52 Facts About Lord Jagannath

Idol of Lord 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 Lord Jagannath are syncretic and include rites that are uncommon in Hinduism.

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

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

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Lord 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, Lord Jagannath is shown "fully anthropomorphised" but with the traditional abstract mask face.

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

Lord 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 Lord 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 Lord Jagannath is Purna Brahman from whom other Avataras like Rama, Krishna, etc.

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

Lord 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.

Yet another evidence is that Lord 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.

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

Lord 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 Lord 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 Lord Jagannath as a source of all avataras starting from Jayadeva of 12th century.

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

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

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

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

The historic evidence and current practices suggest that the Lord 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.

Lord 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, Lord Jagannath is the younger brother Krishna, and Subhadra is the youngest sister.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lord 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 Lord 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.

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

Lord 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, Lord Jagannath culture was increasingly identified with Vaishnavism.

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

Shree Lord 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.

Lord Jagannath converted noted scholars like Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya to his philosophy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Muslim rulers did not destroy the Lord 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, Lord Jagannath was the "core of idolatry" and the target of "an all-out attack".

Lord 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 Lord Jagannath raising the question whether he was able to see it.

Lord 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 Lord Jagannath pulled during Ratha Yatra is the etymological origin of the English word juggernaut.