There is a legend associated with the origin of this temple and the cult of Jagannath. According to it, Indrayumna, the king of Malava in Sata Yuga, was a great devotee of Vishnu. In his dream he saw the Nila Madhava form of Vishnu and became very curious to know where the Lord was worshipped. Therefore, he sent his emissaries in four directions to find out about this.

A Brahmin, named Vidyapati, was sent to the east. He came to a village called Savara in the region of Utkala and took shelter in the house of the Savara King Visvavasu. He fell in love with Lalita, the king's daughter and later got married to her. Vidyapati discovered that Visvavasu used to go to the forest every morning to worship Nila Madhava in a blue cave called Nilkandara. On a request made by Lalita, Visvavasu agreed to take Vidyapati with him to the shrine but on the condition that he would be taken and brought back blindfolded. On hearing this, Lalita gave ... More

There is a legend associated with the origin of this temple and the cult of Jagannath. According to it, Indrayumna, the king of Malava in Sata Yuga, was a great devotee of Vishnu. In his dream he saw the Nila Madhava form of Vishnu and became very curious to know where the Lord was worshipped. Therefore, he sent his emissaries in four directions to find out about this.

A Brahmin, named Vidyapati, was sent to the east. He came to a village called Savara in the region of Utkala and took shelter in the house of the Savara King Visvavasu. He fell in love with Lalita, the king's daughter and later got married to her. Vidyapati discovered that Visvavasu used to go to the forest every morning to worship Nila Madhava in a blue cave called Nilkandara. On a request made by Lalita, Visvavasu agreed to take Vidyapati with him to the shrine but on the condition that he would be taken and brought back blindfolded. On hearing this, Lalita gave him some sesame seeds to be scattered on the road so that he might know the path when the seeds would grow into plants during the rains.

Vidyapati thus got to see saw Nila Madhava. However when the king offered food to the deity, he did not take it. Soon a divine voice was heard, saying that the Lord does not wish to be worshipped by him. The idol will change to a tree form and be henceforth worshipped in a temple by Raja Indradyumna. The king was saddened to lose the deity. Vidyapati took the idol and left for Malwa, leaving behind his wife. King Indradyumna heard a voice from heaven telling him to construct a temple on Nilasaila or the Blue Mountain. The king ordered the construction and on its completion he requested Lord Brahma to consecrate the temple. However Brahma was doing meditation, which went on for nine Yugas. In the meanwhile the temple got buried in sand and the blue idol was lost. It was only when Galamadhva, a king belonging to a new dynasty, came to rule Utkala, that the buried temple was discovered. Just then King Indradyumna along with Lord Brahma appeared before him, and in the ensuing tussle over the ownership of the temple, Lord Brahma decided in favor of Indradyumna and asked him to install deities in the temple. The Lord appeared in his dream and told him that he would find a log of wood floating in the sea and from this the idols would have to be made. Such a log was recovered from the sea, but surprisingly the artists were unable to make idols out of it. At this point Vishwakarma, the architect of Gods, appeared and built a magnificent temple to house the idols. Then Lord Vishnu himself appeared in the guise of a carpenter to make the idols on the condition that he was to be left undisturbed until he finished the work.

However, the Queen became very anxious when she did not hear any sound from the temple. She went to see Vishnu at work. Since the condition had been broken, Vishnu abandoned his work leaving the limbs of the idols unfinished. However a divine voice told the king to install them in the temple. Thus the unfinished idols were brought in the sanctum and were ceremoniously installed. The same form has been retained till present. Being created of wood the idols are renewed periodically during the Nabakalebara ceremony.