Legends often convey timeless and universal themes, which are relevant in portraying the human experience. Myths and legends give insights into the values and perspectives of long gone cultures. These stories give us an idea how our ancestors lived and what kind of societies they colonized. Myths and legends also show us what was different about human life when these stories originated; what has stayed with us and what is gone. The legends have value as literature too. Importantly, myths and legends allow us to understand how much we have progressed since then and in some cases they tell us how much we have retreated. Frankly speaking whenever I see the very old architecture, I feel people then were more progressive than today. The legendary Jagannath Puri temple which is almost 900 years old, but, still is standing majestically tall and has its interesting traditional story.

It seems the original image of Jagannath (Vishnu) at the end of Treta Yuga (as per the Hindu mythology Treta yug lasted 3,600 divine years and saw the sixth and seventh incarnations of Lord Vishnu as Prashurama and Rama) was in form of Indranil Mani. Vishnu is known as the preserver, Vishnu is one of three supreme Hindu deities, along with Brahma and Shiva. Vishnu’s role is to protect humans and to restore order to the world. His presence is found in every object and force in creation, and some Hindus recognize him as the divine being from which all things come. Jagannath is one of the names of Lord Vishnu.

Indranil Mani (Blue bead of Jewel) manifested (appeared on its own) near a Banyan tree near the seashore. It was so alluring that it could grant instant moksha (salvation), so the God Yama (God of death) wanted to hide it in the earth as his schedule of ending people’s life was getting disturbed by Indranil mani, he was successful in doing so. In Dvapara Yuga King Indradyumna of Malwa region wanted to find that mysterious Indranil mani, he became very restless; he tried his best to seek the Blue jewel. He became so restless and obsessed that he performed several harsh penances to obtain his goal. Vishnu then instructed him to go to the Puri seashore and find a floating log to make an image from its trunk.

As per Vishnu’s instructions, the King found the log of wood. He did a yajna (worship fire with devotion and offering) from which God Yajna Narsimha appeared and instructed that Vishnu should be made as fourfold (having four units) expansion, i.e. Paramatma as Vishnu, his Vyuha (head of troop for battle) as Samkarshana i.e Balarama, Yogamaya (energy of Lord Vishnu) as Subhadra, and his Vibhava (welth and prosperity) as Sudarsana chakra. Vishwakarma (the designer of all the flying chariots of the gods, and all their weapons and divine attributes, architect of Gods) appeared in the form of an artisan and prepared images of Jagannath, Balrama and Subhadra from the tree.

When the king Indradyumna found the floating log, radiant with light which was seen floating in the sea, Narada told the king to make three idols out of it and place them in a pavilion. Indradyumna got Visvakarma, the architect of Gods, to build a magnificent temple to house the idols. In fact, it seems Vishnu himself appeared in the guise of a carpenter to make the idols on condition that he was to be left undisturbed until he finished the work.

But just after two weeks, the Queen became very anxious. She felt that the carpenter to be dead as no sound came from the temple. Therefore, she requested the king to open the door. Thus, they went to see Vishwakarma at work at which the latter abandoned his work leaving the idols unfinished. The idols were without any hands. But a divine voice told Indradyumana to install them in the temple. It has also been widely believed that in spite of the idol being without most of the parts of body, but only beautiful and big eyes, it can watch over the world and be its lord. The conception of big spherical eyes comes from the outline that the eyes of Hindu deity are just like the Sun and Moon. The contour and circular shape depict the infiniteness. Lord Jagannath talks to his devotees through his big eyes.

The temple of Jagannath in Puri has these eight mysteries, they are:

1. The flag always flaps in a direction opposite to the direction in which the wind is blowing.
2. Look from any place in Puri, and you will always find the Sudarshan Charka (charka at the top of the temple) all the time facing you.
3. Normally during day-time, the wind blows from the sea to the land and in the evening, the opposite happens; but in Puri, the opposite happens. During daytime the winds flow from the land and in the night they blow from the sea.
4. Birds or planes do not fly above the temple.
5. The shadow of the main dome is unseen at any time of day.
6. The quantity of cooked food inside the temple remains same the entire year. And the same prasadam can feed whatever be the number of devotees – a few thousand people or 20 lakh people. It has never happened that the food is fallen short or has been wasted!
7. In the temple kitchen, seven pots are kept on top of each other and cooked on firewood. In this process, the contents of the top pot get cooked first, lastly, the bottommost one!
8. On entering from Singhadwara (Lion Gate), as one takes the first step inside the Temple, the sound of ocean cannot be heard, but, once you cross the same step outside the Temple, you can hear it.

Nabakalebara: The idol of Lord Jagannath is made of Wood. A unique custom is followed at Puri Jagannath temple. It is called the Nabakalebara process (Naba means new and Kalebara is body). The idols of the deities are replaced after 12 – 19 years as they are made of wood which decays with the time passed by.  Nabakalebara means leaving of the old deity and the sanctification of the new. As a person puts on new garments and gives up the old, the soul accepts new material bodies and gives up old. According to temple rituals, the deities are made from the neem, musk, sandalwood tree barks and some other combinations; they undergo a change before the Adhika Ashadha ends.  The change of wooden deities is done under a specific astrological combination in which their power is ritually transferred. Nabakalebara is about the transformation of the Puri temple and Odisha lords into a new body. The new wooden idols of Jagannath, Balarama and Subhadra and Sudarshan are welcomed to the temple in celebration. The old idols are ritually buried in Koili Baikuntha in accordance with century-old Odia scriptures.