Jagannath

As I have by my own good fortune and exertions accumulated a large treasure, viz. forty lacs of marhs of gold taken from the countries of the conquered bhuniyas, and jewels to the value of seven lacs eighty-eight thousand marhs, it is now my intention to devote a portion to the service of Jagannáth, by building a new temple one hundred cubits high, and bestowing a quantity of ornaments and utensils.

The English Government has respected the patrimony of Jagannáth not less scrupulously than it has conserved the general religious endowments of Orissa.

The absence of caste distinction within the precincts of the temple of Jagannath proves conclusively that the idea of Jagannath must have had some definite relation to Buddhism at some unknown period.

If it were a popular cult that was enshrined in the temple of Jagannath we could trace the existence of it among some sections of the people of Orissa to-day, for a thing so forceful must be too hard to die out easily.

The services in the temple of Jagannatha are still arranged on these hereditary divisions. The association of non-Brahmins in the sacred ceremonies and complete absence of caste-feeling within the temple walls give additional proof positive of the reconditioning of Jagannatha from Buddhist and tribal originals.

Although the worship of Jagannath had been existing long before Chodaganga built the magnificient temple, it came into over-riding influence in those centuries.

A number of scholars believe that the inclusion of a female deity between the figures of Balarama and Jagannatha is derived from the worship of Ekanamsa in the company of Baladeva and Krsna.

Chodaganga's construction of the monumental Jagannath temple knit the Oriyas further into a cultural unity and henceforth Jagannath came to be recognize as the presiding deity of Oriyas.