Jagannath
Jagannatha ( Sanskrit: जगन्नाथ, Jagannātha; jagat " world", " universe ", natha, "Lord " ) represents the Hindu god Vishnu. About the origins and historical development of the worship of Jagannatha there are different theories.
Special worship Jagannatha enjoys in the coastal town of Puri in the Indian state of Odisha, where he is one of the largest and most important temple of Vishnu, the Shri Jagannath Temple, worshiped. Together with his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra, it forms a Trimurti, a trinity. Is Jagannatha Krishna, who once actually lived according to the Hindu faith, Krishna's brother Balaram represents Balabhadra and Subhadra, his sister dar. In Jagannatha Puri but is now equated with the Buddha and is there in its place, the place of the ninth avatar of Vishnu, depicted.
The Jagannath statue is made of the wood of the sacred for Hindus neem tree. The head is unusually large, however short and rudimentary worked with oversized eyes, painted with strong colors body without legs and with arms without hands. A rational reason for this unusual shape is not known, but several traditions deal with the background: Various Puranas, the ancient Hindu books on the gods to report that once Viswavasu, the king of a Ureinwohnervolkes, Jagannatha had originally worshiped as Nilamadhaba in a forest.
Popular is the following oral tradition version: The King Indradyumna dreamed that the body of Krishna was washed after his return to his heavenly kingdom on the coast of Puri, along with his brother Balarama and his sister Subhadra. A voice told him to build a great temple with wooden statues of Krishna and bone should find a place in a recess in the back of the portrait. The dream came true. The king found the bone fragments and gave them an old carpenter who was none other than Vishwakarma, the divine architect. This demanded that no one should disturb him during his work, but when after a few months, the plant was still not completed, the king impatiently opened the door and on the spot disappeared, the mysterious old man. So the king had the unfinished statues solemnly install and dedicate the temple.
The Trimurti with Jagannatha is once pulled on ropes through the city of Puri in the year during the famous festival on the borders of India Ratha Yatra procession on three huge Chariot of the Gods ( Ratha ). Every year one paints the three murtis as Hindus call consecrated statues, before the great procession of new, the striking eyes draw the priest during the service. Every twelve years, however, one exchanges the murtis within a rite from such changes.
In the English language the borrowed word Juggernaut has been adopted, which pejoratively an " idol " or an " unstoppable idea that niederwalzt everything " means, but to be their God threw allegedly believers in fanatical religious frenzy before the wheels of the " Juggernaut " to sacrifice.