Stories of Jagannatha

In ancient times, the song Gita Govinda was very popular among the people in Odisha. In a small village near Puri, lived a girl named Padma. She was the daughter of a gardener and sang Gita Govinda beautifully. One day, she was picking eggplants and singing this song very melodiously. When Lord Jagannatha heard her singing Gita Govinda, He could not remain in the temple. He immediately descended from the altar and went to the garden where Padma was singing. Lord Jagannatha followed the girl, absorbed in the sounds. He completely forgot Himself, listening to the sounds of Gita Govinda. While He was following the girl, the thorns of the fruit bushes tore His clothes. The upper part of His robe fell to the ground, but the Lord was so focused on the Gita Govinda song that He did not notice anything.

After some time, Padma filled her basket with eggplants and left the garden. Lord Jagannatha, very pleased with listening to Padma’s singing, returned to the temple. The next morning, the pujari came to perform the morning services. When he opened the temple gates, he was very surprised to see the torn, topless clothes of Lord Jagannatha. Pieces of fabric were scattered here and there. Seeing this, the pujari became very concerned and immediately informed the king about this incident. Nobody could understand how this could have happened. The king began to fast and, falling before the Lord, began to pray for forgiveness for the mistakes made in serving Him.

Lord Jagannatha appeared in the king’s dream and said: “O king! Do not worry! I really like listening to the Gita Govinda song, composed by My devotee Jayadeva. Last night, a village girl sang Gita Govinda very sweetly. I was highly attracted by her singing and I left the temple to listen to her. My clothes were torn by the thorns of the fruit bushes when I followed the girl. I did not notice when I lost the upper part of my clothes there. Do not worry about this at all, you did nothing wrong. But I ask you to bring that girl every day to sing Gita Govinda to Me in front of Me in the temple before I go to sleep.”

The king immediately sent people to find the girl. When they discovered her house, they saw Lord Jagannatha’s upper robe lying in the garden. When the king heard about this, he was astonished: this confirmed that the Lord was in the girl’s garden. The king wished to fulfill the Lord’s desire to listen to Padma’s singing of the Gita Govinda song every evening. He personally went to the girl’s house and told her about his dream in which Lord Jagannatha appeared and expressed a desire to listen to her singing every evening. He said that if the girl had no objections, she could move to Puri. All her and her family’s needs would be met. Then she could sing to Lord Jagannatha every evening. Hearing this, the girl was very happy. How fortunate she was that the Lord desired her to sing Gita Govinda to Him personally! So Padma, along with her family, agreed to move to Puri and serve Lord Jagannatha there.

They arrived in Puri and met the king. The king took care of all the family’s comforts and gave Padma a special service—to sing Gita Govinda in front of Jagannatha. Since then, this song has been sung in the Jagannatha temple. The king highly respected the Gita Govinda song written by Jayadeva. He established a precise time for singing and thus the rules for its singing appeared. By the king’s order, this instruction was carved in stone as an eternal command. Since then, the most fortunate girl Padma began to sing Gita Govinda to the Lord daily, during the midnight arati before Jagannatha goes to rest. Padma became known as a Deva dasi, or maidservant of the Lord.

Translated from Bhakti Purusottama Swami’s book “Sri Jagannath. The Pastimes of the Lord of the Universe”