In the Temple Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra (also called Bara Thakura) and his sister Subhadra are enthroned on the Ratnavedi or Singhasan, a throne of chlorire about five feet high. The images are wood, and there are also miniature metal images of Laksmi and Saraswati, besides an image called Sudarsan Chakra( the name of the wheel of Vishnu). The three principal images are described by Brij Kishore Ghose in the History of Puri as bulky, hideous, wooden busts. The elder brother Balabhadra is six feet in height, the

 younger Jagannath five feet, and their sister Subhadra four feet. They are fashioned into a curious resemblance of the human head resting on a sort of pedestal. They are painted white, black, and yellow respectively; their faces are exceedingly large, and their bodies are decorated with a dress of different colored cloths. The two brothers have arms projecting horizontally forward from the eras. The sister is entirely devoid of even that approximation to the human form.  Being of wood, the images require periodical renewal, and this is a matter about which there is considerable mystery.  The account given in the history of Puri quoted above is that a nim tree is sought for in the forest, on which no crow or other carrion bird has ever perched: it is known to the initiated by certain marks. The idol is prepared by the carpenters, and then entrusted to certain priests, who are protected from all Pati’s family is selected to take out from the breast of the old idol a small box containing quicksilver, said to be the spirit, which he conveys inside the new. The boy who does this is always removed from the world before the end of the year.

Some Article says when the stock is shaped by the carpenters; it is made over to the priests, one of whom is selected to take out of the original images a box containing the bones of Krishna, which is then transferred to the new image. One account describes how this Brahman veils his face lest he should be struck dead in gazing on relics of such sanctity. Once, it is said, a Raja of Burdwan paid the priests an enormous sum for permission to see the relics and died soon after.

Other say that Brahman who handles the relics is slain by his brother priests lest he should divulge their character, or that he is always removed by the god from the world before the close of the year. These tales, in their present from, are obviously absurd. The rule of Vaishnavism is utterly opposed to the preservation of relics of the dead. The tale, in fact, points to a tradition from Buddhist times, when relics of the master were preserved in stupas all over the land. The present practice is reported by the manager of the Temple to be as follows. When the new image is ready, a certain article is taken out of the old one and placed in it by a priest of the Pati family: the latter are the traditional descendants of the Brahman Vidyapati, who first discovered the abode of Jagannath. This article is called the Brahma- padarth. The priest is blindfolded and his hands are swathed in cloth, so that he may neither see nor touch the sacred article. When he has placed it in the new image, the opening is closed by a carpenter of a certain family.