Dāru Mūrti Manifestation

The Purushottama Kshetra Māhātmya of the Skanda Purāṇa tells how Parabrahman took a form of wood at Purushottama Kshetra. A great tree trunk (dāru-vṛksha) was seen floating in the eastern ocean. King Indradyumna drew it ashore. Viśvakarmā, the architect of the devas, came as an old carpenter. From the one trunk came four complete mūrtis: Jagannātha, Balabhadra, Subhadrā and Sudarśana. This is the heart of the Māhātmya. In this wooden form, Brahman, the infinite, chose to live in one place so that all beings could reach moksha, without any condition.

After the thousand Aśvamedhas

Indradyumna had finished one thousand Aśvamedha yāgas at Purushottama Kshetra. After the closing bath (avabhṛtha-snāna), the Indradyumna Sarovara was formed. Then a great divine tree trunk was seen floating in the eastern ocean. An aśarīra-vāṇī (a voice with no body) told Indradyumna to go to it and draw it ashore. (Chapter 18)

The divine instructions

The voice gave exact instructions for the trunk.

1. Pull the trunk from the ocean and keep it covered for fifteen days.
2. Find an old carpenter, one with all the marks of divine skill, and let him work alone inside the enclosure.
3. No one else may go in or watch while the carpenter is at work.
4. At the end of fifteen days, open the enclosure as instructed.

(Chapter 18)

Viśvakarmā in disguise

Indradyumna looked for the carpenter that the voice had named. An old man came, aged in looks and carrying the tools of a master craftsman. He said he was the carpenter for this work. He was Viśvakarmā, the divine architect of the devas, in disguise. Viśvakarmā went into the sealed enclosure and the work began. For fifteen days no sound was heard from inside. (Chapters 18 and 19)

The opening of the enclosure

Fifteen days after the sealing, Indradyumna opened the enclosure as the voice had told him. Inside were four complete mūrtis, all made from the one tree trunk.

The old carpenter was nowhere to be seen. Viśvakarmā had finished the divine work and gone. (Chapters 19 and 28)

Brahmā’s explanation

Brahmā explained the full meaning of the dāru form in his talk at the pratishṭhā (the installing ceremony):

“This is not only an image of wood. This is the direct svarūpa (own form) of Parabrahman. It is called dāru-brahman because it gives akhaṇḍa-ānanda (undivided bliss) by destroying all duḥkha (sorrow). In the dāru form, Svāmi made himself from the four Vedas, and through the Vedas he made the whole world.”

“Though they are four, they are in the end one, as gold in different ornaments is still the same gold. Svāmi is one, though he appears as many. All mantras please Svāmi. Whoever does pūjā to Svāmi in whatever form, Svāmi gives the fruit in that form.”

“Svāmi came down in this dāru form so that all beings, even those who have not done the hard work of dhāraṇā, dhyāna and tapas, could gain moksha by his darśana alone.”

(Chapter 28)

Why Brahman chose wood

A brāhmaṇa at the assembly makes a key point. The dāru mūrti goes beyond all Vedāntic paths, because it offers moksha without any condition. The learned and the unlearned, the brāhmaṇa and the low-born, the devotee and even the one who is not a devotee, are all freed by contact with this kshetra and by darśana of this form. Choosing wood is itself an act of divine kindness, since wood is the easiest material for all to reach, whatever their rank. (Chapter 21)

Brahmā also names Narasiṃha as the main form within the dāru mūrti. Narasiṃha is Sāmaveda, and is the deepest nature of Jagannātha. The fierce form (ugra-rūpa) of Narasiṃha that blazed out during the pratishṭhā showed this inner identity. (Chapter 28)

The cosmic side

The text tells a still greater fact. The dāru-vṛksha did not first appear when Indradyumna did his Aśvamedhas. It had been floating in the ocean since the beginning of creation, having fallen from Bhagavān Vishṇu’s own body. So the dāru mūrti is older than Indradyumna. The king was the chosen instrument through whom Parabrahman’s coming into this easy-to-reach wooden form would be formally set up and honoured. (Chapter 23)

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Purushottama Kshetra Māhātmya, Chapters 18–21, 23 and 28