Puri Jagannath Temple is one of the oldest temple in India where the current form of temple was build by the Eastern Ganga Dynasty king Ananthavarman in the 10 th century . If you consider mythology this temple was build contemporary to the Mahabharata . puri jagannath temple history can be found in the different puranas(Hindu mythological story) of Hindu shastra (religious scriptures ) . Puri is famous for it’s annual Chariot pulling starting from the Puri Jagannath Temple . Jagannath Temple one among the famour chardham (four sacred place ) in India .
Mythological story of Puri Jagannath Tempel :
Mythological History of Puri Jagannath temple started just after the Mahabharata in Kali Yuga . On that time , there was a tribal chief named Visyabashu in the eastern part of india in orissa. at that time Abati king Indradhuymn known from a faithfull source that “the purist form of Lord Vishnu Nilmadhab has been worshiped by this man in the deep forest of utkal ” . So he send his most handsome and wise priest Vidyapati in search of Nilmadhab .
First he try to make friendship with Vishyabashu and find the location of the Nilmadhab . When everything fails , then he marries the Daughter Vishyabashu – ” Lalita “. Vishyabashu’s only weakness was his daughter Lalita . After repeated request from lalita to show vidyapati “the Nilmadhab ” . Finally , one day Vishyabashu agreed to show Nilmadhab to vidyapati but taken him on the way blind folded .
But Vidyapati was clever enough to drop mustered seed in the way to the cave of Nilmadhab . After seeing Nilmadhab , vidyapati was astonished and tell the story to his king Indradyumn . After listening the whole story , Indradyumn immediately started a pilgrimage toward Nilmadhab .
After reaching that place Indradyumn seen that the deity Nilmadhab was vanished . After seeing this he become very depressed and vows that he will fast until die if Nilmadhab give darshan(appear with kindness) to him . After certain time devine voice tell him to made a divine temple on that place . On the same night on Indradyum’s dream three gods of Puri Jagannath , Balbhadra , Subhadra and sudarshan appeared and tell him to make their devine sculpture by the neem wood floating on the sea shore of puri .
After that they collected the wood from the sea shore and tried to build the sculpture . But nobody can chisel the wood as it was such a hard . So the devine worker Viswakarma was called upon to make the sculpture . Viswakarma agreed to do the work but he said that ,”He will made the sculptor in a closed room and nobody will enter the room until he finished “. So Viswakarma started the work in a closed door .
After two week , the Queen become very curious as no sound is coming out from Inside . Queen insisted her husband Indradyum to open the door . She thought they may be died without food . Unwillingly Indradyumn open the door and saw three sculptor , half finished . The deity has no hands and legs and viswakarma was vanished . After that Nilmadhab , in Indradyumn’s dream ordered him to worshipped this half finished Deity . In every 12 or 19 years a new sculptor of Trinity was build from a fresh neem wood . This is a unique type of tradition followed in Puri Jagannath Temple .
Historical data puri jagannath temple :
Thought it is said that , there is no date of establishing of puri Jagannath Temple .Though the current form of the Jagannath temple was established by the Eastern Ganga dynasty king Anantavarman in 10 th century . It is a 65 meter high temple and in the top there is a Nilachakra made from the Astadhatu . It is a sacred wheel in the temple top where it always faces you , you may be standing in any direction . Every day a new flag was hosted in this chakra . In the evening you can visited this rituals .
Different sant like Adi Shankaracharya , Nityananda Mahaprabhu and Guru nanak visited this temple . The kitchen in this temple is the biggest in the world and bhogs(Prasadam) were cooked in the clay pot . Six times cooking were happens in this kitchen .
Other important temple inside Jagannath Temple :
Though there is lots of small temple inside the Puri Jagannath Temple . but there is two temple which are directly related to the Rituals of the Jagannath Temple .
Vimala Temple is a shakteepeeth inside the Puri Jagannath Temple where the naval of sati fell . Dussera is celebrated in this temple . Jagannath dev’s Mahaprasad is unfulfilled before it offered to Devi Vimala .
Mahalaxmim temple is another famous temple inside the Jagannath Temple . She is the caretaker of the Bhog made for the Lord Jaganntath . She is the consort of Lord Jagannath . Lots of rituals of Puri Ratha Yatra is associated with Devi Mahalaxmi .
Mahalaxmi and the Vimala temple are situated in the backside of the Jagannath temple in two adjacent position .
Rosaghara :
This is one of the famous place to visit inside the Jagannath temple . This is the famous kitchen of Jagannath temple where 56 different types of food were prepared in 40 different chula run by wood . You can not go inside the cooking place but you can see the well Ganga and Yamuna from where the water is taken for cooking . Here you can see lots of people prepare vegetables and rice befor cooking . All meals inside this kitchen is made in the clay pot . This is the biggest kitchen in the whole world .
Summary :
Puri Jagannath Temple is one of the char dham in Hinduism . Here the Lord Jagannath , Balaram and Sister Subhadra are the main deity in this temple . Puri Ratha yatra are one of the famous and auspicious festival in Orissa and India . According to the History the current form of the temple has been build by Ganga dynasty king Anantavarman in 10 th century .
