This is the pivotal moment in Buchanan's intellectual biography. Before Puri, Buchanan had explicitly denied that Hinduism had any structural unity — he called the brahmanical system 'anarchical.' After Puri, he reverses: Jagannath is 'the worship of the Brahmins of Hindoostan' in its 'sublimest degree.' The local becomes universal; the particular festival becomes the key to all of Indian religion. His syllogism — 'if you would know the state of the people, look at the state of the Temple' — constructs Jagannath as a diagnostic mirror for the entirety of Hindu civilisation.