Critically analyse the role of the Jagannatha cult in the process of state formation in Orissa.

Religion, when observed as a changing evolving entity becomes an amalgamation of smaller cults and/ or varied philosophies over a period of time. A cult can be described as a smaller local tradition which does not have an institutionalised form. A religion on the other hand, has an established form, has a tradition, religious literature and an institutionalised system. According to Herman Kulke and B. D. Chattopadhyay, in the case of Hinduism there is a transformation of Vedic religion into Puranic religion during the early period. It incorporates various local cults in the process. Brahmanism, in fact, grows by appropriating these cults. The process of gradual incorporation of tribal and folk religions into Hinduism has been defines as Aryanization and Sanskritization. Eschmann describes this as Hinduisation in order to emphasise its general character, i.e. it may occur without a direct impact from Sanskrit or Aryans. During post-Buddhist times, i.e. the early medieval period, these incorporated elements became vital aspects of Hindu doctrine and practice. Bhakti Saints and their institutional supportthe temples played an important role in the process of Hinduisation during this period. Bhakti saints had a universal appeal due to which they attracted worshippers from all strata. Temples were the institutions of the Bhakti saints and also received royal patronage. Greater and Lesser traditions were being incorporated into a larger canvas. The concept of an avtar or incarnation of the major Puranic Gods like Siva, Visnu and Durga was also applied during Hinduisation. The Jagannatha cult becomes a case study of the process of Hinduisation of a tribal deity which received royal patronage and became one of the most important temples of India. It exemplifies the processes that constitute the larger process of Hinduisation in both regional and sub-regional levels, the development of regional tradition and the importance of the temple in the formulation of kingship and subsequently state formation. Eschmann defines Hinduisation as a continuum operating in both ways between the two poles of tribal religion and codified or High Hinduism. The character of a continuum is as important as the fact that the processes of Hinduisation acts in both ways: it does not only mean that tribal elements are incorporated into Hinduism, but also implies that features from Hinduism are integrated into tribal cults. This implies that tribal religions and Hinduism are two different identities. It is important to study their differences to understand the processes of incorporation and appropriation. The principle difference is between the symbol that is worshipped by the tribal people and the image (murti) that is worshipped in Brahmanism or Hinduism. The symbol is often a wooden post, stone or pebbles, a tree or even an empty shrine in the case of a cult. Whereas, the image in a temple is mostly an anthropomorphic image which would define all the attributes of the deity. The second difference is in the way the deity is mediated to the people. In Hinduism, the concept is of the deity descending into the murti or tirtha (sacred places) at particular times. The possibility to visit and see (darshana) the deity has been one of the major attractions of the temple cult. This presence is achieved by sixteen upacara (services), commonly called puja (worship).In important temples, the upacara are offered as often as five times a day. Regular, frequent and elaborate rituals are therefore a vital part of the temple cult. These rituals were often funded by the temple land grants given by the King. Also, the increase in the number of rituals called for more labour and also division of labour. These aspects will be studied in greater detail in a later section.

In the case of tribal religion, the deity enters a living man. He conveys the presence of the deity when possessed by her. Therefore, there is no need for anthropomorphic images here. There is no need for regularity of ritual because the deity may enter the human medium at any time. Sacrifices are at the centre of tribal religion. They are offered between intervals and at times of need in front of the symbol of the deity. Hinduisation acts through various intermediary stages to combine and transform the characteristic functions of the two kinds of religion. One can try to trace some of the steps of Hinduisation which may be accurate for certain cases but may not be so for others. According to the character of a twofold process, first traces of Hinduisation are found in purely tribal communities which have been in the vicinity of a Hindu community, where it acts intensely. The next level is reached when an aboriginal cult becomes incorporated into the Hindu temple. In this stage, there is daily upacara, recognition by all castes and more than local importance. But, such temples have still not reached the high Brahmanical standardsthey are of sub-regional importance and may not even be of importance to the whole region, they are often the focus of a nuclear area, as defined by Kulke. The process of Hinduisation does not end here. It further proceeds in the direction of Brahmanisation. Such a further development, probably through intense royal patronage, may catapult it to a national level of importance. There is difference in the regional performance of rituals according to the stature of the temple and its locality as prescribed by sacred textsdesacara practices and lokocara practices. When applied to Hinduisation, the process operates in the lokacara (local customs) sphere upto the temple level. Once the Brahmanisation level begins the binding rules of desacara becomes prevalent. The main stages of Hinduisation are roughly thus, tribal cults, tribal cults with elements of Hinduisation, Hindu village cults, temples of sub-regional importance, great temples of regional (and perhaps national) importance. The most prominent tribal and village cult in Orissa is of a female deity who protects the men, ascertains fertility, and accepts blood sacrifice. This poses a problem because there are a limited number of deities in this level whose avtar can be related to the tribal deity. The association is mostly with Durga, from the case when it manifests in a tribal setting with no other features of Hinduisation than the fact that a Brahmin is called in to recite mantras in front of the wooden post (the symbol of the deity) and thus theoretically acknowledges the post as a deity--- to the case in which there are anthropomorphic changes made to the symbol or even an image is placed behind the symbol and the symbol itself becomes a calati pratima used to carry around during festivals. The cult of Stambheshwari is an example of the first stage and Tara Tarini is an example of the last stage. In the case of the wooden Subhadra image in the Jagannatha Temple, the closest simile is of Khambeshwari whose image is an anthropomorphised wooden post. Saiva cults are relatively absent in Orissa but in some cases Stone pillars which resemble the symbols of the female deity is worshipped as linga. In other cases, Siva is worshipped in association with Devi. In some cases, there is a transition from original symbols of Devi which later are represented as Siva. In the further development, i.e. Brahmanisation of such a temple, the cult of Siva may become more and more dominant until finally banishing the practice of sacrifice at the outskirts of temples.

Coming to the case of the Jagannatha temple, it developed from Hinduised cults and displays prominent elements of tribal origin but it becomes a temple of regional and national importance because of royal patronage. The deities in the Jagannatha temple are Subhadra, Purushottama and Balabhadra. In an article which discusses the formation of the Jagannatha Triad, Eschmann, Kulke and G. C. Tripathi say that a wooden post god- Jagannatha, a wooden pillar goddess- Stambheshwari who were worshipped separately for a long time in Orissa, were united and began to be worshipped together. Possibly, a king carried out this process on religio-political grounds. Due to the spread of Vaisnavism in Orissa either during the Gupta period or the Late-Gupta period, in a region which was mainly devoted to Sakti worship, the wooden post god gradually assumed the character of Narasimha owing to its iconographical features and the need of the newly converted Vaisnavas who have not given up the basic tenets of their earlier religion, to still behold a furious deity in their pantheon as a substitute for the Saktistic deities like Chamunda or Kali who have extremely violent characteristics. At this stage, the pair is probably worshipped as Narasimha and Lakshmi which is popular concept in Orissa, also seen in a part of the Lingaraja temple at Bhubaneshwar. At an advanced stage of Vaishnavisation, the pair is conceived to be Purushottama (a Vaishnavite-tantric deity having an erotic nature) and Lakshmi (c 900 CA). The pair becomes so popular that Codaganga patronises its cult and builds a temple for them. The Narasimha narrative continues among the temple priests and some of the devotees. In early 13th century, probably during the time Anangabhimadeva III, a further image of Balabhadra is added in the wake of direct or indirect influence from South Indian religious teachings which came with Codagangadeva who is a southerner. The triad now is interpreted as Krishna (a sub aspect of Purushottama), Ekanamsa-Subhadra-Durga and Balabhadra-Siva though the trinity remains predominantly Vaishnava. But, they also combine the Saiva, Vaisnava and Sakti cults of Orissa in a natural manner. The Jagannatha cult fulfilled the requirements of a state cult for the regional monarchy. It provided legitimation, both from within the region and also outside, to the rulers and united various subregional nuclear areas (cults in sub-regional levels) of the Orissan Empire through a regional loyalty. The religious policy of Codaganga and Anangabhima helped in gradually placing the sub-regional deities of Orissa below Jagannatha of Puri. Symbolism of the magnificent imperial temple of Puri and the title of its deity as king of the Orissa Empire were the steps that legitimised the monarchy against feudal forces which were the forces in the nuclear sub-regional religious centres. The rulers claimed to be the deitys earthly deputies and thus claimed superiority over other Hindu rajas of India. The ritual countermeasures to feudal forces in the form of royal patronage to tirthas, Brahmins and cult of imperial temples can be observed in the caseb of the Jagannatha cult which was an effort to unify the state. The fact that a new, purely Brahmanic deity was not introuduced in the form of a State cult is important for the lasting success of the Jagannatha cult which was autochthonous and therefore, already popular since the tenth century. The wealth and greatness of the tirtha which came from the large-scale land grants given to the growing number of Brahmans settled in the temple attracted pilgrims from within the region as well as from other Hindu regions. It can be observed that royal patronage, thus, transforms the religious situation. The tribal people who are retained for the worship of their lord are hierarchized and the Brahmans in any case stay at the top of the hierarchy marking a process of social classification of the tribal people as well.

When Anangabhima III brought a change in kingship by providing patronage to the temple in Puri and deriving legitimacy from it, we cannot say how much it helped his position but it did certainly help his son and successor Narasimha I under whom the Ganga empire reached its zenith. He identified himself as the son of the Lord of the World. In an inscription in Dhenkanal, Narasimha announced that He had humbled the pride of his enemies at the command of the Lord Purushottama. Here, we observe that Narasimha adds the role of a military commander to the role of a deputy which was formulated by his father. Thus, it may be deduced that the attack against the King was an attack against Lord Jagannatha, overlord of Orissa. This idea was carried forward by the Suryavamsi kings. Unlike Anangabhima, Narasimha not only lay back upon the Vaishnava ideology but also claimed that he was a son of Vishnu and Durga and a great devotee of Siva going back to the original triad of Vishnu-Durga-Siva which are dominant cults in Orissa. The innovation of calling the Orissa kings Gajapatis or Lords of Elephants also was brought by Narasimha I. This innovation was also taken forward by the Suryavamsi kings, especially under the rule of Kapilendra and Purusottama. Narasimha, during his rule, also built the Sun temple in Konark which became important in his concept of kingship but this was discontinued by the future Gajapati kings who devoted their attention to the Lord of Puri. It must be noted that though the process of deriving legitimation from Jagannatha is continued by some of the Gajapatis while some others are lukewarm to the cult, as observed by D. C. Sircar. Bhanudeva II was an important ruler who was devoted to Jagannatha and it is in his inscriptions that the God of Puri is first referred to as Jagannatha. Narasimha IV and Bhanudeva IV refer to their own sovereignty in their inscriptions, not mentioning Jagannatha as the overlord of Orissa. This may have been a reason for the Brahmanas of the Puri temple to support Kapilendra when he overthrew the Gajapati kings in 1435 and set up the Suryavamsa dynasty. During his time, the Orissa Empire reached its zenith. Since he needed special legitimation after usurping the throne of the Gajapatis who were rulers for two hundred years he tried to revive the divine mission of the Gajapatis as deputies of Jagannatha. His innovation in kingship was to attempt to sanction all his acts by seeking legitimacy of Jagannatha, the Lord of the World. His courtiers and priests were allowed to call him the Elected of Jagannatha. This narrative of a divine election was prevalent even in the 17th century when the Madala Panji was compiled and all other knowledge of Kapilendras origin seems to have been forgotten. He called himself the sevaka of Jagannatha and tried to assume quasi-priestly functions in the state cult to strengthen his hold and control over the powerful priests of the Puri temple. Later evidence from the Madala Panji a history of the Puri temple written by the priests suggests a power struggle between the priests and the kings. The ruler Prataparudra chose to support the unorthodox saint Chaitanya who had come to Puri in 1510 to evade the influence of the priests. Even in times of political tensions and breakdown the temple in Puri and its priests seem to have held up the important central authority of the empire, thus strengthening the structure of the state from rupture. The Hinduisation of the cult and the gradual national glory of it is also an example of a regional religion getting importance in a larger Vaishnavite movement.