Jay Jagannath - History

Legendary facts from different puranas state that Lord Jagannath was originally worshipped as Neela madhab secretly by a local sabara chief Viswavasu in the dense forests. Earlier the deity was in the form of "Lord Krishna's image" made of granite stone. Having heard about the Deity, King Indradyumna sent a brahmin priest to know more about this from the chief. The priest tried his best but could not get any clue of the deity. Meanwhile the priest fell in love with the Chief's daughter and married her. After much persistence the priest came to know of the secret deity and informed the king. The king Indradyumna proceeded immediately to Orissa to have a darshan of the deity but was sad as he found the secret deity was hidden in the sand. He performed severe penances to have a darshan and once dreamt of Vishnu instructing him to go to the Puri seashore, and look for a floating log, and fashion an image from its trunk. Hence Images of Krishna, Balarama, Subhadra were curved in that wooden log.