Jagannath Temple

 

The Shree Jagannath Temple, Puri is among the  4 very holy shrines (called Chaar Dhaams), which every Hindu must visit in his/her lifetime. These 4 shrines are located in 4 corners of India. The Jagannath Puri Temple, located at Puri is one of the four dhaams, the other 3 being located at Rameshwaram, Dwarika, and Badrinath. As per the belief, the Chaar-Dhaam yatra should be started from here, and then once you proceed in the clockwise direction, covering Rameshwaram, Dwarika, and Badrinath in this order.

Jagannath temple is one of the most revered and visited temples in Odisha and is devoted to Jagannath, a form of Lord Vishnu. In this temple, people worship, a trio of deities is worshipped i.e., Lord Jagannath, his brother Lord Balabhadra and their sister Devi Subhadra.

The word Jagannath is a combination of 2 words ‘Jagat’ + ‘Nath’, where Jagat means universe, and Nath means lord. So, Jagannath means The Lord of the Universe. Puri temple is very popular for its annual Rath Yatra. During this yatra, all the three deities are pulled on huge and highly decorative temple cars. The image of the Jagannath is made of wood and this is replaced every 12 or 19 years in the exact form. For all the Hindus Puri temple is a very sacred one, especially for the Vaishnava tradition.

History of the temple:

According to an inscription, the construction work for the temple started in the 12th century, by the orders of King Anantavarman Chodaganga of the Ganga dynasty. However, construction was not completed. Later in 1230 AD, finishing touches were given by his son, Anagabheema Deva III, who then installed all the three deities.

Non-Hindus are not allowed to enter the temple and the entry is free but for the special darshan, visitor pays a small fee to go right up to the statues.

The legend associated with Puri Temple:

The origin of the Puri temple has been described in the Brahma Puraan, Naarad Purana, and the Utkal Khanda (Purushottam Mahatmya) of the Skanda Puraan. As per the Puraan, during ‘Sat yug’, there lived a king named Indradyumna, who was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu.

He came to know that about Viswavasu, a Savar king and tribal king, who worshipped Lord Jagannath (originally as Lord Neel Madhaba), secretly, in a dense forest. Kind Indradyumna sent a priest named Vidyapati to gather details about the deity. Though Vidyapati was not able to locate the place, he managed to marry the daughter of Viswavasu, Lalita. On his repeated requests, Viswavasu agreed to take his son-in-law to the cave where Lord Neela Madhaba was worshipped, but on one condition, that would have to go blindfolded. Vidyapati agreed to it. He carried mustard seeds with him, and while he was being taken to the deity, dropped those seeds on the ground. After a few days, when the seeds germinated, he was able to locate the cave.

On getting the news from Vidyapati, King Indradyumna left for Odra Desha (Odisha) on a pilgrimage to see and worship the deity. But the deity had disappeared in the sand. The disappointed king decided not to return without having a darshan of the deity and sat into a penance at Mount Neela. Then, there was an ‘Aakashvani’ (a celestial voice), which said, “You shall see him”. Pleased with this, he returned to his kingdom and built a magnificent temple for Vishnu. Narasimha Moorti (idol) brought by Maharishi Naarad was installed in the temple. Once during his dreams, the king had a vision of Lord Jagannath. An astral voice directed him to visit Bankamuhana to find a log of neem wood on the seashore and make idols out of it.

As directed, the king got the log of wood and got the images of Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra made out of this log, along with the image of Sudarshan chakra. This is why the Jagannath idol is of wood. The king constructed a huge temple near Kalpabata and got the images installed there.

The Architecture of the Temple:

The temple covers an area of 400,000 square feet with classic Oriya architecture. Two concentric walls enclose the temple – the 20 feet high outer wall, (called Meghanada Pacheri, and the inner wall (which surrounds the main temple), called Kurma Bedha with 120 shrines and temples.

The temple has four structures: Vimaana, Bada Deul, or Garbha-gruha (sanctum, where the deities are lodged on the Ratna Vedi), Mukhasala (Front porch), Natamandir / Nata mandir (dancing or audience hall), and Bhoga mandapa (offering place). There is a ‘Nila Chakra’ (blue wheel) at the top of the main temple which is made up of Ashta-dhatu (eight metals).

The main entrance is named Singha dwara (It has two guarding stone lions in a crouching position. Three other gates in a row are, the Elephant Gate (Hathi dwara), the Tiger Gate (Vyaghra dwara), and the Horse Gate (Ashwa dwara).

There are many Mandapas but The Mukti Mandapas is considered for the seating of selected learned Brahmins. Dola Mandapas is for conducting the annual Dol Yatra festival and for some important decision planning. Snana Bedi is used during the annual Snana Yatra for the bathing of all the idols of Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra.