Jagannath Puri

Jagannath Puri, identified by Adi Shankaracharya, is our dham in the East and finds mention in the Purans. The Temple, dedicated to Jagannath (Vishnu), is on the coast of Puri - about 60 kms from Bhubhaneshwar – the capital of Odisha.

The road to the Jagannath temple

Here the idols are of Krishna, his elder brother Balram and sister Subhadra and are made of (a type of) neem wood. 

Photography is no longer permitted in most temples. Here is a depiction of the three idols - done in the famous silver filigree work of Odisha

In our lunar calendar, once in 32 ½ months there are 13 months in a year – an extra month or adhik or purshottam or mal mass (मल मास). The position of the Adhik Mas is not fixed, when it is in the month of Aashad (आषाढ़), the existing wooden idols go into the samadhi gufa or cave and fresh ones are installed. This happens once in, say 12 years.

Entering the complex of the Jagannath Puri temple

The temple has four gates in the four directions – the eastern entrance called the Singhdwar or the Lion Gate, forms the main entrance of the temple and has giant statues of crouching lions guarding the entrance on either side. The other three gates facing North, South and West are named after the animals that guard them - Hathidwar or Elephant Gate, the Vyaghradwar or the Tiger Gate and the Ashwadwar or the Horse Gate. In front of the entrance to the eastern gateway is the beautiful Sun Pillar (Aruna Stambh), which originally stood before the Sun Temple at Konark and was shifted here.

 The Horse Gate or the Ashwadwar

The kitchen within the temple premises is huge and amazing with no mechanical aids. Thus, the cutting of all vegetables and grating of coconut etc. are all done by hand by the persons sitting on the floor. And the cooking is done on earthen pots, nine pots in a 3x3 arrangement kept in bhattis – apparently food is cooked for 10000 persons at a time.

There are some incredible and interesting beliefs about the temple which do not have a logical explanation. For e.g. irrespective of where you stand, the Sudarshan Chakra on top of the temple always seems to be facing you. The flag atop the temple has been observed to flap in the opposite direction of the breeze. No birds fly above the Jagannath temple in Puri. The shadow of the main dome of Jagannath temple is not visible, whatever be the time of day etc. 

The city of Puri is beautiful with a long beach. 

The beautiful sea coast at Puri

And graffiti along the walls of clean roads. 

Graffiti on the walls of Puri

Each year the idols are taken out in a procession and then brought back in what is called the rath yatra. More on this will follow in the next post.