Puri is a seacoast town along the Bay of Bengal in the state of Orissa in eastern India. It is one of the traditional four principal pilgrimage sites in India. The focus of the pilgrims who travel here is the famous temple to the god Jagannath.
The Jagannath temple in Puri was built approximately 1135-1150 by King Codaganga of the Eastern Ganga dynasty. This was during the classical period of temple building in Orissa (approximately the eighth through thirteenth centuries). The temple is dedicated to Jagannath, who is identified by his devotees with Krishna. It is also dedicated to Balabhadra and Subhadra, the brother and sister, respectively, of Jagannath. These three together are the principal deities of the temple, whose images reside in the temple's sanctuary.
A famous festival related to the Jagannath temple is the ratha yatra, or chariot festival, which occurs yearly in June or July. During this festival, the three deities are taken from the temple and placed in large chariots which are then drawn along Grand Road to the Gundecha temple, a few kilometers away. After they have stayed in that temple for seven days, the deities again ride the chariots back to their home temple. This festival is very ancient and in fact is described in an account by an Italian friar who traveled to India in the fourteenth century.
Grand Road, which is indeed a very large thoroughfare, can be seen in some of the pictures below. Today there are many shops along the road selling items of every description, not only religious mementos but many consumer goods as well.
The architecture of the temple follows the pattern of many Orissan temples of the classical period. The main shikhara, or tower, rises above the inner sanctum where the deities reside. Subsidiary shikharas rise above ante-halls. The temple complex is surrounded by a wall, on each side of which (that is, east, south, west, north) is a gopura or gate, over which rises a pyramid-shaped roof. The Jagannath temple is one of the largest in Orissa. The temple complex covers several square blocks and contains dozens of structures, including a mammoth kitchen. Truly, the Jagannath temple at Puri is an architectural and cultural wonder.
ISKCON temples are dedicated to Lord Krishna and were built by the Hare-Rama Hare-Krishna cult followers. These complexes are elegantly built and are few of the largest temple complexes in India. There are beautiful paintings of Russian artists on the different past times of Radha Krishna, Sita, Ram, Laxman, Hanuman and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Special programmes like Kirtan, Aarti, Pravachan and Prasadam are held every Sunday.
