The deity Jagannath's
celestial sister, who is always shown beside him and their brother Balabhadra.
The Jagannath temple in Puri, where Jagannath is the
reigning god, is the most significant venue for these three deities.
Despite his association with the god Krishna, Jagannath is
widely regarded as an autochthonous ("of the land") deity who was
formerly the native deity of Puri.
His identification with Krishna has incorporated him into the
Hindu pantheon.
The deities' invariable appearance, with Jagannath (Krishna)
on the right, his brother Balabhadra (Balarama) on the left, and Subhadra as a
lesser figure in the middle, is one piece of evidence supporting this notion.
Such a triadic arrangement is almost unheard of in Krishna
devotion, which tends to focus on either Krishna alone or Krishna and Radha as
a celestial pair.
Subhadra's feminine figure is particularly distinctive,
since as Jagannath's sister, she is ineligible for the romantic adventures
connected with Krishna.
Despite the fact that Jagannath is the most significant of
the three gods, the identifications with the other two reflect greater
syncretistic inclinations.
Subhadra is often identified as the mighty goddess Durga, while
Balabhadra is sometimes described as a manifestation of the deity Shiva.
Puri's holy triad therefore represents the three most
prominent Hindu gods.
The Cult of Jagannath and the Regional Traditions of Orissa,
1978, by Anncharlott Eschmann, Hermann Kulke, and Gaya Charan Tripathi, is the
greatest source for further information about Subhadra and her brothers.
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