History · Ch 6 — Bhakti–Sufi Traditions — Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts
The integration of cults
The integration of cults
The integration of cults is not a single event but a long, two-way process. Historians studying religious change in this period identify two parallel forces at work. One was the deliberate spread of Brahmanical ideas to groups who had been excluded from Vedic learning. The other was the willingness of Brahmanas to absorb and reshape local beliefs and practices.
The first process is seen clearly in the creation of the Puranic texts. These were composed in simple Sanskrit verse, a deliberate choice to make them accessible to women and Shudras, who were traditionally barred from studying the Vedas. The Puranas were compiled, composed, and preserved with this inclusive audience in mind.
The second process involved Brahmanas accepting and reworking the beliefs of these very same social categories. This was not a one-sided imposition. Instead, beliefs and practices were shaped through a continuous dialogue between what sociologists call the “great” Sanskritic Puranic traditions and the “little” local traditions spread across the land.
A striking example of this integration is found at Puri, Orissa. By the twelfth century, the principal deity of the temple there was identified as Jagannatha, literally “the lord of the world,” a form of Vishnu. The image of Jagannatha is strikingly different from typical representations of Vishnu elsewhere in India. It is made of wood, and it continues to be crafted by local tribal specialists. Here, a local deity was recognised as a form of Vishnu, while at the same time, Vishnu himself was visualised in a way that was unique to that region.
This pattern of integration is equally evident in goddess cults. Worship of the goddess, often in the simple form of a stone smeared with ochre, was widespread across the land. These local goddesses were incorporated into the Puranic framework by giving them an identity as the wife of a principal male deity. Sometimes they were equated with Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu; in other instances, with Parvati, the wife of Shiva. …
Figure 6.2 shows three wooden images arranged side by side. On the left is Balarama, in the centre is Subhadra, and on the right is Jagannatha. These are the deities worshipped at the Jagannatha temple in Puri, Orissa. The images are not carved in the refined, human-like form typical of most Vishnu icons elsewhere in India. Instead, they are roughly shaped, with large, circular eyes and stumpy arms — a style that comes from a local tradition of wood carving by tribal specialists.
The figure is placed in the textbook to illustrate a key historical process: the integration of a local deity into the Brahmanical or Puranic framework. By the twelfth century, this local wooden image — originally a tribal or folk deity — was identified as Jagannatha, meaning "lord of the world," a form of Vishnu. The arrangement itself is telling: Subhadra, the sister, stands at the centre, flanked by her two brothers. This family grouping (Jagannatha, Balarama, Subhadra) is unique to Puri and does not match the standard iconography of Vishnu found in other parts of India. …