STORY OF LORD JAGANNATH
Today Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath is celebrated in different parts of India and world. Jagannath has been described as Vigraha Avatar of Lord Vishnu in our religious scriptures. So how did Vishnu came to be worshipped as Jagannath in Kalyug? (1/n)

The story is a folklore passed from one generation to anothr without any proper written records hence several versions with minor variations exist. I am just describing one of them. Some of you may have heard other versions too. Let's take the name of Lord Jagannath & start (2/n)

The story begins with the end of Krishna Avatar. Lord Krishna left Dwarka and went to forest to end his avatar leela. He was resting under a tree when a hunter called Jara mistook his feet for a deer's ear and shot him with arrow. As he came near he saw Lord Krishna. (3/n)

Jara realized his mistake n started crying and asked Lord for his forgiveness. So Lord told him that it was His own will to end the Avatar in this way. He asked Jara not to cry n instead blessed him to be a sevak of Himself in next birth and Bhagwan left his mortal body (4/n).

Jara, Arjun and others brought the body of Krishna to the seashores of Dwarka and cremated it. While the entire body turned into ash, His heart turned into a shining deep blue colored gem (Indraneelamani). Then a heavenly voice spoke n asked Arjun to immerse the Mani (5/n)

in the sea. Arjun did so and the Mani floated from Dwarka until it reached the shores of Nilachal Kshetra in Eastern India. The gem then turned into a deep blue colored idol of Bhagwan Vishnu (Neela Madhav) and started residing in the Neelagiri hill. (6/n).

Dwapar ended and Kalyug began. Jara was reborn as Viswavasu who was chief of a tribe of hunters in forests of Odra desha. One night he received vision in which a voice told him to take his tribe to the east towards Nilagiri hill. Next morning he complied and started (7/n)

moving to east. After a long journey he reached the place he saw in his dream and decided to camp there permanently. From a distance he could see Nilagiri hill surrounded by forest n he was attracted to the hill. After few days he decided to enter the forest n climb (8/n)

the hill to decipher why the divine voice called him to this place. The forest was dense n after trekking for the whole day he could only climb half the hill. He decided to spend night near a pond and as he was tired he fell asleep. Late in the night he woke up (9/n)

he woke up coz he could hear several voices chanting mantras and ring bells from afar. He followed the sound and came near a cave and he could see light emanating from it. He entered the cave and saw Brahma and other Devatas worshipping Nila Madav and seeing this he (10/n)

fainted. He woke after sometime and found the cave empty. Then Lord Nila Madhav spoke to him n reminded him of his previous birth as Jara. Lord tasked Viswavasu and his tribe to do his daily seva and blessed him n his tribe that they will always do his seva until end of (11/n)

time. At the same time there was a pious king Indradyumna who ruled Malava Kingdom. He was a devotee of Lord Krishna. One day a pilgrim reached his court and described about Lord Nila Madhav residing in Nilagiri hill. King became perplexed by the description n wished to (12/n)

bring Nila Madhav to his Kingdom. He sent the brother of his royal priest, Vidyapati to find out the location. Vidyapati traveled to Odra desha and reached village of Viswavasu near foothills Nilagiri. He lied to Viswavasu that he is a traveler and befriended him in order (13/n)

to get info about location of Nila Madhav. However, Viswavasu didn't tell him anything. So Vidyapati started staying in the village n over time he fell in love with daughter of Viswavasu and married her. Now he asked his wife to request Viswavasu to take him to Nila Madhav (14/n)

And on the request of his daughter Viswavasu did so but he tied the eyes of Vidyapati so that he couldn't see the path. However, Vidyapati had hidden mustard seeds in his clothes n he quietly kept scattering them along the path to the cave of Nila Madhav. Viswavasu n (15/n)

Vidyapati reached the cave n Vidyapati saw the idol of Nila Madhav. He was amazed by the beauty of Lord Nila Madhav. A few days later he returned to Malava and narrated everything to King Indradyumna. Now the King along with his entourage n Vidyapati came to Nilagiri (16/n)

And King said to Viswavasu he wants to take Lord Nila Madhav back to his kingdom n build a huge temple n worship the Lord there. But Viswavasu was unwilling n denied to show the path to the cave. So Vidyapati said to King he can find the way. The mustard seeds he had (17/n)

scattered along the path had grown into small plants he and king followed them to reach the cave. But as they entered the cave it was empty. King was deeply grieved by it. Just then he heard a heavenly voice which said to king that since he had used unfair means to reach (18/n)

the cave n tried to forcefully take Lord Nila Madhav with him he will never get to see the Lord. However, since he (king) is a big devotee of Lord he must go to seashore n wait there. A log would come floating from the sea. He should carve idol of Lord from that log, (19/n)

Build a temple for it near sea n worship the lord there. King Indradyumna, Vidyapati and Viswavasu along with all the men went to the seashore of present day Puri n waited for days. One day the saw a log floating in sea n together they brought it to the shore. The King (20/n)

then built a huge temple and placed the log in it. Now he called several sculptors to carve an idol of Lord Nila Madhav from the log but the hammer & chisel of all the sculptors broke. One fine day, Lord himself disguised as a sculptor came to King and said he can carve (21/n)

the idol but on one condition, once he starts working the door of the Garbha Griha should be locked from outside n shouldn't be opened until he calls from inside. King agreed to it. And so the work began. Everyday King, Queen (Rani Gundicha) and others used to stand (22/n)

outside the Garbha Griha and listen to the sound of hammer n chisel. But one morning they couldn't hear any sound. Rani Gundicha became worried n opened the door at which point the sculptor vanished and everyone saw half finished idols of Lord Jagannath with brother (23/n)

Balaram and sister Subhadra. None of the idols had legs. And Jagannath and Balaram idol had hands with no palm n Subhadra had no arms. King became sad seeing it. But at that moment a heavenly voice spoke to everyone and told the King not to be sad and worship the (24/n)

deities in their current form as the idol of Lord Jagannath contains the heart of Krishna (Indraneelamani/ also called as Brahma Tattva). Hence, that's the form in which Lord Jagannath is worshipped even today in Nilachal Kshetra Puri. Every 12-14 years the old idol (25/n)

is replaced by new idol. Before a new idol is placed, the chief priest of the temple takes out the Brahma Tattva from the old idol n places it inside the new one. During the process everyone's eyes are tied with silk cloth and no one is allowed to see the Brahma Tattva. (26/n)

However, several head priests have described that the Brahma Tattva feels like soft fleshy substance like the heart of a human and it feels like it is beating. So, even after thousands of years the heart of Lord Krishna still beats for his devotees and resides among us (27/n)

In form of Lord Jagannath.

P.S. Since the thread was getting long I had to leave out several things. For which I apologize to all the friends reading this. I will address them in future tweets n threads. Also feel free to ask any questions in the comments

Jai Jagannath

Pic1: Painting of King Indradyumna
Pic2: Nila Madhav deity that is worshipped today in the old place where the cave of Nila Madhav existed
Pic 3: Nila Madhav Temple in Kantilo, Odisha

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