Odisha celebrates a lot of festivals related to many gods and goddesses and it is India’s best-kept secret. Puri in Odisha is famous for the temple of lord Jagannath which is considered an incarnation of lord Vishnu. Do you know that lord Krishna is related to Lord Jagannath?

The history of Lord Jagannath:

When Mahabharat ended, Devi Gandhari was in deep sorrow  due to the death of her sons. She always believed that lord Krishna would do something to stop the war with his divine powers but he did not. So she cursed Lord Krishna that he and his Yadu Vansh will face death by killing each other and Dwarka will be flooded in the next 35 years. Time passed and after 35 years her curse was finally became true when there was a dispute between the Yadavas and they started killing each other. This led to the tragic destruction of Dwarka. 

One day Lord Krishna was lying down near a river in the meantime a hunter named Jara shoot an arrow to  Lord Krishna by mistakably while focusing  on a deer. When he realized that the arrow had penetrated Lord Krishna, he begged and pleaded with the Lord to forgive him. Lord Krishna comforted him and said that this was destiny and it was supposed to be done by Jara. As a result Lord Krishna left the materialistic world. 

Saddened by such an ordeal, Jarrah went in search of Arjuna and briefed him about the situation. Listening to this with deep sorrow Arjuna performed the last rituals of Lord Krishna. His entire body was turned into ashes except for his heart, his heart was vibrant and divine, and it remained unaffected Arjuna placed the heart on a wooden plank and let it flow in the river.

Jagannath Temple History:

The history of Jagannath temple is quite interesting. The heart floated through the river and after a long period, it reached the ocean at Puri, Orissa. As per the puran Biswa Basu, the rebirth of Jara with his tribal community Sabaraz discovered the heart of Lord Krishna which was in the form of a concentrated blue stone. They understood its divinity and used to worship it in a cave as an idol of Neel Madhav. Nobody except the tribal community knew about this idol but one day Indra Dumna, the king of Malwa country and an immense devotee of Lord Vishnu got aware of the idol of Neel Madhav and wished to possess it.

To do that he sent his Brahman priest Vidyapati to ask Sabras but Vishwa Basu, the head of Sabras refused to do so meanwhile Vidyapati fell in love with Lalitha who was the daughter of Biswabasu and married her after a while. He asked Lalitha to convince her father that Vidyapati would take a look at Neel Madhav. 

After countless efforts, Biswa Basu agreed to take Vidyapati blindfolded to the cave of Neel Madhav but Vidyapathi was very intelligent as he dropped mustard seeds all along the trail so that when the yellow mustard flowers would grow from the seeds he would trace the way and come back with King Indradimna. After reaching the cave Biswa Basu took off the blindfolds of Vidyapati and he stood astonished by looking at the very divine and radiant Neel Madhav.

He went back to the kingdom and informed about the incident to King l Indradyumna. After some time king and Vidyapati left to visit the cave by tracking the mustard flowers, when they reached the cave they saw that the idol was missing. Biswa Basu shifted the place of Neel Madhav thinking that Vidyapati would return to steal it. 

King Indradyumna was very depressed that even though he was an immense devotee of Lord Vishnu, he couldn’t get to see the pious idol. One day he had a dream where Lord Vishnu advised him that a wooden plank of neem plant was floating, across the ocean of puri and as you are my immense devotee you should make the idols through that particular wood and place it in the temple, Also you should install Neel Madhav in the sculptures. After waking up from the dream he ran towards the ocean where he actually found this neem wooden plank, he with his entire army tried to lift up the wood but failed to do so hence he sought help from Biswa Basu who helped him by lifting up the huge wooden plank and took it to the kingdom. 

Coming back to the kingdom, the King started searching for an artisan to make a sculpture out of it. That time Lord Vishwakarma appeared in the form of an old artisan and told the king that he would make sculptures out of them so the Queen got worried and asked King Indradyumna whether the artisan would survive without the food and water for so many days. So King Indradyumna had to check in the chamber but as the door of the chamber opened, the old artisan vanished leaving the three incomplete idols of Lord Jagannath, his brother Lord Balabhadra and his sister Devi Subhadra. 

These idols were merely human sketches with red lips as hibiscus petals, round eyes as huge circles and only the arms coming out right below the neck. The King was astonished by looking at it and realized his mistake he pleaded with the Lord and asked for forgiveness. Lord Vishnu advised him to place these unfinished sculptures in the temple so King Indradyumna bowed down to Lord Vishnu and built the temple for the idols near the ocean of Puri. He situated the unfinished idols in the temple and installed the Neel Madhav, the heart of Lord Krishnaa, into the sculptures. This is how the heart of lord Krishna was placed in the idol of lord Jagannath. 

Religious significance of Jagannath Temple:

Jagannath temple is one of the four dhams of Hinduism and it is one the most ancient temples in India. It’s the only temple where only people following Hinduism are allowed.Find the exact location of Jagannath Temple in Puri on Google Maps. This temple is full of mystery and every day thousands of devotees gather here to pray and get a glimpse of Lord Jagannath.

Even today the devotees of Lord Jagannath perform all the rituals and pray for their well-being. After every 12 to 19 years when the full moon appears twice during the month of Ashad, the devotees replace the heart of lord Krishna which is now called as Brahma-padartha. in a newly re-created wooden idol of Lord Jagannath. These re-created idols are carved from specific neem wood known as daru Brahma This ritual is performed and celebrated as the festival of Navakalevara. The devotees who replace the heart wear gloves to avoid the electric shock generated by Brahma padarth, they also tie blindfolds and replace the heart in deep darkness as the heart vibrates if it comes in contact with the light. 

People of Odisha also celebrate rath yatra which is the most famous festival of Lord Jagannath. The huge self-constructed and decorated beautiful chariots of lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra are taken by the devotees to the house of the aunt at Gundicha Temple it is believed to be the journey of lord jagannath to his aunt’s house during this rathyatra people across the globe come to visit the deities and get their blessings.