Lord Jagannath Face Close-Up -- Pattachitra Folk Art HD Wallpaper

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Those eyes. No other image in Hindu iconography commands attention like the face of Lord Jagannath seen close up -- the enormous circular eyes that seem to look not at you but through you, the curved brows expressing an emotion that hovers between wonder and welcome, the straight-line mouth that is neither smiling nor stern but simply present. This Pattachitra close-up renders Jagannath's face in the traditional style, with the black base color, white and red details, gold crown, and fresh flower garlands that devotees in Puri see every morning when the temple opens for the first darshan of the day. The eyes of Jagannath are the most discussed element of the iconography. Unlike the naturalistic eyes of other Hindu deities in sculpture and painting, Jagannath's eyes are perfectly circular -- discs of white with dark centers, taking up nearly half the face. Art historians have proposed various origins: some see influence from tribal art traditions of the Sabar and Santal peoples who inhabited the Puri region before Brahmanical Hinduism arrived; others see a deliberate theological statement -- eyes so large because they see everything, eyes that cannot close because the divine gaze never wavers. The Skanda Purana tells us that Jagannath's form was revealed in a dream to King Indradyumna, and that this abstract, geometric form IS the true form of the Supreme Being -- not an incomplete idol but a complete revelation of divinity stripped of everything unnecessary, leaving only the essential: the eyes that see all, the presence that encompasses all. Free HD download.

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