The epic story behind Lord Jagannath...

       

The epic story behind the the origin of Lord Jagannath goes back to ancient days when present day Lord Jagannath was being worshiped as Nila Madhava by a tribal head called Biswabasu. The name Nilamadhaba comes from the mountain that is always covered by the dense forest making it tougher for anyone to reach.The story goes, in the state of Malwa there was a king called Indradyumna who was an ardent devotee of lord Vishnu.His utter devotion landed him to see Lod Vishnu in his manly eyes and he in his prayers pleaded the lord to give him Darhan. After long in a divine dream he was told that Lord Vishnu can be seen in his best form in the state of then Utkala. The king then send Vidyapati to find & submit a report on Lord Vishnu. Bidyapati, after a very secret research got to know about Biswabasu & the lord Nilamadhaba , but upon request he denied to show him the way to Nilamadhaba. Failing to get the way to Nilamadhaba by hook or crook Bidyapari Decided to stay there and by playing tricks he married Lalita, daughter of Biswabasu. And after humble request by her daughter, Biswabasu was ready to take blindfolded Vidyapati to the secret cave where nilamadhaba was being worshiped and there Bidyapati played another trick to get the way to Nilamadhaba. While travelling to Nilamadhaba with Biswabasu, Bidyapati had taken unrippen mustard along with him and went on putting the same on the way to Nilamadhaba. On reaching Nilamadhaba, Bidyapati was lost in the beauty of the lord vishnu and thanked Biswabasu and returned to the king Indradyumna.On reaching back he narrated the existence of the lord and with no wait the king with his near & dears went to Utkala to get a glimpse of the lord. By the time Bidyapati was back in Utkala the unriped mustard were full grown mustard and took the king with Bidyapati to the secret cave but as Bidyapati had cheated his beloved devotee  Biswabasu , the lord disappeared from the cave. this led Indradyumna to be disheartened and knowing the fact from Bidyapati he then pleaded the lord to give him darshan. Without any result the king summoned the Lord that if he does not give him darshan before sunset he will end his life. In the evening when the king was about to fire the death bed the lord in a heavenly voice told him to find logs of wood in the seashore in Puri & prepare statues 7 observe puja.
Getting relif by this the king along with the entire army went to the seashore where he found 4 logs on "Neem Daru" floating with shankh,chakra gada & padma symbols marked on them. On trying to get the logs out of water even after using the army & the huge elephants to move out of water they didn't even move from their actual place. then again the king was ready with his death bed but the lord in a heavenly voice ordered that his ardent devotee Biswabasu's touch will move the logs out of water hence Biswabasu was called to help and he served the logs to be carried to the king's palace. Then the real thing had to be done to get the logs in the best form of Nilamadhaba. So the king asked the royal carpenters to get the logs turned into the lords but as nobody had seen lord Vishnu nobody could dare to touch the logs and whosoever tried the tools on the logs ,the tools got damaged with out a stain on the logs. A hopeless king now announced that anyone who will be able to make the real vishnu idols from the logs would get half of his state and anything he asks for but being disappointed he again got up to the death bed but & in the same evening an too old man with his tools appeared in front of the king and told him to allow him. but the king with carelessness asked to show up his skills leading to which the old man tore the skin out of the log with his nails. being assured of his skills the king allowed him but the old man put up conditions like he won't be disturbed till 21 days and he will be allowed to  do his job in the most secret chamber and he even does not need anything for himself that can disturb him. And if anybody happens to see him working & the door be opened, he will leave from then & won't b responsible for anything that happens to them thereafter. As the king agreed to the terms, the old man was allowed to be inside the locked chambers. Like the king the  queen too had utmost devotion for the lord and she used to listen to the construction noise from outside the chamber. till the 15th day everything was fine but on 18th day when she didn't hear any noise from the chamber  her anxiety led her to many assumptions and fearing the old man's death inside the chamber she prompted the king to open the door. The king when unwillingly opened the door, they dint get any trace of the old man in the chamber and what was left was the 4 half  made huge statues of the Lords. With utter disappointment on breaching trust with his the old man, the king repented on his act and requested the lord to explain the act and while attempting to end his life once more the  heavenly voice explained the statues as Lord Balabhadra,Subhadra & Lord Jagannath. The king was ordered to allow Biswabasu to be the head priest to offer puja after the statues get placed in a heavenly temple in the seashore which the king executed. Promptly he built a huge temple and looked for some Brahmins to do the "Pratisha utsava" but he dint find any body suitable for the same. Then Narada appeared and told him about the creator of the universe lord Brahma to be the best one to do the job and on his guidance indradyumna went to Brahmalok to invite Brahma and on reaching earth with Brahma he was amazed not to find the temple in place as a moment in Brahmalok is equal to 1000 years on earth.The then king of Utkala while going on his horse the horse got hit by the "Nilachakra" which in turn revealed  the lost temple and he claimed the temple to be one of his ancestors and fought with Indradyumna for the possession. Then Indradyumna without any witness alive urged the lord to do justice and the lord appeared in front of the kings and awarded the temple to Indradyumna and after lord brahma did the "Pratistha utsava" the lords being pleased with the devotion of the Indradumna offered a wish to him. To this wish to be fulfilled indradyumns requested the lord to do such a situation that there should be no one to say that the temple was built by his ancestors which the lords approved and disappeared. Since then the lords are there as Lord jagannatha (Lord Krishna), Lord balabhadra(lord balarama) & Lord Subhadra (lord Krishna's sister) along with sudarshan(Lord Krishna's aayudha). People say the ever roaring sea is the witness to Indradyumna and his devotion to lord vishnu who still lives herein to give mokshya to everybody who bows his head to him...

Jai Jaganath swamy Nayana Pathagami bhava tu me...