KALKI AVATAR HUMAN IDOL WORSHIP - ORISSA

Balasore district was part of the ancient Kalinga which later became a territory of Toshala or Utkal, till the death of Mukunda Dev. It was annexed by Moghuls in 1568 and remained as a part of their suzerainty up to the middle of eighteenth century, to be precised up to 1750-51.Then the Marahattas occupied this part of Orissa and it became a part of the dominion of the Marahatta Rajas of Nagpur.The name Balasore is recognised from the Persian word BALA-E-SHORE which means “TOWN IN THE SEA”.
The historical legend ascribes that the district has been named as per the LORD BANESHWAR (LORD SHIVA) of the town., which subsequently changed to Balasore during MUGHUL Rules.

Vishnu temples at different places of Balasore and Khirochora temple ( built during 2nd Narasingha Dev ) highlights the facts.The two Jagannath temples at the heart of Balasore & Jagannath temple at Nilagiri ,Mangalpur,Gud,Jaleswar,Kamarda,Deuligan & Baliapal magnify the culture of Balasore.It is here in this Balasore the idols of Lord Jagganath and his brother Balabhadra are worshipped in human form in a temple in Gud village.

It must be noted that in all Jagannath temples, Balabhadra and Subhadra are also worshipped along with Lord Jagannath. Each is worshipped as a separate murti.

But at the in Gud Village – the single main murti has the eyes of Jagannath, face of Balabhadra and body of Subhadra.

The murti is nearly three-feet tall and weighs over 100 kilograms.

There is also an interesting story about the murti that is vogue in the village –

The stone murti in the form of Balabhadra bearing marks of seven cobra hoods on its head was found floating in a village pond one morning. After noticing it for a while, some of village youths brought it and placed it underneath a banyan tree tying around trunk with a rope.

But every morning, they mysteriously found the murti floating in the pond. The people of the village then built a temple for the murti.

There are also folktales to justify that Lord Jagannath,Balabhadra and Devi Subadra are formless the residents have been worshipping them for more than 200 years.. Though there is no recorded history available about the deities and the temple village old timers say that the the idols were installed during the period of renowed saint Hari Golam Das after being directed by some divine powers in his dreams 200 years ago. The place where the temple now stands was his hermitage.

Though this idol of Lord Jagannath is believed to be an incarnation Lord Kalki, the tenth avatar of Lord Krishna, the temple's uniqueness remains far from the public scrutiny 

Sources:Newspaper cutting,an overview of Orissa