The myth of Neel Madhav

The myth behind the mishappened structure of Lord Jagannath revolves around the ardent desire of king Indradyumna to see Lord Vishnu. It is ofetn believed that whenever humanity has to face evils, Vishnu has taken different avatars to save the earth. The iconic landmark of Puri, the temple of Jagannath has an interesting myth behind it which we can often term as Vishnu's "leela".

King Indradyumna who was the ruler of the central India was a devotee of Lord Vishnu. With time, when his desire to witness the lord was becoming uncontrollable, a random traveller visited his court and informed him that the lord is being worshipped in his truest form as Neel Madhav near Puri. King Indradyumna immediately ordered his head priest, Vidyapathi to visit the place and gather informations about Neel Madhav. After a long tiring journey Vidyapathi reached the place and learned that a tribal chieftant, Vishwabasu guards Neel Madhav. Vidyapathi met and requested Vishwabasu to take him to the place where Neel Madhav worships but Vishwabasu refused. Vidyapathi started living in the same days and after some days he fell in love with Vishwabasu's daughter and soon they got married. Vidyapthi made his wife convince her father so that Vishwabasu show Vidyapathi the way to Neel Madhav. Vishwabasu agreed to his daughter's request and stated a condition for the same. Vishwabasu will take Vidyapathi to the place but he will remain blindfolded. On their way to the cave, Vidyapathi outsmarted his father-in-law and scattered mustard seeds on the roads so that he can trace the way that leads to the cave of Neel Madhav.

Vidyapathi was spellbound to witness the magnificient Neel Madhav for what king Indradymna had always craved for. Vidyapathi rushed to his king to informed him about what he saw. Later, when Indradyumna visited the place with Vidyapathi, he found it to be an empty place. The king was devastated by the sight. But he had a vision, where he was asked to bring of a log with him to his palace which he will find on the shores of Puri. He was shocked to find his visions to be true and with great devotion he brought the log into the palace and appointed carpenters to curve out the structure of Lord Vishnu out of it.

To the king's utter dismay everyone failed to complete the work as no one had ever seen Vishnu. When things were getting impossible, the god of artisans, Vishwakarma visited the king in the guise of a carpenter and convinced him that he could curve out Vishnu's image. He closed the door of the temple and asked the king not to disturb him before 21 days. The king agreed.

On the 15th day the queen became impatient and persuaded Indradyumna to open the door. As the king was eager to know about the status of the work, he opened the door only to find that Vishwakarma has vanished, leaving behind three mishappened structures ,without arms that he has curved out of the log.

It is believed that these three are the structures we now worship as Jagannath, Balaram and Subhadra.