The worship of Mahalakshmi in Jagannath culture holds a lot of significance for devotees who revered her with equal admiration and devotion as they have for the Trinity in the Puri Srimandir.
Mahalakshmi is worshipped as the consort of Lord Jagannath in the Lakshmi temple at Srimandir.
She is worshipped as the side deity (Parswadevata) but her place is no less than the principal deities comprising Lord Balabhadra or Balaram, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath. The Jagannath Temple is known as Srimandir as it is the abode of Sri or Goddess Mahalakshmi.
Experts said that Jagannath cult is the culture of casteless humanity which has its origin in the worship of Mahalakshmi in Srimandir.
Lord Jagannath, originally worshipped as Daru Devata, was later on subjected to a monopoly by the upper caste people, they said. However, such attempt by the upper caste people to monopolise Jagannath culture was rendered futile in the face of strong opposition from local tribals for whom Jagannath is still the symbolic summum bonum of their culture. Thus a new culture was born out of this resistance which has been substantiated by traditions and finds mention in the Lakshmi Purana written by Balaram Das. Lakshmi Purana is a beautiful story which establishes the significance and importance of feminine power in our society. It stresses the importance of feminism and empowers the female to resist the male hegemony. It is not known when the story was written but undoubtedly the story holds enormous significance for today’s caste and creed ridden society.
The Lakshmi Purana says there is no caste bar in propitiation of Goddess Mahalakshmi. This eclectic attitude also prevails upon in the service pattern of Jagannath Temple where the people irrespective of caste and creed consume Mahaprasad of Lord Jagannath together.
The Lakshmi Purana is a battle of ideas where Lord Jagannath and his elder sibling Lord Balabhadra belong to one side while Goddess Mahalakshmi on the other side. This forms the basis of Jagannath cult.
She grants boons and blesses those who propitiate her with devotion and austerity. Once she went out of Srimandir before sunrise and was taking rounds when she noticed a young lady Sriya of Chandala caste performing her rituals with utmost devotion and submission.
Sriya had got up early in the morning and had mopped her thatched house with cow dung water and had drawn beautiful Jhotis with rice powdered water. The Goddess appeared before her and asked her to wish for any boon.
Sriya was overwhelmed on seeing the Goddess and prayed for wealth, prosperity, off-springs and finally immortality. Mahalakshmi granted her all boons except immortality.
Lord Balaram took offence and did not approve Mahalakshmi visiting the house of a low-caste woman. He asked his younger sibling Lord Jagannath not to allow Mahalakshmi to enter the temple after her return from Sriya’s house. They asked her to leave back all her ornaments. They even did not spare her father Varun, the sea god.
Mahalakshmi pleaded with them to forgive her but all her prayer fell on deaf ears.
Enraged, Mahalakshmi cursed the brothers to suffer for their misdeeds by becoming poor and without getting food for 12 years till they surrender and request her for food.
Later, she directed divine engineer Viswakarma to build a palace for her where she came to live with her sakhis.
She directed eight Vetalas to spoil the kitchen of Srimandir and bring back all the wealth in the Ratna Bhandar. She even directed the goddess of sleep Jogamaya to make the Lord fall asleep following which the Vetalas brought back all the foods in the kitchen and wealth in the Ratna Bhandar.
She even directed the goddess of learning Saraswati to cast her spell on people so that they do not offer them food to eat or water to drink.
They wandered here and there in search of food and water but in vain. A servitor (Badapanda) of temple took pity on them and offered them food but it got vanished from the pot.
The servitor drove them away angrily calling them as ‘Lakshmichhada’ (one who is deprived of the blessings of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth). They went from door to door begging but in vain as all treated them with disdain. They tried everything to get food and water but in vain. Meanwhile, the Sun god under the direction of Devi Mahalakshmi emitted sharp rays following which they failed to walk on the hot sand.
Left with no option, they gave their consent to take food from the hands of Chandaluni. They were asked to take their bath while Mahalakshmi prepared food and served the siblings with all love and care.
The siblings were relishing the food when it came to the mind of Balaram that the food tasted the same as the one cooked by Mahalakshmi for them in Srimandir. He realized his mistake and asked Lord Jagannath to search for Mahalakshmi. The divine couple soon got united and Goddess Mahalakshmi returned to Srimandir.