The Appearance of Lord Jagannatha 
The story of how Lord Jagannatha appeared in His unusual form goes back thousands of years to the time of King Indradyumna, who was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. One time the King heard about a deity named Nila-madhava. The King very much wanted to see this form of the Lord and sent many Brahmanas to search for Nila-madhava. All came back unsuccessful except for Vidyapati, who did not come back at all. He had wandered to a distant town of pig farmers known as Shabaras. He had stayed in the house of Visvasu, and later, at Visvasu's request, married his daughter, Lalita. 
Vidyapati noticed that Visvasu would leave the house every night and return at noon the next day. Vidyapati asked his wife about this. Although her father had ordered her not to tell anyone, she told Vidyapati that Visvasu would go in secret to worship Nila-madhava. After repeated requests, Vidyapati finally got permission to go see Nila-madhava, only if he went blindfolded. But Vidyapati's wife had bound some mustard seeds in his cloth so that a trail could be left to follow later. When they reached the shrine, the Shabara took off the blindfold. Vidyapati saw the Deity Nila-madhava and felt great ecstasy and decided to inform King Indradyumna.
When Visvasu returned to worship the Deity, Nila-madhava was gone. Visvasu was devastated. Nila-madhava spoke to him with an invisible voice and said "I have accepted simple worship from you for many days, but now I want King Indradyumna to worship Me with great opulence."
King Indradyumna soon came to find Nila-madhava but when he could not find Him, he arrested Visvasu. A voice told him to free Visvasu and build a temple on top of Nila Hill where the King would see the Lord in a wooden form. 
Finally, King Indradyumna built the temple at Puri but still the Lord had not appeared. In a dream the Lord said that He would appear floating in from the sea in His wooden form. 
The King went to the shore and found a huge log of wood that had the markings of a conch, disc, club, and lotus. The King requested many expert carvers to carve the form of the Deity, but none could do so for their chisels immediately broke when they touched the wood. Finally the architect of the demigods, Visvakarma, arrived as an old artist, and promised that he would carve the Deity in three weeks if the King would allow him to work behind closed doors. But after 14 days the King became very anxious because he could no longer hear the sounds of the carving. Finally he could stand it no more. On the advice of the queen he personally opened the doors of the temple to see what was happening. Then he saw the forms of Lord Jagannatha, Lord Balarama, and Lady Subhadra. But because the King had opened the doors sooner than he was supposed to, the Deities were not completed; Their feet and hands had not yet been carved. Thus, the Supreme manifested Himself in this form. 
The King felt he had committed a great offense for having opened the doors before the allotted three weeks had passed, but in a dream Lord Jagannatha told the King that this was just a part of His plan to show this special form. The King was told that this form, even though it appeared to be incomplete, was actually the form of the Lord.
Why did Vidyapati go to the town of the pig farmers?
Why did Vidyapati not come back?
Why did Vidyapati wear a blindfold?
Why did Vidyapati carry a bag of mustard seeds?
How did Visvasu feel when Nila-madhava was gone? Describe in your own words.
Why did the King free Visvasu?
Why did the King open the doors to the temple.
Why did the King feel he had committed an offense?
Why did the Lord appear in this unusual form? Give two reasons.