Namaste Stella
I thought I would mention something you may find interesting in line with your exploration of Jagannath ("Lord of the Universe").
The Orissa Review you mention is wonderfully engaging and scholarly. I am familiar with it, as I used some of their articles along with other books, scriptures, archeological studies, etc., in some notes I gathered a couple of years ago about the evidence that inside the Jagannath murti (temple deity) is a small bone of the Buddha which looks like a tooth.
It seems after the passing of the Buddha, the few bones, teeth, a large number of "beads", were distributed through-out India and other parts of the world as relics of Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha).
The site of Buddha's cremation was at a shrine called Mukutbandhana Chaitya in Ramabhar, Kushinagar which is 53 km west of the city Gorakhpur, Eastern UP. It occured the seventh day after annointing the body with perfumes and garlands and then taken to the Mukutbandhana Chaitya, the sacred shrine of the Mallas. The last ceremony was performed by Maha Kasapa and was cremation.
The few bones and teeth of the Buddha primarily remained in parts of India, while the "beads" made their way much further distance than the bone relics.
While some speculate the beads may have included some body attire such as neck beads the Buddha may have been wearing, this is doubtful to those who have observed some of these beads.
Cremation ash of a burning body and related chemical reactions can mix in the process depending on the wood used to form sporatic gray colored hard pea like objects, these appear like pox and became Buddha relics.
A larger bone may form pock marks or holes in the bone, found in the bone after cremation. Inside these holes, a hard crystalized pea can be formed due to the cremation. These became Buddha relics.
The burned bone, even teeth, become Buddhist relics.
The relics were then put in viles, cylinder and ball like containers, often with a lotus motif cap.
These were put into (buried inside) column like earth mounts that became stupas a worshipper could walk around, inside actual columns of different materials even including metal, and inside of "idols".
The first time I had ever heard about a bone of the Buddha inside the wooden Jagannath murti was in the 1970s from a Vaishnava pujari (temple priest).
My wife and I have been to Jagannath Puri in Orissa, which is near West Bengal, WB is sort of a "home turf" for me. You should visit the temple sometime.
At the time of the rise of Buddhism, there were three forces contending for hegemony and Royal patronage, this being Hindus, Jains and Buddhists.
There are examples of Hindu and Jain temples that came under the patronage of Buddhists, even including temple priests who were Buddhist and mixed local Hindu traditions with aspects of Buddhism as far as temple affairs and in continuum of holy tirthas.
The evidence seems pretty compelling that Jagannath Temple ("Lord of the Universe" Orissan Hindu religion) came under the patronage of Buddhist elites and Kshatriyas who were followers of Gautama and who placed Buddhists in charge of affairs. Probably many locals of the folk also were agreeable to this as many did not yet distingush between Hindu, Jain and Buddhist.
Because the temple and traditions of this Oriya Hindu sect, which was egalitarian and not yet Vaishnava (that happened later) had aspects of Universalism there were reasons a Buddhist patron would sponsor its livelihood and find affinity. This does not mean Jagannath was (or is) a "Buddhist God", I certainly do not see it that way. It seems evident that the Lord of the Universe sect pre-dated Buddhism as a local Oriya tradition in the Family of Hinduism.
However, the Jagannath murti
did not look the same as in the early middle ages, and while Hindus have a tradition of carts, palanquins, chariots, flyers and such vehicles to litter, carry or pull a murti out into the public for a festival or even to escort the temple murti to visit of a murti or Devata resident of another temple.
The Buddhists have a tradition of parading a Buddha relic in public in a vehicle as well, this was particularly popular in thpse days and is most likely borrowed from Hinduism and transformed. However, the famous Jagannath Chariot festival seems to have appeared after the Buddhist dominance in Puri, and probably is a continuation of the popular parade of the Buddha's tooth, only now the tooth is inside the wooden Jagannath murti.
Every twelve years the Jagannath murti is replaced with another made from a log that is brought mysteriously from some unknown land. This is utilized for carving a new image of Jagannatha, in which an ancient relic is transferred from the old to the new. This relic is also known as the Navi-Padma of Shri Jagannatha (the "Lotus shaped navel"), this is probably a bone or tooth of the Buddha.
Where this log comes from is secret, but suspect is Chilka Lake where in the past theJagannath murti was buried 3 times in the past in the Chilka lake for protection from invaders.
Behind Jagannath Temple at Puri, there is a huge stone image of Lord Buddha in Bhumisparsha mudra. This is covered from public view by a wall.
The temple attendants are divided into orders and one of the highest is the Raja of Khurda who calls himself by the lowly title of "sweeper to Jagannatha".
This is interesting to note, because at the time of Chaitanya, when Chaitanya was present for the Ratha Yatra or Chariot festival of Jagannath, it is recorded that as the Jagannatha approached his view, he observed Maharaja Prataparudra, the King of Orissa with a gold-handled broom, carefully sweeping the road in front of Lord Jagannatha.
What is my personal bias? I could be wrong, but certainly it is possible that Jagannath was not originally a Vaishnava murti but rather an idol of Oriya religion of Hinduism know simply as the Lord of the Universe. You will discover the many legends of how this murti, along with the paired other two Balabhadra and Subhadra wooden murtis, are unfinished carvings because the artist was disturbed before completion, a stipulation that no one is to observe the idol until it had been finished was violated. From that time forward, as the previous murti was replaced with a new one every 12 years the shapes have been the same, the secret object taken out of the previous and put in the new.
But Jagannath was before this event ws well. What was the form of the murti then?
There are many such wonders in India. There is another temple deity which has been passed on from one sect to another religion to another sect. It was once known as an idol of Murugan as a Brahmacharyi. Then the holy site came under the patronage of Buddhists. The temple came back to Hindu administration as Buddhism decline and at the time Vaishnava bhakti movements arose. This idol which was first Muruga, then a Jain like Buddha conversion, then became a Vaishnava murti, the Vel was gone, but Muruga can still be seen behind the attire of a Vaishnavic motif. But that is probably a story for another time, maybe another life.
Om Namah Sivaya
