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Re: The religious meaning of ``Jagannatha''
The story is mostly correct and follows the Jagannatha temple's
own scripture. However, it leaves out some details.
In article <4dpeuh$moa@babbage.ece.uc.edu>,
GOPAL Ganapathiraju Sree Ramana <gopal@ecf.toronto.edu> wrote:
>There is a story which goes like this:
>There was one king who wanted to construct a temple for
The King was Indradyumna
>krishna.
in His form as Niila-Maadhava, who was being worshipped before
that by Shabara tribesmen. The king's head priest had married
into that tribe and had been given darshan of Lord Niila-Maadhava
by the Shabara chieftain. Niila-Maadhava was an absolute secret
of the tribe until the priest learned about Him and then
told the king. When the King went to see Him, though, the
Lord had left that form, and so Brahmaa himself came down to
bring Indradyumna to Satyaloka. Niila-Maadhava had announced that
He would return to Indradyumna as Jagannatha, the form in which
He presides over the universe during the second half of Brahmaa's
life.
After an hour or so on Satyaloka, Brahmaa agreed to send Indradyumna
back. But wait, by then, millions of years had already passed on
Earth and Indradyumna was only an ancestor spoken of in some
dusty history books.... Thanks to an immortal crow, however,
Indradyumna is identified as that same king who was supposed to
build a temple of Lord Jagannatha. Now, on with the show....
>after a great search and screening, he finds a
>shilpi (sculptor sp?) whom he considres as the best, and
I forget the sculptor's name, but he was an incarnation of
Vishvakarma, the architect of the demigods.
>requests him to make the idols for the temple. He agrees,
Deities
>but puts a condition: that he should be given all required
>materials, gold, ornaments/jewellery, adequate food sufficient
>for 6 months, and a place to work, and most importantly
I think it was only six weeks, but can check.
>he should *not* be disturbed for these 6 months even by
>a gentle knock on the door. He gets all the items asked
>for, and he goes into to the room alloted in the palace,
>and closes the room. King is excited that his dream of
>constructing the temple is taking shape, and is curious
>to see the progress of making of idols, but due to the
Deities
>condition, he was never able to enter. he keeps wandering
>around the room during his leisure, with an expectation
>that he can peep in if the door is to be opened. he is
>disappointed with the condition, since he was always
>thinking that he should oversee the scupture, as he himself
>is well educated in the field.
>
>he is puzzled, since he does not hear any sounds at all
>coming from the room for weeks, nor finds the doors open.
>after about 5 months or so, he gets suspicous: could he
>have gone away for good with gold and ornaments?
>
>so he opens the doors gently. The shilpi gets annoyed and
>stops making the idols, and tells him that the corner stone
Deities. Actually, I heard that the sculptor just disappeared,
was nowhere to be seen.
>of belief in god is faith. The king apologises and laments,
>but the shilpi says, it is the sweet wish of god not to have
>hands and feet, and that he should not stop installation of
>the unfinished idols. and these idols are : krishna, balarama
>and subhadra.
Indradyumna was quite surprised to see the Deities in these forms;
he had expected to see the Lord reclining on Ananta with Laksmi
at His feet. Lord Brahmaa and Naarada Muni appeared on the scene
and told Indradyumna that this was the Lord's will, to thus confirm
the statements of the Shvetaashvatara and other Upanishads that
say that though He has no material arms, He accepts all offerings.
The other meaning is that these were the way the three actually
looked when, at the solar eclipse at Kurukshetra, They overheard
the women of Vrindaavan and the women of Dvaaraka talking about how
desolate Vrindaavan had become since Krishna had left. Subhadraa
had been appointed to stand watch outside the tent to make sure that
Krishna and Balaraama didn't come by and overhear, but she decided to
let Them come by anyway. Hearing of the Vrajavaasi's transcendental sorrow,
Their eyes widened and Their arms retracted into Their bodies.
>i do not know how authentic the story is.
It's rather standard, actually.
>if this story is right, is this not about jagannath?
It's about Jagannatha.
>if so, is krishna not vishnu?
Krishna is undoubtedly Vishnu.
Yours,
Vijay
