A true Historian Passed away who really loved Jagannath from his heart
Vikram Kesari Jena
The passing of Hermann Kulke marks the end of an extraordinary intellectual journey that began far away from the shores of Odisha but eventually found its deepest spiritual and scholarly home in the sacred universe of Jagannath. Born in Germany, Kulke belonged to a generation of European scholars who looked beyond the limits of conventional historiography and sought to understand India through its living traditions. Yet what distinguished him from many others was not merely academic curiosity but a profound gratitude and emotional connection with the cultural world of Odisha. Over several decades he became one of the most respected interpreters of the religious, political, and cultural history surrounding the Jagannath tradition. His scholarship was neither detached nor romantic; it was deeply analytical yet humble before the complexity of the traditions he studied. In an age when academia often reduces culture to data and theory, Kulke approached Odisha with a rare sense of reverence. For many of us who encountered his writings as young scholars, his work was not only a source of academic insight but also a gateway into understanding how local traditions could illuminate broader debates in world history. His passing therefore is not simply the loss of a historian; it is the quiet departure of a pilgrim-scholar who spent his life decoding the layered meanings of Jagannath’s universe.
My own intellectual encounter with Kulke’s work began during my M.Phil. days at the Council of Analytical and Tribal Studies of Odisha, Koraput—then widely known among students and researchers as a fertile ground for debates on tribal history, regional traditions, and cultural transformations. In the quiet corners of the library at Council of Analytical and Tribal Studies of Odisha, I first encountered his seminal works that would shape my understanding of Odisha’s historical imagination. His studies on the Jagannath tradition, particularly his explorations of regional traditions and the evolution of the Jagannath cult, opened a new intellectual horizon for me. In those days, when one reads Kulke, one quickly realizes that Jagannath cannot be understood merely as a deity confined within the walls of the temple at Jagannath Temple. Rather, Jagannath emerges as a dynamic cultural force that binds kingship, tribal traditions, pilgrimage networks, and social mobility into a single civilizational narrative. Kulke’s writings showed how the Jagannath cult evolved historically through complex interactions between tribal rituals, royal patronage, and Brahmanical institutions. His scholarship demonstrated that the Jagannath tradition is not static but a constantly evolving cultural universe shaped by the people of Odisha themselves. For a young researcher in Koraput, an area deeply connected with indigenous cultural landscapes Kulke’s interpretation felt remarkably relevant, almost as if he had quietly listened to the echoes of the forests while writing history.
Among his numerous contributions, perhaps the most influential is his engagement with the political and ritual dimensions of Jagannath worship. Through books such as Kings and Cults: State Formation and Legitimation in India and Southeast Asia and his collaborative work The Cult of Jagannath and the Regional Tradition of Orissa, Kulke demonstrated how religious institutions often function as centers of political legitimacy and cultural integration. These works transformed the study of Odisha’s history by situating Jagannath within a broader framework of state formation and cultural synthesis. What he revealed was both simple and revolutionary: that Jagannath is not merely a religious icon but a symbolic center around which diverse communities as tribal, royal, priestly, and popular, have historically negotiated identity and power. Kulke showed how tribal rituals, local myths, and regional practices were gradually incorporated into the temple tradition, producing a unique form of inclusive religiosity. His work helped scholars recognize that the Jagannath tradition embodies one of the most remarkable examples of cultural integration in South Asian history. For students like me, his writings were not merely academic texts; they were intellectual maps guiding us through the layered cultural geography of Odisha.
Nearly two decades after those early encounters with his books in Koraput, life offered me the rare opportunity to meet the scholar himself. During my tenure as a researcher at Ravenshaw University, I had the privilege of interacting with him twice in 2013 and again in 2017 when the university conferred upon him the prestigious honorary doctorate, or honoris causa. These meetings remain among the most memorable intellectual conversations of my life. Kulke was already a towering figure in global historiography, yet he carried himself with remarkable simplicity. Our discussions moved beyond the conventional boundaries of history. We spoke about morality, memory, narrative, and the place of oral traditions in reconstructing the past. At one point he turned to me and, with a gentle smile, addressed me simply as “Jena,” using my surname in the informal way that senior scholars sometimes adopt when they feel a genuine intellectual connection with younger researchers. That moment revealed something essential about Kulke: despite his global stature, he never believed scholarship should be hierarchical. Instead, he encouraged curiosity, experimentation, and new approaches in human sciences. When I spoke about emerging methodologies and the possibilities of interdisciplinary history, he listened with interest and appreciation. His openness toward new ideas reminded me that the greatest scholars are often those who remain students throughout their lives.
Over the years my own research journey gradually moved toward exploring the deeper cultural intersections between tribal traditions and the Jagannath universe. One of the projects that emerged from this intellectual pursuit is my work titled Jaleri Penu: Essence of Adivasi Culture on Jagannath Cult. In many ways, this project echoes the very questions that Kulke had raised decades earlier: how do indigenous traditions interact with mainstream religious institutions? How do oral memories reshape sacred narratives? And how do communities reinterpret cultural symbols across generations? Kulke’s scholarship had already laid the foundation for such explorations by showing that the Jagannath tradition cannot be separated from the tribal cosmologies that once flourished across Odisha’s forests. His work encouraged scholars to look beyond rigid disciplinary boundaries and to treat indigenous knowledge systems as essential components of historical analysis. Today, as we attempt to understand the deeper cultural roots of Jagannath through interdisciplinary research, we are in many ways continuing the intellectual path that Kulke helped illuminate.
The news of his passing therefore arrived with a mixture of sadness and quiet acceptance. For some time we had been receiving updates about his health through Nivedita Mohanty, who had long served as an important bridge between Odisha’s scholarly community and Kulke’s academic world. She often recalled her days at Heidelberg University, where Kulke had taught and inspired generations of students. Her memories revealed a teacher who combined intellectual rigor with personal warmth. Through her we remained connected to his wellbeing, aware that age had begun to slow the once tireless historian who had spent decades traveling between Germany and India in pursuit of historical understanding. When the final news arrived, it felt less like a sudden shock and more like the closing of a long and dignified chapter in the life of a scholar who had already given everything to his discipline.
The passing of such a figure inevitably forces us to reflect on the state of academia itself. Kulke belonged to a tradition of scholarship driven by intellectual curiosity and ethical commitment. He believed that the purpose of research was to deepen our understanding of human civilization, not merely to accumulate titles or administrative authority. Unfortunately, modern academic institutions sometimes drift away from that ideal. Too often we witness a culture where bureaucracy overshadows scholarship and where the pursuit of prestige replaces the pursuit of knowledge. In such an environment, the life of a scholar like Kulke becomes a moral reminder. He demonstrated that intellectual greatness does not arise from institutional power but from sustained engagement with ideas, cultures, and people. His humility, patience, and openness to dialogue stand in sharp contrast to the arrogance that sometimes characterizes contemporary academic leadership. Odisha, with its deep tradition of respecting teachers and knowledge bearers, must learn to preserve the spirit of scholarship that Kulke embodied rather than reducing academia to administrative hierarchies.
Yet beyond institutional debates, what ultimately remains is the enduring power of ideas. Kulke’s work will continue to shape the study of Odisha’s history for generations to come. Future scholars exploring the Jagannath tradition, state formation, and regional cultures will inevitably return to his writings for guidance. His books will remain on library shelves, quietly influencing students who may never have the chance to meet him but will nonetheless encounter his intellectual voice through the pages he left behind. This is the true immortality of scholarship: while human lives inevitably reach their conclusion, the ideas they produce continue to travel across time.
In the end, the story of Hermann Kulke is a reminder that intellectual devotion can transcend geography and nationality. A boy from Germany found his spiritual and scholarly calling in the cultural universe of Odisha. Through decades of research he built bridges between continents, traditions, and disciplines. The day will come for all of us when our journeys end, but the work we leave behind continues to speak long after we are gone. Kulke’s legacy lies not only in his books but also in the countless scholars he inspired to look at Odisha’s traditions with deeper curiosity and respect. And perhaps somewhere, in the vast symbolic landscape of Jagannath’s universe, the historian who dedicated his life to understanding this tradition will now be remembered as one of its most devoted interpreters, a scholar who came from afar yet became forever part of Odisha’s intellectual heritage.
