Jagannath Temple of Puri is popular temple of Hindus that has been dedicated for the God Jagannath and is located in Puri, which is coastal town within the Orissa state of India. Jagannath means the Lord of Universe has been derived from the amalgamation of two words first is the Jagat means the Universe and the other is the Nath that means the Lord of. "Jagannatha" has been developed from the word "Jagati” that is the prominent stage or "Ratnabedi" that means Jagannatha, Subhadra and Balabhadra all are being worshipped on this wooden platform or temple or its grounds within "Narendra Pokhari" as well as "Natha" that means "Lord". This temple has grown up as the important pilgrimage for the traditions of Hindu religion and particularly for the worshippers of Gods Vishnu and Krishna. It also constitutes as one of the pilgrimage of Char Dham to which every Hindu wants to visit at least once in his lifetime. This temple was completed in 11th century by King Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva, who belonged to the East Ganga dynasty. The Rath Yatra (Chariot Festival) every year is the main point of attraction of this temple in which all the three Gods are towed on the beautifully decorated raths in the form of temple. This temple always remained associated with the passionate religious dedication.
This temple is basically sacred for the traditions of Vaishnava as well as saint Ramananda, both of them were intensely connected with this temple. The followers of the founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was also magnetized towards the god Jagannath and resides in Puri for several years of his life.

History

As revealed by the legends, during the period of Sata Yuga the Malava king named Indrayumna was one of the immense devotees of Lord Vishnu. He saw Nilamadhava Vishnu in his dreams and became interested to get the knowledge about that meticulous form of the Lord Vishnu and where he was worshipped and for this purpose he sent his representatives in all four directions so that they can find him.

He sent Brahmin Vidyapati towards the east, which went to Utkala and resides in Savara village in the house of Visvavasu who was the king of Savara. While residing their the daughter of the king named Lalita fall in love with Vidyapati, solemnized marriage with him and started getting the information regarding Nilamadhava.

The king Visvavasu worshipped Nilamadhava in a blue cave that is situated in forest named as Niakandara and he used to worship daily. Vidyapati wheedled Lalita his wife and ask her to take permission for him to see Nilamadhava. Lalita’s father gave him permission keeping the condition that Visvavasu has to go to the shrine and will come back with blindfold.
By taking permission Vidyapati immediately approached his wife Lalita and asked to prepare for the arrangements so that he came to know about the path. For the purpose to know the path his wife gave him some seed of sesame that he has to scatter on the path that he has followed so that he can return back easily by the presence of the sesame plants when they grew after the rains.

So finally Vidyapati went to Nilakandara and ultimately he came to saw Nilamadhava. Later on while offering food to the God Vasu Savara has not taken it as usual to the dismay of king. After that he heard a divine voice. The voice words were, "we do not want the continuence of worship by you. We are going to change the present form of Nilamadhava and are assuming the form of Daru. Our worship would be done in the temple by Raja Indradyumna".

After hearing this Visva Vasu came back to his cave Nilkandara bearing and his heart became so heavy due to the losing of his deity. Vidyapati gave farewell to Lalita his wife as well as hisfather-in-law and gone for Malava. After being heard the story the King Indradyumna initiated along with his entourage for Utkal in order to view Nilamadhava. When he reached Nilakandara, he saw that it is vacant. But he heard an air voice that instructed him to build a temple over Nilasaila that is Blue Mountain.

As soon as the king heard this voice he immediately ordered to start the construction of the temple. After completing the construction of the temple the king approached Brahmaloka and invited Lord Brahama to sanctify the temple. But the king waited for Brahama for the period of 9 yugas as he was in meditation and as a result of this the temple got embedded in sand due to his absence.

During this period Utkala came under the rule of new dynasty. The sand buried temple was than detected by the king of this new dynasty named Galamadhva. He started installing the images of the Gods in this temple after the appearance of Indradyumna along with Lord Brahma. But regarding the ownership of the temple both kings started fighting each other and finally lord Brahma gave his decision in support of Indradyumna. He asked Indradyumma for the installation of the images of Gods in temple.

After that the king became confused that from where he will find the deities. So for this the king in his dream was told by the God that as if he was floating on the block of wood in the sea. After that Narada appeared and assured king Indradyumna by saying that Lord Vishnu will appear in the form of three images of wood.

The king saw a tree that was floating over the sea and was enlightened with the bright light, Narada told him to make three images out of the wood of that tree and place them in the temple as the deties. Indradyumna asked Visvakarma who was considered as the God’s architect of Gods to construct the wonderful temple for housing the idols. Lord Vishnu appeared himself in the pretext as carpenter for the purpose of making idols and he done this on the condition that no one would disturb him till he finishes his work.

The queen of the king became anxious to see the images. She thought that the carpenter of the images might have died as she have not heard any sound for many days and requested the king to open the door of the temple and on her request the king opened the door of the temple to see Lord Vishnu, but according to the condition Lord Vishnu vanished from the place and the work remained unfinished. But according to the divine voice heard by the king he installed those idols in the temple.

These 3 idols represents god Jagannath, Balabhadra who was the elder brother of Jagannatha and third was Subhadra the sister of god Jagannath. During the period of special occasions all the idols of wood that are being worshipped got renewed. The Rig veda of the Hindu Religion has the mentioning of this tree that was found floating on the ocean, from which all the three idols have been prepared. In Rig Veda it has been reffered as Purushottama.

Recently certain plates of copper have been discovered from Ganga Dynsaty that reveals that the construction of present Jagannath temple was started Anantavarman Chodaganga Dev who was the king of Kalinga. The two portions of this temple named Jagamohana and Vimana were constructed during the rule of this king from 1078 to 1148 CE. However in 1174 CE Ananga Bhima Deva who was an Oriya ruler reshaped this temple in to a new shape that is the current shape of this temple of today.

The worship of Jagannath remained continued till 1558 and after that it was overwhelmed by Kalapahad who was the Afghan general. However subsequently after the establishment of independent kingdom by Ramachandra Deb at Khurda of Orissa this temple was sanctified and all the deities were again reinstalled.

Architecture

According to the historical records it has been found that this magnificent Lord Jagannatha temple situated at Puri was built by Anangabhimadeva who was also famous as Angangabhima III and belonged to the Ganga dynasty. However regarding the construction of this temple some historians have different opinion that it was started during the ruling period of king Chodagangadeva, who was considered as the originator of dynastic kingdom in Orissa. It has been explained in Madala Panji that this chronicle temple at Puri , the temple chronicle of Puri that Anangabhima on consider to build the temple of Srivatsa khandasala which must be about 100 cubits high. However the height was reduced to near about 90 cubits in regard of the imperial priests and ministers. According to the specifications given this temple was constructed in the form as it is in the present day. The exact height of the temple has been measured by Babu Manamohan Ganguly by way of theodolite method and it comes about 214 feet and 8 inches.

This temple includes 4 structures named as:

(a) The porch called as Jagamohan(Mukhasala)

(b) The Vimana(Bada Deula sanctum sanctorum)

(c) One hall for the purpose of residuary offerings called as the Bhogamandap that has been constructed in the form of row and in axial form in the east to west directions.

(d) The audience hall named as the Natamandir.

This temple is east facing. Vimana has been built in the form of Pancharatha means the temple that contains five Pagas Rekha order. The name Rekha has been given to the temple that has the rounded spire. The middle paga out of these five Pagas is called as Raha, the other two are called as Anuraha and the pagas in the corner side are called as Kanika. This temple is the full-fledged temple of Orissa that has four-fold perpendicular divisions namely the Bada(wall), The Mastaka(head), Gandi(trunk) and Pitha(pedestal).

This temple is standing on a very high plinth, However maximum part of this temple is buried under the ground. There are three visible moulding that can be seen and are beautifully caved. Bada is of Panchanga type means it consists of 5 elements namely Pabhaga (foot), Bandhana(bond), lower Jangha (shin), the upper Jangha and the Baranda. Pabhaga is made of 5 type of mouldings that are connected by the perpendicular bands in each type of paga of Bada. The architectural texts have the description of these 5 mouldings namely Kumbha, Khura, Pata, Basanta and Kani arranged in climbing order.

How to Reach

By Air

The best and nearest airport available is the Bhubaneswar airport that is very convenient point for going Puri. This is the capital of Orissa state and is very well connected by almost all major cities of India like Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata through direct flights.

By Rail/Train

The railway network of Puri is also well developed that provides trains from here to almost all the major cities in Orissa and through out India

By Road

The road network of Puri is also very well developed that is connecting it to many parts of the country. For the purpose of going Puri from other parts of the state, one must use the road network as it is the convenient and cheaper option. The buses of State Transport and the Orissa Road Corporation ply regularly between Puri to Bhubaneshwar, Chilka, Kolkata, Konark, Chennai, Visakhapatnam and Sambalpur.

Getting around

For traveling within the town the common mode of transportation is the cycle rickshaws that are always available throughout the town. Auto rickshaws facility is also available; however they are lesser in number. There is also the availability of Bicycle, Bikes or mopeds on rent that can be easily hired from the outlets available on Chakratirtha Road by which one can reach the coastal areas as well as Konark. This facility is being provided by various travel agents within the city.

Important Shrines

The Gods Jagannath and Balabhadra along with the goddess Subhadra comprises the deities’ trinity that are sitting over the decorated platform called as Ratnavedi present within inner sanctum. Also the Sudarshan Chakra, Sridevi,  Madanmohan’s idols and Vishwadhatri are placed over Ratnavedi. All the deities Balabhadr, Jagannath, Subhadra as well as Sudarshan Chakra have been made by the Neem logs that are also called as Daru Bramha. On the changing seasons the deities are decorated by different clothes and jewelries. The structure of the temple is being pre-dated by the worship of deities that might have been developed during the prehistoric tribal shrine.

Significance of the Temple

This temple is being considered as the most famous and the largest temple in the Orissa state of India. This temple has been bestowed to Lord Jagannath also known as Lord Krishna and also being considered as the Lord of Universe. It was established in 12 century. The king Ananta Varman Chodaganga Dev is being considered as the founder of the Jagannath temple situated in Puri.

However the general myth that is in the mind of the people is that the King of this territory named Indradyumna saw in his dream Lord Jagannath and according to the wishes of the Lord he constructed this temple of Lord Jagannath. This temple is located in the center of this holy city that is being visited by the devotees not only from the various parts of India but also from the world. The tall spires of the temple provides it a wonderful atmosphere and walls are embroidered with delicate carvings.

Char Dham

This temple comes under the list of the holiest Char Dham of Hindus that is the 4 divine sites for them. These Char Dhams are Rameswaram, Puri, Badrinath and Dwarka. The origin of these Char Dhams is still not clear however the Hinduism school named Advaita that has been proliferated by Sankaracharya, attributed to the derivation of Char Dham to the oracle. All these 4 monasteries are situated in all the 4 corners of the country and their temples are situated in Badrinath as Badrinath temple in Northern India, The Jagannath temple situated in Puri is in Eastern part, The Dwarakadheesh Temple situated in Dwarka is in the western part and at last the Ramanathaswamy Temple situated at Rameswaram is located in the southern part of India. Ideologically all these temples have been bifurcated between the two factions of Hinduism named as Vaishnavism and the Saivism. The pilgrimages of Char Dham are totally related to Hindu religion. The 4 abodes are situated in the Himalayas that are known as Chota Char Dham tha means small and they are named as Badrinath, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Yamunotri. All these small Dhams are situated on the foot hill Himalyas. In order to differentiate these small Dhams from the main Dhams in the 20th century the name Chota was added. According the Hindu religion the journey to all these 4 Dhams is being considered as sacred and every Hindu wants to visit 4 Dhams at least once in his lifetime.Traditionally the Char Dham yatra starts from Puri and proceeds clockwise.

Timings and other Important Information

The timing of opening of the Jagannath temple is at 5 am and up to midnight it opens. The gate of the temple closed for about half hour at the 1 pm noon.

There were about 3 heads under which the Jagannath temple ritual classified:- (a) for the special days, there will be nitis that are special accordingly like Naksyatra Bandapana, Thursday, Ekadasi, and Amabasya.  (b) for the routine basis, there were everyday nitis that were fixed. (c) there were festive nitis under which many festivals were organized inside and outside of the temple in a year. Some of the rituals were taken secret according to the tradition. Per day ritual of the Shri Jagannath is highlighted through present article.

Mangalaalati & Dwarphita:- As the door of the temple opened, the first ritual began to start in morning as early. According to the Jagannath temple records, the sanctum door are opening at 5 am in morning.  This was accompanied by the servitor of the temple named Bhitarchu Mahapatra.  As on the previous night, Talicha Mahapatra placed a seal on the door (Jaya Vijaya Dwara) of temple and that was examined by the Akhanda Mekap, palia Mekap, Muduli sevak, and Pratihari.  The door of the temple opened before 5 a.m. that is around 2:30 a.m. to 4 a.m. on some certain days around the Kartika month that is from October to November and Dhanu months that is from December to January.

At some days, there is delay in closing the doors due to some extra rituals performed in the temple in the overnight after the final nitis.  So the opening of the doors in the early morning is not possible but there is only performance of “Mangalalati” ritual on such occasion.

There is a playing of Mangalavadyam music and some devotional songs with performance of Mangalalati.  By offering the deities with the lamps just below the Ratnavedi, the niti was performed by the two palia puspalak sevaks and Bhitaracha Mahapatra.

Festivals of the Temple

As mentioned, there were about twelve 'Yatras'  of Shri Jagannath, but still many more rituals were performed in an year.

There were few Jagannath festivals that were described as.

Devasnana Yatra

In the Jyestha day during full moon in the months of May to June, this festival is performed.  Just to take to the Snana Vedi, the Balabhadra, Subhadra, and Jagannath deities were taken out from the temple in the compound wall at the region of north and east corner.  The water of a well that is situated at north gate is used for the bathing of the Deities in 108 pitchers.   This was done only one time in a year that sacred water is used from this well. There is dressing just like the Ganesh for the Deities after the sacred bath ceremony.

These Deities were then placed in a Anasarapindi during the night after return to the temple. Then, these Deities were placed secretly from the people for about 15 days duration.  There were few rituals were performed secretly by the ‘Daitapatis’ that is a sevaks group.  These rituals were named as Anasara nitis.  Then later on, the ‘Darshan’ of these Deities got by various devotees during the car festival.  Darshan also named as 'Navajouvan Darshan'.  There has been held a particular rite that is also called 'Netrotsav'.  Now from the day of this Netrotsav, the car festival performed till the return of the Deities to the temple.

Ratha Yatra

On the day of AshadhaSukla, which is the Ashadha’s second day of fortnight, when the car festival is held each year.  This festival also called as Gundicha Yatra, Ratha Yatra, and Gosha Yatra.  The Deities were kept on the chariots by keeping out of the temple and placed at the Singhadwar during this car festival.  There were various traditions performed during the carrying of the deities and these ceremonies were named as firstly Sudarshana to Balabhadra, then Subhadra, and Jagannath.  There is an act named pahandi in which there is swinging of the Balabhadra and Jagannath in a backward and forward action.

Nandighosha is the Jagannath lord chariot.  This chariot is of red and yellow color that covered the roof and there were about 16 wheels. Taladhwaja is the lord Balabhadra’s chariot. This chariot has green and red colored fabrics having 14 wheels. Chariot of Subhadra is also called Devadalana, which has about 12 wheels and they were covered with the black and red fabric.  In the chariot of Subhadra, she is accompanied with the Sudarshan.  In the chariot of Jagannath lord, the deity of Madanmohan is seated. In the Balabhadra chariot, there were idols of Krishna and Rama that were seated. These idols are of metal.  So total of three chariots containing seven deities named as Rama, Krishna, Sudarshana, Balabhadra, Subhadra, and mandanmohan were moving towards the temple of ‘Gundicha Ghar’ at about the 3 km distance from the temple of Jagannath. Balabhadra chariot moved firstly and then later on chariot of Subhadra and Jagannath.

If there is delay in moving the chariot to the Gundicha Ghar, then it will later on shift on the other day. Then on the day nine, during car festival, the deities were moved to the Singhadwar of the temple. On the fifth day, Hera Panchami was performed in which Gundicha Ghar was reached by the Goddess Laxmi to see the deity of Lord Jagannath. At the area of Singhadwar in the chariot, all the deities were dressed with the gold ornaments on the 10th day evening.  There is other ritual named 'Hari Sayan Ekadasi' is held.  Moving forward, Adharapana Bhog was taken place on the fortnight of the 12 day.  On this day, deities were offered with the sweet drink.  Among the various devotees, the deities were moving to the temple at the evening of that day.

Daily Food Offerings

About 6 times, per day offerings were placed. These are as follows:

At the side of the Ratnavedi, the Jagannath’s Mahaprasada was given to all the devotees along with the Mandap Bhoga and Gopal Ballav Bhog by the pandas at the Phokaria.  This Bhogas were also given in the Bhoga mandap and Anabsar Pindi

The Temple Kitchen & Mahaprasada

The kitchen of the temple is very large in the area in this world.  All kind of food and Bhogas were viewed by the empress of the Srimandir that is Goddess Mahalakshmi in the kitchen of the temple.  It is a belief or myth that a shadow of the dog appeared in front of the kitchen’s door, if there is any fault find in the food prepared in this kitchen. Then, this food was buried by the Mahasauras as they were taken this food as the displeasure sign of Mahalakshmi, so then the food was prepared by the new cook.  The food in the kitchen was prepared by the rules of Hindus as pure vegetarian not using the garlic and onions.  The water for food was taken from the Yamuna and Ganges near the kitchen and cooking was done in the pots.  In the special 5 muhurtas, the deities were offered 56 kinds of naivedhyas at the bhoga mandap just close to the ratnavedi.  As according to the temple’s ritual, Kotho Bhoga is the most desired Prasad that was given at 1 pm noon.  After the Lord Jagannath offered the food, this food was given as Mahaprasada to the devotees at the Ananda Bazar that is situated at the north east region of the Singhadwara in the complex of the temple.

Weather and Time to Visit

The summers are very hot and winters are cool in the Puri.  The months of March and June are the suitable time to visit this place.

For the tourists interested in sight seeing, the months of October to November are good options. There were about lots of devotees visiting this place during the festival time of June to July.

Accomodation

Nilachal Bhakta Nivas

This guest house has a very attractive location on the road adjacent towards the temple. To reach this guest house, there is a transport from the railway station and buses available.

This guesthouse offered all luxurious facilities to the tourists like AC rooms that is 26 in numbers with all facilities like hot and cold water and TV. Other services are banking, lift, and security system that is provided by this guesthouse.

This luxurious guest house is very affordable at the reasonable rate.

Address:

Sri Jagannath Temple Office, Grand Road, Puri - 752 001

Phone : 222053 / 220 501

Cell : 9861444677, 94372 84108, 9938213839

Email : jagannath@ori.nic.in

Hotel Ruman

This hotel Rumani is located near the Jagannath temple close to the Puri beach and Narandra Sagar.

There is a laundry facility and bar in the Hotel Rumani.

Address:

Ratnakar Lane, Near Sea Beach, Puri, Orissa, 752001 India

Hotel Sonar Bangla

At the Narandra Sagar, this hotel is near the Jagannath temple located at the Puri.

There is parking, laundry, and restaurant facility.  Other facilities include television, direct dial phones, air conditions etc.

Address:

New Marine Drive Road, Puri, Orissa, India

DONATION

AMRUT MANOHI DONATION SCHEME

CORPUS FUND DONATION SCHEME

Donation Cell at Head office on the Grand Road, Ph : (06752) 222002 & 220501

Branch office,  inside the Sri Jagannath Temple, Puri. Ph : 223727

Information Centres of Sri Jagannath Temple located at Lions Gate. Ph : 220901

CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR, SRI JAGANNATH TEMPLE, PURI

Sea-Beach, Gundicha Temple , Puri and

Jaydev Bhawan , Sachivalaya Marg, Bhubaneswar

E-mail - jagannath@ori.nic.in

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