Mystery Solved – Story of the idol at Jagannath Puri Temple – Part 3

Read part 1 and part 2

From the top of the mountain the forest looked like rolling waves which had come to halt under some spell. The lush green trees covered a range of hills not too high. Between the hills spread sleepy tribal hamlets, the realm of Visvavasu. It had been a quiet realm always, and since the previous day it bad grown even more quiet. That was natural.

Then chief, Visvavasu, lay in swoon for most of the time. The chief’s daughter, Lalita, wept continuously. Nobody knew exactly what had happened. As usual, Visvavasu had gone out of his house at dawn. But that day he returned soon, looking wild, panting and sweating. “What has your husband done?” That was all he could say, staring at Lalita at the foreyard of their house. Then he swooned away. At first stupefied, Lalita cried in her horror and sat down by her father’s side. Others came rushing to the spot. They carried their chief into his room and sprinkled water on his face. He recovered his senses, only to lose then again. Lalita had instinctively understood what had happened. She had always a feeling that although Vidyapati loved her deeply, his readiness to live with them in the forest was not entirely due to it. He was counting days for a chance to fulfil some other mission. Visvavasu’s shock had only one meaning for Lalita. Vidyapati had escaped with their secret Deity for which he had evinced such keen interest. The day passed and so did pass the night, without the father and the daughter touching food or going to sleep. The next morning Visvavasu walked towards the cave, in a daze, although he knew that the cave was empty. He was followed by his kinsmen. Inside the cave he grasped the stone upon which his Deity used to be there and he refused to budge. Hours passed. Those who accompanied him did not know what to do. And then someone came running at noon and told them excitedly that he had sighted a party of strangers atop the hill. The one who dominated the party looked like a king. Soon another messenger reported of having sighted Vidyapati in the party. By then everybody had come to know, through whispers, the cause of Visvavasu’s sorrow. “They have taken away our greatest possession. Are they not satisfied still and do they mean to plunder us? We will fight to the last man!” shouted a few voices. But as more reports began to arrive, it became clear that the king’s party carried no arms.

 

The king himself had already told some people that he was coming to greet Visvavasu. Visvavasu came out of the cave to receive the king, though he had not stopped weeping. The king, on sighting him, came running and embraced him. “Visvavasu, I am the thief, not your son-in-law. Pardon me and listen to me with kindness,” said the king. He then narrated how he got the inspiration to construct a magnificent temple, how he had had the feeling thai somewhere, not far from Puri, there was a secret object of worship that must be gathered for the temple and how, of all his counsellors, Vidyapati atone had a feel for things divine. “Visvavasu, for generations the Lord had been gracious to your dynasty. Now it is the Lord’s wish that He should be available to all the seekers. In any case, He does not wish to be seen by others in the same form as you and your forefathers saw Him. What you worshipped will be kept inside a new image that will be carved out of a block of log,” said the king. He then told him how the log refused to come ashore and how he felt sure that it will come only if Visvavasu was there to receive it. The Lord knew in what a state of anguish his dear devotee, Visvavasu, was. The work cannot go on unless Visvavasu decided to lend his support to it.

Visvavasu heard the king with rapt attention. He was left in no doubt that what the king said was true. He sat silent for long. Then he stood up. “I am ready to follow you,” he said. The king embraced him again, tears of joy and gratefulness streaming down his cheeks. ”My daughter, do not misunderstand your husband. It is only for a lofty cause that he kept certain things secret from you,” the king told Lalita who bowed to him. “Lalita, I apologise to you. I will be back in no time and arrange for you to accompany me to Puri.” Vidyapati said to Lalita who had not stopped weeping. It was evening when the king and his party, along with Visvavasu, reached Puri. At once the king and Visvavasu set out into the sea in a boat. Lo and behold, as soon as they touched the floating log and gave it a push, it began moving towards the shore, dancing on the waves. Within minutes the jubilant crowd rolled it on to the sands and then it was carried to the castle. What form will the Deity take? That was the question to bother the king next. He summoned the kingdom’s leading craftsmen. They said that they were in the habit of carving images out of stone-following some established designs. They were not sure of their crafts man ship on a block of log, particularly when it concerned the image of a Deity.

carving

Before long an old man appeared before the king and claimed that he knew what to carve out of the log. He had been told in his dream that the Lord wished to be manifested as Krishna, along with his elder brother Balabhadra and their sister, Subhadra. At no other shrine was to be seen this trinity. This will be the exclusive feature of this divinely inspired temple. The old man’s claim carried conviction. The king agreed to his taking up the work. But I have a condition, O noble King. I must be left alone with the log and my instruments. The door of the house inside which I will work must remain closed until I have opened it.” said the strange craftsman. “What about your food?” “I’ll have it after my work is over,” calmly stated the stranger. The minister of the king was not sure that the stranger’s mind was quite sound. But the king, surprisingly, agreed to his condition without any hesitation. The stranger was given house situated in the castle campus. The faint sound of his instruments fashioning the wood could be heard if one pressed one’s ear against the door. And Queen Gundicha Devi, the consort of King Indradyumna, was never tired of doing that. Time and again, she would appear before the doors and listen to the sound and feel satisfied that the old craftsman went on with his work. But one day all seemed quiet inside the house. The queen grew anxious about the stranger’s condition. And when the sound did not resume the next day or even the day after, she suspected that the old man who had deprived himself of food and drink, had died. She pressed open the doors. The old man, busy with making the images, looked over his shoulder and then, in the twinkling of an eye, vanished. He had left the images-incomplete. The images are to be found in the same shape -though from time to lime new images took place of the old-to this day.

Puri Jagannath Temple3

The craftsman, as all concerned realised afterwards, was none other than Visvakarma, the sculptor and architect of heaven. Descendants of Vidyapati and Lalita are among the chief priests of the temple. But were the images really incomplete? They appear so. They even appear strange to the ordinary eye, but devotees see in them indescribable beauty and divine grandeur. What Visvavasu worshipped was perhaps the sacred Relics of Krishna. The Relics are there hidden in the images. Ceremoniously, though secretly, they have been transferred into the new images through the ages. Sri Jagannath, the Lord of the Universe, is one of the prime Deities for the devotees of Vishnu and Puri has been a sacred place of pilgrimage since times immemorial.

The END

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