The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.s1.191

v2.c17.s1.191

‘According to the *Mādala Pāñji*, when the priests at Puri saw the turn which matters were taking, they again for the third time in their annals, hurried away the helpless god in a covered cart, and buried him in a pit at Pārikūd, on the Cilkā Lake. Kālāpāhāḍa was not however to be defrauded of so rich a prize and having traced out the place of concealment, he dug up Śrī Jeo and carried him off on an elephant, as far as the Ganges, after breaking in pieces every image in the Khetra. He then collected a large pile of wood, and setting fire to it, threw the idol on the burning heap, but immediately all his limbs dropped off and he perished miserably. A bystander observed, “This is a punishment for the indignity offered to the Deo of Orissa”, and snatching the image from the flames threw it into the river. The whole proceeding had been watched by Besar Mainti, a faithful votary of Jagannātha, who followed the half-burnt image as it floated down the stream, [112] and at last, when unperceived, managed to extract from it the sacred part (Bramh or spirit in the original), and brought it back secretly to Orissa, where it was carefully deposited in charge of the Khandait of Kujang’³⁶.