Statue of Aruna the charioteer of the Sun God on top of the Aruna Stambha in front of the Singhadwara : According to legend, the construction of the first Jagannath temple was commissioned by King Indradyumna, son of Bharata and Sunanda, and a Malava king, mentioned in the Mahabharata and the Puranas.
The legendary account as found in the Skanda-Purana, Brahma Purana and other Puranas and later Odia works state that Lord Jagannath was originally worshipped as Lord Neela Madhaba by a Savar king (tribal chief) named Viswavasu. Having heard about the deity, King Indradyumna sent a Brahmin priest, Vidyapati to locate the deity, who was worshipped secretly in a dense forest by Viswavasu.
Vidyapati tried his best but could not locate the place. But at last he managed to marry Viswavasu's daughter Lalita. At repeated request of Vidyapti, Viswavasu took his son-in-law blind folded to a cave where Lord Neela Madhaba was worshipped.
Vidyapati was very intelligent. He dropped mustard seeds on the ground on the way. The seeds germinated after a few days, which enabled him to find out the cave later on. On hearing from him, King Indradyumna proceeded immediately to Odra desha (Odisha) on a pilgrimage to see and worship the Deity. But the deity had disappeared.
The king was disappointed. The Deity was hidden in sand. The king was determined not to return without having a darshan of the deity and observed fast unto death at Mount Neela, Then a celestial voice cried Thou shalt see him. Afterward, the king performed a horse sacrifice and built a magnificent temple for Vishnu.
Narasimha Murti brought by Narada was installed in the temple. During sleep, the king had a vision of Lord Jagannath. Also an astral voice directed him to receive the fragrant tree on the seashore and make idols out of it. Accordingly, the king got the image of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Chakra Sudarshan made out of the wood of the divine tree and installed them in the temple.
Indradyumna's prayer to Lord Brahma : King Indradyumna put up for Jagannath the tallest monument of the world. It was 1,000 cubits high. He invited Lord Brahma, the cosmic creator, consecrate the temple and the images.
Brahma came all the way from Heaven for this purpose. Seeing the temple he was immensely pleased with him. Brahma asked Indradyumna as to in what way can he (Brahma) fulfill the king's desire, since was very much pleased with him for his having put the most beautiful Temple for Lord Vishnu.
With folded hands, Indradyumna said, "My Lord if you are really pleased with me, kindly bless me with one thing, and it is that I should be issueless and that I should be the last member of my family." In case anybody left alive after him, he would only take pride as the owner of the temple and would not work for the society.
Origin of Temple :The traditional story concerning the origins of the Lord Jagannath temple is that here the original image of Jagannath (a deity form of Vishnu) at the end of Dvapara yuga manifested near a banyan tree, near seashore in the form of an Indranila mani or the Blue Jewel. It was so dazzling that it could grant instant moksha, so the God Dharma or Yama wanted to hide it in the earth and was successful.
In Kali Yuga King Indradyumna of Malwa wanted to find that mysterious image and to do so he performed harsh penance to obtain his goal. Vishnu then instructed him to go to the Puri seashore and find a floating log to make an image from its trunk.
The King found the log of wood. He did a yajna from which God Yajna Nrisimha appeared and instructed that Narayana should be made as fourfold expansion, i.e. Paramatma as Vasudeva, his Vyuha as Samkarshana, Yogamaya as Subhadra, and his Vibhava as Sudarsana. Vishwakarma appeared in the form of an artisan and prepared images of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra from the tree.
When this log, radiant with light was seen floating in the sea, Narada told the king to make three idols out of it and place them in a pavilion. Indradyumna got Visvakarma, the architect of Gods, to build a magnificent temple to house the idols, and Vishnu himself appeared in the guise of a carpenter to make the idols on condition that he was to be left undisturbed until he finished the work.
But just after two weeks, the Queen became very anxious. She took the carpenter to be dead as no sound came from the temple. Therefore, she requested the king to open the door. Thus, they went to see Vishnu at work at which the latter abandoned his work leaving the idols unfinished.
The idol was devoid of any hands. But a divine voice told Indradyumana to install them in the temple. It has also been widely believed that in spite of the idol being without hands, it can watch over the world and be its lord.
The Ratha Yatra in Puri in modern times showing the three chariots of the deities with the Temple in the background
Invasions and desecrations of the Temple : The temple annals, the Madala Panji records that the Jagannath temple at Puri has been invaded and plundered eighteen times.[19] In 1692, Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb ordered to close the temple until he wanted to reopen it otherwise it would be demolished, the local Mughal officials who came to carry out the job were requested by the locals and the temple was merely closed.[citation needed] It was re-opened only after Aurangzeb's death in 1707.
Starting from Lord Jagannath himself, history has it that he was a tribal deity, adorned by the Sabar people, as a symbol of Narayan. Another legend claims him to be Nilamadhava, an image of Narayana made of blue stone and worshipped by the aboriginals. He was brought to Nilagiri (blue mountain) or Nilachala and installed there as Shri Jagannath in company with Balabhadra and Subhadra.
The images made of wood are also claimed to have their distant linkage with the vanvasi (forest dwellers) system of worshipping wooden poles. To cap it all the Daitapatis, who have a fair share of responsibilities to perform rituals of the Temple, are claimed to be descendants of the hill tribes of Odisha. So we may safely claim that the beginning of the cultural history of Shrikshetra is found in the cultures of Hindu tribes.
The three deities came to be claimed as the symbols of Samyak Darshan, Samyak Jnana and Samyak Charita usually regarded as Ratnatraya, triple gems of the Jain culture, assimilation of which leads to Omniscience and Moksha (salvation).
Jagannath is worshipped as Vishnu or Narayana or Krishna and Lord Balabhadra as Shesha. Simultaneously, the deities are regarded as the bhairava with Vimala (the devi or the consort of Shiva) installed in the campus of the temple. So ultimately we find a fusion of Saivism, Shaktism and Vaishnavism of the Hindu religion so reverently held together in Shrikshetra.
Acharyas and Jagannatha Puri : All of the renowned acharyas including Madhvacharya have been known to visit this kshetra. Adi Shankara established his Govardhana matha here. Guru Nanak had visited this place with his disciples Bala and Manda. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of Gaudiya Vaishnavism stayed here for 24 years, establishing that the love of God can be spread by chanting the Hare Krishna mantra.
Srimad Vallabhacharya Mahaprabhu visited Jagannath Puri and performed a 7-day recitation of Srimad Bhagvat. His sitting place is still famous as his "baithakji", roughly literally translating to his seat. It confirms his visit to Puri.
A famous incident took place when JagadGuru Acharya Srimad Vallabhacharya Mahaprabhu visited. There was a Shastrartha being held between the Brahmins before the king himself and 4 questions were asked. Who is the highest of Gods, What is the highest of mantras, What is the highest scripture and What is the highest service.
The discourse went on for many days with many schools of thought. Very young teen Vallabhacharyaji Mahaprabhu also joined the debated and answered all the questions at once. His answers were accepted and appreciated by all except few opposition scholars, they challenged the answers. The debate then resumed for a long period.
Finally Shri Vallabhacharya said to ask Lord Jagannath to confirm Shri Vallabh's answers. It was mutually decided between all scholars and king that whatever Lord Jagannath would write, it would be considered as the final and correct answer
A pen, inkpot and the paper were left alone in the inner sanctum before the deity to write the answers.
After some time, the doors were opened and 4 answers were found to be written. 1) The Son of Devaki (Krishna) is the God of Gods 2) His name is the highest of mantras 3) Highest of all scriptures is Devki Putra's Bhagavat Geeta 4) Service to Him is the Highest service
The king along with all other scholars were shocked and declared Shri Vallabh the winner of the discourse
Some of the pandits who participated became jealous of young Shri Vallabh and wanted to test Him. The next day was Ekadashi, a fasting day where one must fast from grains. The pandits gave Shri Vallabh rice Prasad of Shri Jagannathji (The temple is famous for this).
If Shri Vallabh ate it, He would break His vow of fasting but if He did not take it, He would disrespect Lord Jagannath. Shri Vallabh with all honor and respect accepted the prasad in his hand. He stood there in the temple, spent the rest of the day and night explaining shlokas of the greatness of Prasad and ate the rice the next morning after sunrise
The Sikh Aarti Gagan mai thaal was recited by first guru, Guru Nanak[28] in 1506 or 1508 during his journey (called "udaasi") to east India, at the revered Jagannath Temple, Puri. This arti is sung (not performed with platter and lamps etc.) daily after recitation of Rehraas Sahib and Ardās at the Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar and at most Gurudwara sahibs.
Char Dham
The temple is one of the holiest Vaishnava Hindu Char Dham (four divine sites) sites also including Rameswaram, Badrinath, Puri and Dwarka.Though the origins are not clearly known, the Advaita school of Hinduism propagated by Sankaracharya, who created Hindu monastic institutions across India, attributes the origin of Char Dham to the seer.
The four monasteries lie across the four corners of India and their attendant temples are Badrinath Temple at Badrinath in the North, Jagannath Temple at Puri in the East, Dwarakadheesh Temple at Dwarka in the West and Ramanathaswamy Temple at Rameswaram in the South. Though ideologically the temples are divided between the sects of Hinduism, namely Saivism and Vaishnavism, the Char Dham pilgrimage is an all Hindu affair. There are four abodes in Himalayas called Chota Char Dham (Chota meaning small): Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri - all of these lie at the foothills of Himalayas
The name Chota was added during the mid of 20th century to differentiate the original Char Dhams.[citation needed] The journey across the four cardinal points in India is considered sacred by Hindus who aspire to visit these temples once in their lifetime. Traditionally the trip starts at the eastern end from Puri, proceeding in clockwise direction in a manner typically followed for circumambulation in Hindu temples.