Jagannatha shrine
Not on view
This shrine is in the form of a triptych dedicated to the Vishnu emanation of Jagannatha, "Lord of the Universe," a form of Krishna. It served as a devotional setting for the veneration of this much-loved Krishna ensemble, consisting of Lord Jagannatha, accompanied by his half-brother Balabhadra (nee Balarama) and his sister Sudhadra. Together they form a holy triad, distinguished each by body color, with Jagannatha (Krishna the "dark Lord"), shown with a dark complexion, Balabhadra light and Subhadra white. They became the focus of a major center of Krishna worship, and the temple dedicated to them at Puri, Odisha, in coastal eastern India, assumed the status of one of the four great pilgrimage centers (dham) of Hinduism. Puri thus attracted vast numbers of pilgrims from all over India to its Jagannatha temple, built in its present form around 1135. This portable shrine would have served as a surrogate location for a devotee’s worship, likely carried by an itinerant priest to villages where followers could imbibe the presence of Lord Jagannatha from afar.
