भगवान जगन्नाथ Mantras

King Indradyumna of old longed to worship the Lord in a sacred form, and was told in a vision that Vishnu would appear as a log of wood (daru-brahma) floating upon the sea at Puri. The great log was found, but no craftsman could carve it. Then an old artisan came forward — none other than Vishwakarma, architect of the gods, in disguise — and agreed to fashion the images on one condition: that he work alone behind closed doors, and that none disturb him until he had finished.

For days the king heard the sounds of carving from within the locked chamber. But when the sounds suddenly ceased, the queen, fearing the old man had died, persuaded the king to open the doors. At once the artisan vanished — and there stood the images of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra, left unfinished, with great round eyes and only stumps for arms.

The grieving king was consoled by a divine voice: it was the Lord's own wish to be worshipped in just this form. So Lord Jagannath — the Lord of the Universe, a form of Krishna — is adored at Puri exactly as he appeared, and once a year leaves his temple upon a towering chariot in the great Rath Yatra, to give his darshan freely to all, of every caste and creed.