महापुरुषविद्या: Mahapurusavidya (An Old And Rare Book)

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It gives me immense delight to present this volume, Mahapurusa Vidya, edited by an eminent scholar in Jagannath Studies, to our readers, both the enlightened ones and those who may not be so enlightened in the subject. The enlightened ones would find that it is a treatise written in a lucid and pleasant style with a lot of informations while for the beginners it would open up new vistas about Jagannath Dham (the abode of Lord Jagannath) as well as Jagannath tattva (philosophy of Jagannath) Moreover, when it comes to the question of comprehending the phenomenon called Jagannath what significant difference can there be afterall between the enlightened and the beginner? For, Jagannath continues to remain incomprehensible and mystifying as ever to all of us, even to the learned with all his so-called enlighten- ment As has been well said in another context, "Ko majjato ranukulacalayor visesah". What difference can there be between a tiny particle and a mountain, when it is a question of immersion in the ocean? Our comprehension of Jagannath can at best be a sort of enlightened ignorance in the long run. What is significant, however, about treatises like Mahapurusa Vidya is that they make us aware of the infinitude of the Lord with all His paraphernalia an infinitude that continues to attract and entice our finite mind while remaining elusive for ever.

1. The present publication, Mahapurusa Vidya is our first step towards investigative rese- arch in the field of Jagannath religion. Jagannath the presiding Deity of Purusottam Kshetra, Puri, Orissa is an enticing enigma. He is as much a fact as a myth and a legend. Fact and fiction are in-extricably blended in the making of Jagannath as a Deity of sublime significance. We can how- ever divest fiction from fact & retrack the antiquity of Jagannath as far as historical evidences can lead us. But the Deity is of a unique sort. He looks large before us like a puzzling mystery. We have shrines of multitude of deites in Orissa and else- where in India. They represent religious beliefs of different denominations. We can distinguish these deites by certain broad acceptable character- istics. Thus shrines assigned to Siva and Vishnu, Surya and Ganapati, Bhairava and Kali, Buddha and Mahajina are known for what they are. But Jagannath is baffling. He cannot be denominated under any such known category. He is a challen- ging proposition not identifiable with this or that religious faith. Nonetheless people of various religious sects claim the Deity as their own. If Ramanuja could find 'Narayana in Jagannath, Tulasidas discovers Rama, the Raghunandana and Chaitanya the Krishna of Vrindavana. While there is a persistent belief that Jagannath is the incoronation of Buddha there are those who consi- der Jagannatha as the Bhairva. Vimala being cited as the Bhairavi in the context, what strikes us most is the fact that Jagannath does not abolish the veriety of faiths but sustains them like notes of a many strung melody. Yet he remains an enigma, so elusive so very enticing that we are puzzled by the magnitude of his being and the magic of hi becoming.