English language which is still used. So when England
joined the common market, there was a campaign of British carriers against
the continental juggernauts, namely the bigger and therefore more pilgrims
continental lorries.
The car festival at Puri is the only occasion, when everybody may see
and even approach the Puri Gods. The low castes and tribals, which during
the past three centuries been excluded from the temple, and often still
do not dare to enter it, as well as the modern mlechhas, the westerners,
who are still forbidden to enter the temple. Because at this festival
not, as it is usually done, the movable images (calanti pratima)
but the main images themselves are taken out of the temple. These are
very peculiar indeed. Jagannatha being identified with Krishna,
one should expect the main figures to display some known examples of Vaishnava
iconography, and their calanti pratima do so. But the iconography
of the main figures, is unique: they consist of roughly carved and painted
wooden blocks with a waist separating the enormous heads from the trunks.
The images of Balbadra, the elder brother of Jagannatha, and of
Jagannatha himself have a sort of arm stumps, protruding from the
head, whereas the small figure of Subhadra, the sister of both,
who stands in between, has no arm at all. Within the trinity Jagannath
has, as Dr. Tripathy remarked, special features, whereas Balabhadra's
and Subhadra's heads have snake hoods and their eyes are, according
to the Indian standard of beauty, almond shaped, the eyes of Jagannatha
are round and his head is flat. The three figures are accompanied by Vishnu's
symbol of the cakra, Sudarshan. Again, Sudarshan is not as one expects,
a dish, but just a wooden pole, wrapped in cloth, regarded as the pillar,
where the dish rests or better ought to rest and curiously enough, Sudarshan
does not during the car festival, travel on the same car as Jagannatha,
but accompanies Subhadra. Their appearance, unique within a Hindu
cult of that importance and the fact that they are made of wood, also
very unusual indeed, clearly suggests a tribal origin of the Puri images,
an origin which is corroborated by the Sthala Mahatmyas. The Sanskrit
and Oriya texts (Skanda and Brahma Purana, Musali and Vana
Parva of Sarla Das, Deula by Nilambara Das and the Kapila Samhita) tell
us that Jagannatha, or Purusottama, as he is also called, was worshipped
as a stone figure, named Nilamadhava, to the South of a river called
Chitrotpala, by Savara Visvavasu, the king of an aboriginal tribe. The
Hindu king Indradyumna of Malva heard of his glory, and sent a messenger,
who after various incidents, succeeded to get the darshan of the Lord,
and after having remonstrated with him for letting himself be worshipped
by barbarous aboriginals, got his consent to be worshipped in Puri and
his promise to appear there. In due time a trunk of Sandal wood, the Daru
Brahma, appeared floating at Puri and out of this holy wood the figures
were carved by nobody else that Visvakarma himself. The obvious tribal
origin of this figures has so far not received too much attention. This
is mainly due to the fact, that early writers on Jagannatha were
fascinated by the Buddhist elements in the cult-Jagannatha for
instance in Orissa has taken the place of Visnus ninth avatara,
namely Buddha. Modern authors have stressed the tribal origin, but mainly
took it for granted, that the images as they are today are tribal, perhaps
with the exception of the painting . But if we really look at the iconography
of tribal religion, we have immediately to not, as Verrier Elwin stated,
that 'Anthropomorphic images are very rate in tribal India'. The only
tribal anthropomorphic images in Orissa are the Kittungs and Sahibossums
for the Southern Saaras. The Sahit-Osums "Sahit-gods' are caricatures
of European officials with hats, set up at the village boundaries to prevent
such officials and any other bad elements or spirits to enter the village,
and therefore, definitely of wooden origin.
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