Lord Jagannatha is the great institution of Orissan culture and tradition. Srimandira, the famous temple of Lord Jagannatha at sriksetra (Puri) in Orissa (the land of Visnu) stands on the great hillock 'Blue Mount' by the side of the Bay of Bengal. The temple with its deities Jagannatha, Balabhadra and Subhadra forms the prime centre for the religious people of India and abroad. The uniqueness of Lord Jagannatha lies in the fact that originally a deity worshipped by the autochthonous sabaras, gradually embraced all the religious sects like Jainas, Bauddhas, Saivas, Śāktas, Vaisnavas, Ganapatyas, Sauras and Nathas etc. Consequently, the cult of Jagannatha came to be regarded as the religion of the masses or 'Gana Dharma'. It now represents one of the most important constituents of Hindu religion and culture. It embodies within itself the principles of secularism, religious tolerance, co-existence, equality of castes and creeds and of socialism.
Various Sanskrit texts such as the Padma Purana, Narada Purana, Matsya Purana, Brahma Purana, Garuda Purana, and the Skanda Purana etc. have narrated the antiquity, tradition and culture of Purusottama-Kşetra, the sacred abode of Lord Vişnu known as srī Jagannatha or Puruşottama, a deity made of Daru. The word Daru is traced in the Rgveda:
Ado yaddäru plavate sindhoḥ pare apurusam/ Tada rabhasva durhaņo tena gaccha parastaram//
(RV. X.155.3)
The purusa of Rigveda is identified with Lord Visnu from whose body is created the entire Universe and hence He is the Visvarupa. This Visvarupa form of the God is said to be shown to the courtiers of Duryodhana, Arjuna and Uttarika as described in the Mahabharata (chs. 33, 54 and 129). Thus, the use of the expression Purusottama for the Lord Visnu or Jagannatha is entirely justified.
The Sanskrit texts which refer to Purusottama-dhama and the deities of Purusottama, Subhadra and Balabhadra, are Barhaspatya Sutram, Kapila Samhita, Tirtha Cintamani, Ksetra Mahatmyam, Niladri Mahodayam, Purusottama Candrika, Rudrayamala, Tantrayamala, Purusottama Tattva, Saubhagya Mañjuşă, and Gopalarcana Paddhati, etc. Besides the Niladri Mahodayam, all the other works describe Purusottama more or less in the same manner as does the author of the Skanda Purana (Utkala Khanda). Now, the existence of another Sthala Purana the Bamadeva Samhitë has been discovered. This text contains 32 chapters (adhyayas) and eulogizes the glory of Jagannatha-triad in perspective of the accounts given the Purusottama Ksetra Māhātmyam of the Skanda Purana. The object of the present study is to unveil the facts figured in the Sthala Purana Bamadeva Samhita about the tradition, culture and antiquity of the Lord Jagannatha of sriksetra (Puri). Attempts have been made here to critically analyse the present text in a concrete and coherent manner, co-herence between the rich cultural heritage of Utkala (the present Odisha) and the cult of Lord Jagannatha.
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