Stories of Jagannatha

In 1727, Dhananjaya Mehta, a wealthy man from the city of Hyderabad in South India, arrived in Jagannatha Puri along with his family. He, personally, did not believe in Jagannatha and was proud of his wealth. While he was in Puri, he decided to challenge this strange figure made of wood. In the temple, food is offered to the Deities three times a day daily. Dhananjaya Mehta publicly announced that he would donate one hundred thousand rupees to Jagannatha if the temple cooks could spend the entire sum to prepare a meal to offer to the Lords. In those days, fruits and vegetables were very cheap. Even one hundred rupees was a sufficient sum to buy products to prepare prasadam. What would the cooks do with a thousand rupees, let alone one hundred thousand rupees? Dhananjaya’s challenge posed a problem for the worshippers of Jagannatha, and they were very upset to see such an attitude from a so-called devotee.

The priest pondered: “Should we tell him that such a sum is completely too large? Should we tell him to give a smaller donation? Would it not be too embarrassing to ask him for that? We know that Jagannatha is great, His temple is grand, His rituals are mystical and divine—so how can we ask a person to donate less so that we, ordinary mortals, can manage the sum?”

At that time, butter was the most expensive ingredient, so the priest began to think that they could buy a large enough quantity of butter to make ghee and use it for cooking. But what kind of prasadam could be cooked using only ghee? The most expensive and delicious prasadam could easily be made with butter and coconut sweets for ten thousand rupees, but the millionaire from Hyderabad wants to offer prasadam costing one hundred thousand rupees! Since the Jagannatha temple was the first established, lakhs (one lakh equals one hundred thousand) of people supplied mahaprasadam to the temple’s Ananda Bazar (market). To this day, countless delicacies can be found there. In fact, the Jagannatha temple is the only temple in the world where maha-prasadam is respected even more than the opportunity to see the Deity itself. Everyone can eat it, regardless of caste, color, or belief. And yet, never before had such a problem arisen. The temple cooks did not know what to do. There is no such prasadam that could be prepared for one hundred thousand rupees!

Finally they decided: “Let’s tell the Lord about this problem and let everything be in His will. Lord Jagannatha is not a man of blood and flesh to be prayed to for simple questions. Let’s arrange a dharana—a group prayer. No one can resist His wishes.” So, the head priest along with other priests began to pray sincerely: “O Lord, please choose the food You would like most.”

At the same time, Dhananjaya was eager to return to his business affairs in Hyderabad. He did not want to stay in Puri any longer. So, he asked the chief priest to inform him the next morning of their decision regarding the prasadam. The priest replied that he was waiting for the Lord’s answer. This was exactly what Dhananjaya wanted, and to see the defeated priest, he decided to stay in Puri a little longer. In this sweet way, the Lord taught him a lesson.

One hundred thousand rupees is like a ridiculous alms to the Lord who rules countless universes. Without waiting long, the Lord answered the priest’s prayer in a dream: “Let Dhananjaya offer Me a large piece of paan (a preparation offered to the Lord, consisting of various fillings wrapped in betel leaves). However, the betel nuts must be sprinkled not with lime, but with finely ground pearl powder. Moreover, those pearls must be taken from the head of a special kind of elephant.”

Now, a single piece of paan cannot be bought for any money—even today it would cost about fifty paisa, but with the rarest ingredients inside, it would be much more expensive. The priest immediately rushed to Dhananjaya and told him the content of his dream. “Is it not wonderful? Jagannatha wants a simple betel nut, but it must be made with the dust of pearls taken from an elephant’s head.”

Hearing this, Dhananjaya’s face turned pale. He thought: “A simple betel nut! Nothing more than that!” It is said that an elephant costs one hundred thousand rupees, whether alive or dead. How many elephants of a special kind would have to be killed to find one pearl in its head? Not every elephant has a pearl in its forehead. This is a rare phenomenon. In fact, one in a million has a pearl in its forehead. Dhananjaya’s head spun and he had to admit defeat. He was unable to offer even a single betel nut to Lord Jagannatha. Untying his turban and taking off his sandals, he ran to the Lord with a lap full of rupees. A huge crowd followed, watching the strange sight.

The Lord defeated the millionaire in his own game of dollars and cents. Finally, the man’s pride was crushed. He wept in front of the deity, seeking to connect with Jagannatha by crying uncontrollably like a child. Completely surrendered and defeated, he prayed: “O Lord, I made a foolish human mistake, because I am completely unable to offer You even a single betel nut. What else could I offer You? O Lord, forgive me. I am a fallen man, insignificant before You. Everything is Yours and You are everything. Take everything I have. Please, accept only the sweet-smelling red betel nut from my heart.”