Lipun Kumar Sanbad
Lord Jagannath is a renowned Hindu deity not only in the state of Odisha but also throughout India and the world, with millions of devotees and hundreds of temples dedicated to him. The term ‘Jagannath’—Jagat (World) + Nath (Lord)—means the ‘Lord of the World’. The first question that arises is this: Can the ‘Lord of the World’ hate people from a particular community? Can he discriminate against people based on their caste? Or is he merely a medium through which some try to consolidate their own positions?
Literary Evidence: The Case of Laxmi Puran
These questions can be answered with many pieces of literary evidence, such as the ‘Laxmi Puran‘, written by Balaram Das, a prominent Odia poet, senior member of the ‘Panch Sakha’, and a member of an elite Brahmin family. This Puran clearly mentions that, due to the extreme devotion and loving nature of a ‘Chandal’ (Dalit/Untouchable) woman named Shriya, Goddess Laxmi enters her home. As Laxmi is the goddess of wealth and happiness, the house is filled with both. Later, when Laxmi returns to her royal palace, she is denied entry by her husband Jagannath’s elder brother, Balabhadra (Orissa Review, 2010). The reason was simple: Laxmi had stepped into an untouchable’s home. The denial of entry was a decision supported by Lord Jagannath himself.
While many people praise this Puran for its feminist perspective on Goddess Laxmi and her self-sufficient nature, this interpretation intentionally overshadows the ‘casteist’ angle demonstrated by Lord Balabhadra and Jagannath, as recorded by Balaram Das. A god who creates and nurtures the whole world – how can he discriminate against someone based on their caste? The poet used Jagannath to encode discrimination: if the ‘Lord of the World’ discriminates against the Dalit community, why wouldn’t ordinary human beings do the same?
Historical Incidents of Exclusion
One could easily dismiss the Puran, suggesting it was mistaken or rewritten over the years to demean Lord Jagannath or Hinduism. However, if we examine the contemporary period, we find similar patterns. The father of the Indian Constitution, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, was denied entry to the Jagannath temple in 1945, while the British Paramount Lord Mountbatten received a red-carpet reception (Dr. A.K. Biswas, 2017).
Beyond this event, the first citizen of India, President Ramnath Kovind, was blocked by the ‘Pandas’ (the hereditary priests of the Jagannath temple, who are all upper-caste Brahmins), and the First Lady was shoved. This is clearly documented in the minutes of the March 20, 2018, meeting held by the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) (TOI, 2018). This happened to him and his wife simply because Ramnath Kovind is a Dalit; it did not matter that he was the President of India.
The same happened with Draupadi Murmu, the current President of India, when she visited Delhi’s Jagannath temple. Why was she kept outside the ‘Garva Griha’ (Sanctum Sanctorum)? Other ministers, like Dharmendra Pradhan and Aswini Vaishnav, entered, performed puja, and touched the feet of Lord Jagannath during their 2021 visit. Why couldn’t President Murmu enter the temple’s inner sanctum?
Ritual Practices and the Rath Yatra
These issues are not limited to the temple itself; they extend to the festivals of Lord Jagannath. During the ‘Ratha Yatra’, the biggest festival of Lord Jagannath, the deity is brought out of the temple to meet devotees. However, on the Ratha (chariot), only the servitors (Pandas) are allowed alongside Lords Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Goddess Subhadra. No outsiders are permitted, and there is a strict hierarchy even among the servitors. The devotees pull the chariot, which clearly demonstrates caste in action because the servitors are born Brahmins; they alone may serve the gods on the chariot. One chariot carries only one god or goddess with hundreds of servitors, while everyone else pulls it.
While the Puri Jagannath Ratha Yatra attracts such large crowds that identifying caste is difficult and everyone can pull the chariot, the Ratha Yatra also occurs in many other parts of Odisha, from districts to small villages. In these places, lower-caste communities are not allowed to even touch the chariot.
During the chariot pulling, the servitors recite very bawdy couplets known as ‘Dahuka Boli’, full of obscenities about sex, male and female private parts, and more (Video Links). Here, too, Dalits are not spared. Standing on the chariot, the servitors deliberately recite these bawdy couplets loudly. They justify it by propagating false narratives, such as the claim that the chariot will not move without these couplets or that since Jagannath is outside the temple, he should be treated as a common man. The Brahmins not only prevent Dalits from entering the temple and touching the chariot but also demean them outside in the name of rituals, sending a clear message that Dalits should stay away from this festival.
Another ritual called ‘Adhara Pana’ involves offering large earthen pots filled with a sweet and spiced drink to the deities on their chariots as a final act of hospitality before the Rath Yatra concludes and returns to the temple. The pots are then shattered, an act believed to quench the thirst of spirits and ghostly beings gathered around the chariots, ultimately providing them salvation. But another question arises: is this an act of hospitality, or a ‘purification process’—spreading a special drink on the chariot before returning to the temple because it was touched by many people, through which the Lord of the World became impure?
All these incidents clearly indicate ‘casteist’ behaviour, but these actions are not performed by Lord Jagannath himself. They are performed and propagated by the so-called Brahmin servitors, who deliberately perpetuate these practices year after year in the name of God, threatening people and manipulating their beliefs. From literature to rituals, they deliberately demean Dalits and lower communities to strengthen their own position in society, maintaining caste hierarchy and power to earn a living and sustain their day-to-day lives. This kind of inhumane activity by the Brahmin servitors makes Jagannath appear culpable.
Buddhist Roots of Jagannath
Through these types of caste-based discrimination, the Brahmin servitors aim to show that the temple and the god within belong exclusively to them. Hindu Brahmins take pride and harbour prejudices in the name of Lord Jagannath, but is Jagannath truly a Hindu god? Substantial evidence suggests a Buddhist origin for Jagannath. This claim has been made by many prominent foreign scholars, including General A. Cunningham, W.W. Hunter, W.J. Wilkins, R.L. Mitra, H.K. Mahatab, M. Mansingh, and N.K. Sahu.
In their view, the worship of the three symbols of Buddhism—the Tri-Ratna, comprising the Buddha, the Dhamma (Dharma), and the Sangha—corresponds to the worship of the Trimurti of the Jagannath cult: Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra. The Buddhist celebration of the Car festival, which originated in Khotan, is similar to the famous Car Festival (Ratha Yatra) of the Jagannath cult. In Odia literature, Lord Buddha has been accepted as an incarnation of Vishnu in place of Jagannath. Jayadeva, an Odia poet of the 12th century, described Buddha as an incarnation of Lord Jagannath. Later, poets like Sarala Das, Achyutananda Das, Divakara Das, Balaram Das, Jagannath Das, and Sikhara Das accepted Buddha, not Jagannath, as the ninth incarnation of Lord Vishnu (Odisha Review, 2014).
Consider these lines from the famous Odia poet Sarala Das:
“Dwapara ante yetki vije karibe Jagannathe Baudha rupa hoi vije karibe dasha Sahasra Varsa Parijante.” (II 89 1)
English translation: After the end of Dwapar yug, Buddha will come here (Odisha) as Jagannath and will remain for ten thousand years.
(Sarala Mahabharata, Sabhaparva, 2nd pt… P51)
(Sarala Mahabharata, Virata Parva, P. 454/Gada Parva, P. 70/ Adi Parva, 2nd Pt. P. 1056.)
“Baudha rupe Vije Srineelakandare Yeka Murty chaturdha rupa dharichhanti Damadare.” (213)
(Sarala Mahabharata-Madhya Parva, 2nd pt. P.782)
These lines clearly indicate that Buddha is Jagannath and that his origin is Buddhist. There is no caste-based discrimination in Buddhism, which wholly believes in ‘Humanism’. Although the origin of Jagannath is Buddhist, Hindu Brahmins took it over and, over time, monopolized it, making Jagannath limited to the Brahmin caste for rituals—open for worship by all, but with a ban for lower communities. Due to the prejudiced activities of Brahmins, a place of Buddhist origin has been made controversial and limited to a certain class/caste only.
If Jagannath’s roots truly lie in Buddhism, then his original spirit was one of equality and humanism. What we see today is a distortion moulded by centuries of Brahminical influence. Therefore, the social practices and rituals created and propagated by the Brahmin servitors around him are what portray Lord Jagannath as a casteist god.
~~~
Lipun Kumar Sanbad is a postgraduate student of Politics and International Relations from Pondicherry University.
