53 Facts About Jagannath

Idol of Jagannath is a carved and decorated wooden stump with large round eyes and a symmetric face, and the idol has a conspicuous absence of hands or legs.

The worship procedures, sacraments and rituals associated with Jagannath are syncretic and include rites that are uncommon in Hinduism.

Jagannath is significant regionally in the Indian states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Gujarat, Assam, Manipur and Tripura.

The Jagannath temple is massive, over 61 metres high in the Nagara Hindu temple style, and one of the best surviving specimens of Kalinga architecture, namely Odisha art and architecture.

Icon of Jagannath in his temples is a brightly painted, rough-hewn log of neem wood.

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Jagannath is shown with an Urdhva Pundra, the Vaishnava U-shaped mark on his forehead.

In some exceptional medieval and modern era paintings in museums outside India, such as in Berlin states Starza, Jagannath is shown "fully anthropomorphised" but with the traditional abstract mask face.

Typical icon of Jagannath is unlike other deities found in Hinduism who are predominantly anthropomorphic.

Jagannath was one of the introduction to Hinduism to early European explorers and merchants who sailed into Calcutta and ports of the Bay of Bengal.

The third difference is the flat head of Jagannath icon, compared to semi-circular carved heads of the other two.

The five Vaishnavite Sakhas ["Comrades"] of Orissa during Prataparudradeva's time expounded in their works the idea that Jagannath is Purna Brahman from whom other Avataras like Rama, Krishna, etc.

Every year in the month of Bhadra, Jagannath is dressed and decorated in the form of the Vamana avatar of Vishnu.

Jagannath appeared in the form of Rama, another avatar of Vishnu, to Tulsidas, who worshipped him as Rama and called him Raghunath during his visit to Puri in the 16th century.

Jagannath is venerated as Bhairava or Lord Shiva, the consort of Goddess Vimala, by Shaivites and Shakta sects.

Yet another evidence is that Jagannath is sometimes identified with or substituted for Shakyamuni Buddha, as the ninth avatar of Vishnu by Hindus, when it could have been substituted for any other avatar.

Jagannath was worshipped in Puri by the Odias as a form of Shakyamuni Buddha from a long time.

Jagannath remains in the throne inside the temple, holding the Conch and Discuss in the form of Buddha.

Furthermore, the mention of Buddha as part of ten avatara was prevalent across many Hindu sects other than Jagannath cult and was a broader movement in Vaishnavism to incorporate Buddha as one of the ten main avatara of Vishnu between fifth and the sixth century, who was in turn linked with Jagannath as a source of all avataras starting from Jayadeva of 12th century.

Pandit Nilakantha Das suggested that Jagannath was a deity of Jain origin because of the appending of Nath to many Jain Tirthankars.

Jagannath felt Jagannath meant the 'World personified' in the Jain context and was derived from Jinanath.

However, states Starza, a Jain text mentions the Jagannath shrine was restored by Jains, but the authenticity and date of this text is unclear.

Jagannath was later renamed to Shubhadra per Vaishnava terminology for the divine feminine.

The historic evidence and current practices suggest that the Jagannath tradition has a strong dedication to the Harihara idea as well as tantric Shri Vidya practices, neither of which reconcile with the Vaishnava origins proposal.

Jagannath is worshipped as Purushottama form of Vishnu, Krishnaite sampradayas, as example, Gaudiya Vaishnavs, have identified him strongly with Krishna.

In Gaudiya Vaishnav tradition, Balabhadra is the elder brother Balaram, Jagannath is the younger brother Krishna, and Subhadra is the youngest sister.

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Balabhadra considered the elder brother of Jagannath is sometimes identified with and worshipped as Shiva.

Subhadra now considered Jagannath's sister has been considered as a deity who used to be Brahma.

The offerings of Jagannath becomes Mahaprasad only after it is re-offered to Goddess Vimala.

Madala Panji observes that Neela Madhav transformed into Jagannath and was worshipped alone as a unitary figure, not as the part of a triad.

Jagannath is same as the metaphysical Para Brahman, the form of Krishna that prevades as abstract kala in Vaishnava thought.

Jagannath is abstraction which can be inferred and felt but not seen, just like time.

Jagannath is chaitanya, and his companion Subhadra represent Shakti while Balabhadra represents Jnana.

The 17th-century Odia classic Rasa kallola by Dina Krushna opens with a praise to Jagannath, then recites the story of Krishna with an embedded theology urging the pursuit of knowledge, love and devotion to realize the divine in everything.

Jagannath's attack was unsuccessful and his army defeated by the Kanchi Army.

Jagannath offered the princess in marriage to King Purusottam, calling the King a Royal sweeper of God.

Since the 12th century under the influence of Ramanujacharya, Jagannath culture was increasingly identified with Vaishnavism.

Jagannath considered Buddha-Jagannath as one of the avatars of Krishna.

Shree Jagannath has always been very close to the people of Bengal.

Besides, Ratha Yatra is pompously celebrated in West Bengal, where Lord Jagannath is worshipped extensively in Bengal homes and temples.

Jagannath converted noted scholars like Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya to his philosophy.

Jagannath left a great influence on the then king of Odisha, Prataprudra Deva, and the people of Odisha.

ISKCON devotees worship Jagannath and take part in the Ratha Yatra in memory of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spending 18 years in Puri worshipping Jagannath and taking an active part in the Ratha Yatra.

Jagannath, is worshipped as the Bhairava, traditionally always a form of Shiva.

Jagannath-Vishnu equated with Shiva, is interpreted to convey the oneness of God.

Jagannath is considered the combination of 5 Gods Vishnu, Shiva, Surya, Ganesh and Durga by Shaktas.

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When Jagannath has his divine slumber he is believed to assume the aspect of Durga.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh the famous 19th-century Sikh ruler of Punjab held great respect in Jagannath, willed his most prized possession the Koh-i-Noor diamond to Jagannath in Puri, while on his deathbed in 1839.

Muslim rulers did not destroy the Jagannath temple complex because it was a source of substantial treasury revenue through the collection of pilgrim tax collected from Hindus visiting it on their pilgrimage.

Christian missionaries who arrived through the ports of eastern states of India such as Calcutta in the 18th- and 19th-centuries, Jagannath was the "core of idolatry" and the target of "an all-out attack".

Jagannath, called Juggernaut by the Christian missionary Claudius Buchanan, was through Buchanan's letters the initial introduction in America of Hinduism, which he termed as "Hindoo".

Francois Bernier mentioned the Puri chariot festival, in his 1667 memoir, but did not describe the icon of Jagannath raising the question whether he was able to see it.

Jagannath became an influential figure and icon for power and politics during the 19th-century colonialism and Christian missionary activity, states Osuri.

The huge chariot of Jagannath pulled during Ratha Yatra is the etymological origin of the English word juggernaut.