Page 6 - Story of Lord Jagannath’s Appearance

besieged the village of the Sabaras and arrested the Sabara named
Vishvasu. Suddenly, however, a voice in the sky said to the King,
“Release this Sabara! On top of Nila Hill you should construct a temple.
There as Daru‐ brahman, or the Absolute Truth manifest in a wooden
form, you will see Me. You will not see Me as Nila‐madhava.”

To build the temple, King Indradyumna made arrangements to bring
stone from a place called Baulamala by building a road from there to
the Nila‐Kandara Hill. The holy abode of Sri Kshetra, or Puri, is in the
shape of a conch, and in the navel of that conch the King established a
town of the name Rama‐ Krishna‐pura and constructed the temple. The
temple extended 60 cubits beneath the earth and rose 120 cubits
above the surface. At the top of the temple the King built a kalasa,or
round pinnacle, and on top of that a cakra,or disc. He also had the tem‐
ple decorated with golden ornamenta on. Then King Indradyumna, de‐
siring for Lord Brahma to consecrate the temple, traveled to Brahmalo‐
ka and spent a long me there wai ng for him. During that me, the
temple, which is very near the sea, became covered with sand from the
shore.

When King Indradyumna was away, first Suradeva and then Galama‐
dhava took over as the kings of that area. it was Galamadhava who
raised the temple from within the sands, where it had been buried for a
long me. Shortly a er the temple was uncovered, however, King In‐
dradyumna returned from Lord Brahma’s abode. Indradyumna claimed
that he had constructed the temple, but Galamadhava put forward the
claim that he was its constructor. In a banyan tree near the temple,
however, lived a bhushandi crow who had been living through many
ages, constantly singing the name of Lord Rama. From his abode on the
branches of that banyan tree, the crow had seen the whole construc‐
on of the temple. Therefore he made it known that actually King In‐
dradyumna had constructed the temple and that in his absence it had
been covered by sand. He further said that King Galamadhava had later
merely uncovered the temple. Because King Galamadhava had con‐
cealed the truth, Lord Brahma then ordered him to reside outside the
grounds of the temple, on the western side of the lake called In‐
dradyumna‐sarovara.