LORD JAGANNATH IN LEGENDS
Lord Jagannath was the Deity of Viswavasu, the Savara King (Tribal Chief). But that is not the beginning. Viswavasu was the Jara Savara of the Dwapara age. This Jara Savara was also Angada in the Treteya age, the son of the Banara King Bali, a devotee of Sri Rama and an outstanding military chief. When Sri Rama wanted to reward his military chief and followers with boons, Angada said "My Lord, if You must grant me a boon, May I take revenge of my father's murder and yet remain your devotee?". This same Angada, in the form of Jara Savara, was waiting as ordained, on the seashore of Dwaraka. After the destruction of Jadu Dynasty, when Sri Krishna was lying down on a bed of creepers, the unfailing arrow of Jara Savara hit His blood-red feet which looked like the ears of a deer, and this marked the passing away of the great avatar of Vishnu from earth.
Lord Krishna's moral body did not burn. A piece of bone tied to the branch of a tree was thrown into the sea which, after thousands of years, reached the eastern shores. Viswavasu carried this and worshipped it as Nilamadhava. The Aryans attempted to own this Savara God, and the symbol of this Aryan attempt is King Indradyumna. Who is this Indradyumna? He does not appear in history. The Skanda Purana says that he was the king of Malava and son of Bharata and Sunanda. Archaeologists have discovered an old fort near Monghyr in Bihar, which is called Indradyumna Fort. It is said that King Indradyumna ruled from there. Whoever he was, he sent Vidyapati (a brahmin priest) to search for Nilamadhava. Vidyapati got Viswavasu but did not get Nilamadhava.
Indradyumna attacked the Savara settlement with his army. Viswavasu was defeated, but the Lord of the great devotee disappeared. Indradyumna, overwhelmed with grief, lay prostrate for twenty-one days. Then he was told in a dream, "Go and fetch the Daru (log of wood) which is lying on the shores of Puri. Carve it into an idol and worship it". There was another dream which said that it would not be possible to lift the Daru without the help of Viswavasu.
Jagannath was then the God of the Savaras and even now, the Daitas who are among His Sevakas are the descendants of the Savara tribe. The deities are in charge of the daitas from the day of Snana Purnima to the Ratha Yatra day. Though the Aryans owned the God of the Savaras, the right of the Savaras to serve Him was retained. The Lord turned into Patitapabana, the God of Viswavasu, the tribal, and the god of Dasia Bauri (Dasia the man of low caste).
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