A Scientific Prospect in the Jagannath Cult (Part-I)
History is the Beginning
It’s been a general adage remaining in BHARAT that salvation(“moksha”) after this human life is one way possible through the “Char Dham Yatra ‘’. These four Dhams are Badrinath, Dwaraka, Puri, and Rameshwaram. Extraordinarily better from one another, One can not easily differentiate out which is more culturally rich to explore. Still, with a little mind and a bigger perspective, I will enlighten about my Land Almighty “Lord Shri Jagannath”.
A brief catch out there regarding this Dham can be expressed in terms of the fame & popularity; not only restricted to Hindu society but also every kind of Foreign cults, where this Jagannatha Cult acts like a bridge between numerous cultural varieties. Here, Lord Jagannatha binds everyone in one platform at Jagannatha Dham, i.e., PURI, ODISHA. Like every type of randomness in people is regained back to the spiritually stable divine state.
The wide range of cultural varieties maintains, no matter of what; Cultural Unity. The very essence of diversification & unfathomable depths of Uniqueness of this cult implies an arrangement of different atomic parts to a whole integrated molecule, just like the human body made of various parts & organs but ultimately integrated by the soul.
FACTOID : In 1506 Guru Nanak the founder of Sikhism made a pilgrimage to Puri to visit to Jagannath. 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.
Cultural Varieties
From the different historical claims and legend, Jagannatha was the primary Tribal deity, adorned by the Sabar people majorly living in the hillside of Odisha, which symbolized another form of Lord Narayan. Some other mythologies stated Lord Jagannatha as NilaMadhava, the almighty to the Vedic Hindu Society. Legends have it that one historical character Vidyapati started worshipping NilaMadhava in the hill caves until Lord Biswakarma carved the wooden form. Descendants of Vidyapati, later came to be known as Daitapati (Daitya + Pati ), i.e., Non-Aryan society people along with Brahmins of the priest background are responsible for carrying out rituals of Jagannatha Cult since then.
The Nitis(rituals) by Daitapatis creates cleanliness in the heart, creating a spiritual, sacred environment that indirectly develops a steadfast mind, stout physique, an independent holy spiritual tendency from a psychological point of view.
- FACTOID : The chakra is actually 20 ft high and weighs 1 ton. It is fitted on top of the temple. But what is interesting about this chakra is that, you can see this chakra from any corner of the Puri city. The engineering mystery behind the placing and positioning of chakra is still a mystery because irrespective of your position, you can always feel that the chakra is facing toward you.
Religious Diversities
Started by Vedic Hindus, even the Buddhists took from the pages of this rich culture and integrated it with their own during the Mauryan Empire of Samrat Ashok, famous around the 9th century AD. While the Non-Aryan Tribes made the shrines for the Temple, Buddhism and Jainism have penetrated in day to day rites and rituals (Vidhi) basing on the natural phenomena and Hygienic Science. These whole day-long Vidhis also cover the Yama and Niyama of the Yogic Science.
- FACTOID : The flag atop the temple strangely always floats in the opposite direction of wind. The flag floating in opposite direction brings your scientific reasoning to a halt, and you just tend to believe that there is some force more powerful than science.
Geographical Varsities
Jagannatha Dham spread over several different Kingdoms in the flow of time. A few of them are Odra(now parts of Khordha, Nayagarh, Dhenkanal districts), Utkal (parts of Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak, Jajpur ), Kalinga(parts of Ganjam, Gajapati, Boudh), Kangoda and Dakshin Koshala, etc. which enrich its geographical parities. Irrespective of the junction of these many different kingdoms’ influences, Puri Dham retains the Uniqueness Theorem for its cultural potential to maximize its religious philosophies.
We will be unrevealing more of these incredible facts and understand the numerous miracles of almighty lord Jagannath with some different perceptions in the further parts.
- FACTOID : Nothing goes wasted in Jagannath Temple. Depending on the day, records state that 2,000 to 20,000 devotees visit the temple. But, the quantity of prasadam, which is cooked in the temple, remains the same throughout the year. Yet, the prasadam never get wasted or is insufficient in any given day.
Part-2 (Mysteries of Jagannath Temple) coming soon…
{Ref. from A. Kanoungo & Dr. R Kar}
