SYNTHETIC CHARACTER OF JAGANNATHA CULTURE - 2

There are many temples in different parts of India which are dedicated to one or more of these five deities and their different forms and manifestations, Student Loan Consolidation Calculator. But excepting a very few, where the presiding deity of the temple is worshipped as an assimilation of only one or two deities, all the rest are meant for the worship of only one of these deities in the body of one image installed in the temple. 

It will be revelation to many that Jagannatha is worshipped as Narayan or Visnu when he is on the dias (Ratnavedi) in the sanctum sanctorum, as Ganesa when on the, Snanavedi during the Snana, Injury Lawyers 4 You. Festival, as Rudra (an expression of Siva) during the Nava- Kalevara ceremony, as Durga in: the Sayana festival and as the Sun when on the chariot-during the Car festival. This apart, when the followers of different religious cu.1ts visit Puri on pilgrimage, they worship Jagannatha as the highest expression of the God, whom or whose image they worship according to their particular schools of philosophy and theosophy, forgetting at the moment as to how he, in the Puri temple, is viewed by the devotees of the other religious cults. The Vaisnavas of Ramanuja sect worship Jagannatha as Narayan, Vasudeva, Nrsimha, Hariand so on, while those of Ramananda look upon him as Ramacandra. Other Vaisnavas sects treat Jagannatha as Krisna. Orissan Vaisnavas consider Jagannatha as the combined body of Radha and Krisna. It will be lengthy to give a complete list of such interpretations and representations. This would explain that Jagannatha represents an assimilation of all religious cults, creeds and sectarian philosophies that come under the purview of Hinduism in the broadest sense of the term. 

With such a cultural background of Indian social life, one may like to know, if the world famous temple of Jagannatha has got any message to deliver. There is a saying in Orissa that 'In Puri, there is no caste system. In other temples of India, people of some castes such as the sweepers, the washer men etc. are not allowed into the inner apartments, but in the Puri temple, they are not only allowed entry, but people of these castes discharge certain specific duties and services for the performance of some traditional rites for Jagannatha.  

There is yet another aspect of the question that deserves to be mentioned here clearly. As stated earlier, Vidyapati, who is credited with the discovery of Nila Madhava (the original form or image of Jagannatha) married the daughter of Viswavasu, the chief of the' aboriginal tribes. Later on, he was blessed with children through this lady. It is really interesting to note that even to this day, the descendants 'of both Viswavasu and Vidyapati discharge the most important vidhi of the temple. They are known as Daita-Pati i.e. descendants of VisWavasu and Vidyapati. Most likely the word Daila is from Daitya or a person of non-Aryan society and Pati is from Vidyapati and they have been combined to connote that they, divided into two sections, are the descendants of both the aboriginal chief and the Brahmin priest.