Stories 2
All kinds
Origin
Legend
Local story
Folk tale
From the epics
Festival story
Temple legend
In stone and bronze
How a tradition frames it
Everywhere
Pan-India 95
South India 67
West India 30
East India 22
North India 15
The Himalaya 12
Northeast India 5
Southeast Asia 4
Central India 4
✕ renewal
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Origin · 2 tellings · contested
Jagannath and the Sabara chief
Tradition says Vishnu was first worshipped in the Odisha forest as the blue stone Nilamadhava by the Sabara chief Viswavasu, before returning as the wooden Jagannath; scholars argue over what that means.
Temple legend · 4 tellings · contested
Nila Madhava and the unfinished images of Puri
King Indradyumna's priest finds Nila Madhava worshipped by a Sabara chief; the image vanishes; new images are carved from a sea-borne log and left unfinished when the carver is disturbed.