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| Balbhadra, Subhadra and Krishna |
v Why to visit Jagannath Puri - Main Attractions
Jagannath Puri in Orissa is known for two main reasons. One, it is one of the four “Dhams” of Hindu religion. Second, It has lovely beaches facing bay of Bengal. Other attractions are at some distance from puri. These are Sun Temple of Konark, Chilka lake and holy city of Bhubaneswar. Below is the description of these places.
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| Main Entrance of Sri Jagannath Temple, Puri, Orissa सिंह द्वार |
v Description of places of interest
Religious Places
1.
Jagannath
Puri Dham – Aadi Shankaracharya was
not only a great saint and scholor but also a person who united different sects
of Sanatan
Hindu religion. One of the works for this unification was the
establishment of four Dhams in four directions of Indian mainland. Dhams are
places and associated temples of God Vishnu or Shiva. Paying visit and
worshiping there is thought to be most important from the religious point of
view for every Sanatan Hindu . It is called the Char_dham_Yatra (Different from
Char_dham_Yatra of Uttarakhand). This Yatra i.e. Journey helps a person to see
different places in India and interact with local people thus making a bond among
them. Aadi Shankaracharya also made
a rule that the main priests of these Dhams won’t be local brahmins but from a
distant places. The four Dhams in four corners of India are:-
I. North -Badrinath Dham in Uttarakhand –Main deity
God Vishnu
II. East -Jagannath Dham in Puri, Orissa -Main deity God Krishna with brother Balrama (Dau ji) and sister Subhadra
III. West -Dwarka Dham in Dwarka,Gujarat – Main deity
God Krishna as King of Dwarka also called Sri Dwarkadhish IV. South - Rameshwaram Dham in Tamilnadu – Main
deity God Shiva worshiped by Sri Ram.
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| सिंह द्वार एवं अरुण स्तम्भ (गरुड़ स्तम्भ ) जगन्नाथ पुरी ,ओडिसा Main Entrance , Jagannath Puri, Odissa |
Out of these first three are
associated with God Vishnu and last with God Shiva. A priest of Kedarnath,
Uttarakhand had told me that since Shankaracharya was working on unification of
different sects of Sanatan Hindu religion, main of which were Shaivas (followers of
God Shiva) and Vaishnavas (followers of God Vishnu) he proposed to make two
Shiva Dhams and two Vishnu Dhams. So in Uttarakhand instead of Badrinath dham,
Kedarnath was the proposed Dham which is an equally important Shiva temple. But
it could not be finalized and it so happened that ultimately Badrinath was made
a Dham.
In the Jagannath puri temple big
statues of Krishna, his elder brother Balram and sister Subhadra are placed
over a platform that is about five feet high. The statues are made of wood and
they are remade every eight, twelve or nineteen years (whichever year has two
months of Aashadh in the Hindu calendar). You will find these statues not as a
normal one but somewhat underdeveloped. The story behind these types of statues
is in two parts. The first part is in Dwaper yug at Dwarka. Mother Rohini is
describing the love of Gopis and their Krishna bhakti to the queens of Krishna.
In the mean time sister Subhadra comes there and tries to hear these stories.
But mother Rohini does not allow her and tells her to guard at the gate. After
a few moments both brothers arrive there. Subhadra stops them at the gate. Balram
standing to the right of Subhadra and Krishna to the Left, all three heard the
stories being told by mother Rohini. They became so much emotional that their
bodies began to melt . At that instant Narad muni came there and requested to
remain in this appearance in idols for their worshiping. Krishna accepted his request
and said “I will remain in this appearance in the idols made of wood but in
Kaliyug”. So the second part of the story starts in Kaliyug at present day
puri. The king of Malav named Indradyumn came here to have a ‘Darshan’ of God
Nilmadhav at Nilachal. He could not find it as it was taken away by the Gods.
At that time a voice from the sky (Aakashwani) said that God Jagannath will be
pleased to appear in wooden form for you. So the king stayed there for some
days. One fine day the king saw a big log of wood floating in the sea. He
ordered to bring that log out of water
and thought to make idols of God Vishnu from it. At that moment engineer of
Gods Vishwakarma appeared as an old man and agreed to make idols out of this
log with a condition that nobody opens his workshop until his permission. Many
days passed but he did not come out. So one day the queen thought that he must
have died out of hunger and she opened the door of the workshop. The old man
had disappeared and there were three incomplete idols of God Jagannath,
Subhadra and balram. The queen became sad. But again the voice from the sky
said “do not be upset, I wish to remain
in this form only. Get the idols painted and put them in the temples with
rituals”. That instruction was followed. Hence we see that form of idols.The construction of present day
temple was started in fourth decade of twelfth century by king Anant Barman
Chodgangdev (चोड़गंगदेव) and completed by his grandson (Nati) king Anang Bhimdev. The
beautiful temple is about 230 feet high from the outer road level. On the outer
wall of the whole temple artistic idols have been carved. Out of the campus
there is a tall pillar called Arun-stambh in front of the eastern gate i.e.
Singh-Dwar. Inside the campus there are many temples of different Gods. The
temple of Goddess Vimla devi is important one because the “Prasad” of God
Jagannath is offered to Goddess Vimla devi then only it becomes “Mahaprasad”. The
main ingradient of the Prasad is rice and its preparations. Prasad is the most
important thing here and there is a special kitchen inside the campus for cooking the
Prasad. It is prepared in large quantity. The Vimladevi temple is also a
“Shaktipeeth” . “Shaktipeeth” is important for the followers of Goddess of
power i.e. "Shakti”. There are 51 “Shaktipeeths”. Each is at the place where
some part of the body of Goddess Sati had fallen. It is believed that naval
(Nabhi नाभि ) of Sati had fallen here. In the campus is a banyan tree called
“Kalpvriksh”(कल्पवृक्ष ). Devotees do “parikrama” of it. Temples of “SiddhGanesh”,
“Sarvmangla devi”, “Laxmi”, “Saraswati”, Sun god and “Hanuman” are important.
Northern gate of the temple is called “Baikunth Dwar”. Near it is
“Baikuntheshwar Mahadev” temple. The garden beside it is used to put old wooden
idols after the new ones are made (Navakalewar).
The ‘Darshan’ of three idols in
the main temple has to be availed at the time slot fixed by management.
‘Darshans’ are available at different distances. In some time slots you can
have ‘darshan’ inside ‘Garbh-gruh’ (Sanctum sanctorum) for which token has to
be purchased. If you are visiting first time here it is better to take services
of a local priest. Priests are available inside and outside of the campus. They
may insist on offering ‘prasad-bhog’ of different amount according to temple’s
list. If you do not have much time and want to return back after the morning
‘puja darshan’ they will give you such type of ‘prasad’ that lasts many days,
even when you reach home. But the main ‘prasad’ is the ‘bhog’ made of boiled
rice and its other preparations. This is available only in the afternoon. Even
some priests will make it available to you in the hotel room where you would
stay.
One of the main attractions of
the temple is the daily flag hoisting ceremony. It is done in the evening. The
inside campus becomes full of devotees to witness this action. A person
climbs with a new flag up to the top of the temple without any help and takes
out the old flag. Then he furls the new flag. At this moment all devotees who
were patiently watching the person on the top start clapping in jubilation.
This is a spectacular moment. The old flag pieces are distributed among the devotees for some donations.
2. Gundicha Temple – About two km from the main
temple is this ‘Gundicha temple’. During the ‘Rath yatra’ festival the idols of
Krishna, Subhadra and Balbhadra travel up to this temple and remain there. Near
this temple the first idols of Krishna,
Subhadra and Balbhadra were made by Vishwakarma.
3. Loknath Mahadev Temple - About two km from the
main temple is this Loknath Mahadev temple. The ‘Shivling’ here is under water
because water continuously oozes out from it. It is only on the festival of
‘Shivratri’ that all the water is taken out for worship and ‘Shivling’ can be
seen.
v
Other Religious Places
4. Bedi-hanuman temple – Half a km from Puri
railway station is this temple of ‘Bedi Hanuman’. Name is due to the ‘Bedi’ put
on the feet of Hanuman by God Jagannath.
5. Sonar Gaurang – It is near to the Bedi-hanuman
temple. Here is the golden idol of ‘Sri Gaurang Mahaprabhu’.6. Chakranarayan and Chakrathirth – In front of the
‘Bedi-hanuman temple’ is an old temple of ‘Chakranarayan’. Behind this temple near
the sea shore is ‘Chakra-tirth’. The log of wood from which ‘Vishwakarma’ had
made the first idol was taken out of sea at this very place.
7.
Emar Math – Related to Sri Ramanujacharya.8.
Gambhira Math – Related to Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu.9.
Kabir Math – Related to Kabirdas ji.
10.
Gowardhan Peeth (Shankaracharya Math) – Related
to Adi Shankaracharya.Apart from these there are many
places of religious importance in Puri.
v Main Festivals
1. Rath Yatra – This festival is world known and it
has given Puri a recognition. Every year on 'Aashadh shukla dwitiya' (according to Hindu calender - generally in June-July) this festival starts. Just in front of the main gate three big 'Raths' (chariots) are made every year and each of the three idols are placed on it. These 'raths' are pulled by devotees. By the evening it reaches Gundicha Temple. Next day these idols are placed at their predetermined places in Gundicha Temple. They remain there for seven days. On 'Aashadh shukla dashami' (according to Hindu calender) they return back to the main temple. On these nine days main temple 'darshan' is closed. The 'Darshan' of Gods at Gundicha Temple in these days is called "Aadap-darshan". It may be noted that the idols in yatra are not the same that are placed in the main temple. Where ever idol-yatras are taken out, the idols for yatra is different.
2. Chandan Yatra - Each year on 'Baishakh shukla tritiya' to 'jyeshtha krishna ashtami' (according to Hindu calender) idols of Madanmohan,Ram-Krishna, Laxmi-Saraswati and Panchmahadev are taken to 'Chandan Talab' for giving them a bath and boating.
3. Rukmani haran leela- on 'jyeshtha shukla ekadashi' (according to Hindu calender)
4. Snan yatra - on 'Jyeshtha Purnima' (according to Hindu calender) idols of Subhadra and Balram are taken to 'Snan mandap' for bathing purpose.
5. Jhulan yatra- on ''Shravan shukla dashami' (according to Hindu calender)
6. Janmashtami, Kaliya Daman and Parshwa pariwartan - in the month of 'Bhado''. Many more festivals related to Krishna and Vishnu in other months are celebrated here.
Places of Tourist Attraction
Main tourist attractions of Puri are the lovely sea beaches here. Many hotels and resorts are available here that are full of tourists all round the year. So many 'Dharmashalas' are here that facilitate accommodation to people that come here in large groups or for a comparatively long stay. In fact every class of people can get accommodation here. Advance booking of hotels is necessary to avoid any difficulty in hotel search. Now a days online booking facility is available on many internet sites like 'makemytrip', 'cleartrip' and many others. You can also have a choice of sea facing rooms. The main sea beach is along Marine drive road. Yes! Like Mumbai here too is a marine drive. Along the beach is a road called Marine drive road and the side of the road is full of hotels of different categories. These sea facing hotels are a bit costlier than the same levels of hotels behind these hotels.
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| Puri beach - on the left Bay of Bengal and on the right sea facing hotels at marine drive, Puri, Odissa |
The sea beach in front of Marine drive road presents a look of 'Mela'. Full of people taking a bath in the clear sea, walking along sea shore, playing with sand or colorful balls, riding a horse or camel or just sitting and enjoying the lovely view. Many 'feriwalas' roam asking you for eatables or selling other things. Photographers will continuously ask you for having a memorable photo. Same for the pearl sellers. Pearl sellers not only sell the so called pearls but they claim to have many precious stones even diamond. Bargaining is their main characteristic. Better not to buy anything claimed valuable by them because hardly these are original.
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| Beautiful Beach at Puri, Orissa |
If you get hungry and thirsty go the road that goes behind the lines of hotels on the center of Marine drive road. Enter this road and you get tea, coffee, snacks and bottles of water. Some of the snacks are local variety. A few shops sell 'sari, chader and gamchhas'. Along the Marine drive road you can get a cab or auto for local transport or site seeing. Outside Puri places of religious or tourist attractions are Chilka lake, City of Bhubaneswar (Famous for Lingaraja Temple) and Sun-Temple of Konark.
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| राम चंडी मंदिर On the way to Konark from Puri, Odissa. It is said that God Ram had worshiped Chandika Devi here During his stay at forest (वनवास) |
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