The Thinkers’ Club organised its 82nd virtual meet with Niladri Editor Dr Bhabani Shankar Dash joining ad the chief speaker. He spoke on origin of the Lord Jagannath quoting from the Madala Panji, Puranas and contemporary Odia literature.
According to him the worship of Lord Jagannath and His siblings carries great significance. The Jagannath Sanskruti embodies all major religions of the world, he added.
Professor Panchanan Mohanty, the Dean of Odia Language and Literature of the Nalanda Biswa Vidyalaya, Bihar joined as the guest of honour. Mohanty informed that the word Jagannath might have originated from the word “Joganta” in the shaura literature. The tribals of Odisha, Shabar, Shantal, Juanga worship their God made out of wood. He said it may be from the word Jagannathpuri, the word Puri has originated.
According to him the eyes of Jagannath is round and that of Balabhadra and Subhadra are elliptical like the ordinary human being. So they may not be brothers and sisters. He expressed that, some research is necessary in this respect.
Man Mohn Acharjya, Madhusudan Mohapatra from Pondichery, Professor Umasankar Misra and Dr Bairagi Charan Pattanaik participated in the discussions.
Prasanta Bhuyan from Canada, Binode Mohanty from Miyamaar, Engineer Sudhakar Patri, Bishop DB Hridaya, Nimai Swain, KC Panda, Rabindranath Das, Rabinarayan Kar, Professor Damayanti Besar, Bibhudutta Mohanty among others joined.
Club president Barada Prasanna Das coordinated the different aspects of the meet.
