(
Hinduism,
Sanskrit)
The Supreme Lord Vishnu appearing in His Deity form in the city
of Puri in Orissa. The worshipable Deity (arca-vigraha) of
Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
The origin of the brightly-coloured, simplistic looking Jagannatha Deities is
quite interesting. More than two thousand years ago, there was a King by the name
of Indradyumna, a devout Vaishnava. He requested a famous artist, Vishvakarma of the
Heavenly Planets, to sculpt him status of Krishna as He and His brother
and sister had travelled on field of Kurukshetra during a solar eclipse.
Vishvakarma agreed -- on one condition: that no-one interrupt his work.
The King waited for a very long time, as Vishvakarma worked behind locked
doors. However, one day the King, unable to wait any longer, broke in to see the progress.
Vishvakarma, true to his word, vanished, leaving behind the uncompleted forms
of the three Deities. Maharaja Indradyumna, was so pleased, however,
that he began to worship them as they were. Since that time, the three Deities
of Krishna, Balarama, and Subhadra, have been worshipped all over India,
especially in the province of Orissa, where there is a great temple at Puri.
Each year, at Puri, during the gigantic Ratha-yatra fesitval, millions of pilgrims
come from all over India to worship the Jagannatha Deities as they ride
in procession through the streets on three huge carts.
It is from the Ratha-yatra, and Jagannatha, that the english word juggernaut comes.