Jai Jagannath - He is a feeling, An emotion and a way of life.
I am going to share with you my beautiful travel experience to a place in India named PURI which is situated in Odissa. Puri is one of the most visited cities in the Indian state of Odisha where people all over the world come in search of spirituality or solace for a few days. Particularly known as a beach destination, it is one of the 4 Dhams that every Hindu is advised to visit. Puri is the abode of Lord Jagannath. As the name signifies it is the Lord of the Universe, a form of Lord Vishnu, this ancient temple receives millions of devotees each year. However, my trip is not only limited to the temple but I have experienced a completely different of life in existence. The place has trust, belief and faith and divine coherent altogether.
Jagannath Temple is an absolute must visit place as the experience is nothing short of divine. The Temple is famous for its architecture and many unsolved mysteries and wonders. That even science failed to explain. Here are few of the facts that you must know before proceeding with my experince :
No Birds or Planes fly above the height of the temple
The deities worshipped are Jagannath Prabhu, Balarama and their sister, Subhadra. The idols are made exclusively from Neem wood.
Sudarshan Chakra, made of ashtadhatu is an engineering marvel. Placed on top of the temple will always be facing you, no matter which part of the city you see it from
The flag on the Sudarshan Chakra alwsys flows in opposite direction of the wind course
Seven Pots are used to cook Prasadam using firewood everyday. They are placed one on top of another. Interestingly the prasadam in the topmost pot gets cooked first, followed by the bottom pots.
The amount of Prasadam cooked in the temple is always enough for the devotees. No matter how many devotees make it to the temple, not even a morsel getting wasted
The ocean mysteriously becomes silent as soon as you enter the Singha Dwara
The engineering structure of the temple is so unique that the shadow of the main dome cannot be observed at any time
There is a history associated with the place and the temple is standing since 12 century. You may read more on the historical aspect
I was excited to see the city after a long time. It was an instant travel plan made by me and my cousin. During my first visit to Puri which seems like a long time ago around 1989 / 90, I was accompanied by my parents and my grandfather who is no longer in this mortal world. We are fully aware that visiting Puri, we always need to keep a few days in our hands to soak in the culture, the divine temple and relax a bit at the beach. With all that in plan made during our travel time we arrived at Puri bus stand and from there we took a rickshaw heading towards the main temple.
The best time to visit this place is between October to March. As the place situated in the sea shore is hot and humid during rest of the year. The rickshaw pass through the busy streets towards the temple. The city was very chaotic and bust. However the roads were wide. Still it feels to be a different world to me. The temple can ve seen from far off places. And no public vehicle is allowed after a certain point. So we made to walk afterward.
It was a good experience, as the e tire area is crowded with devotees and different shops on the road. That is a very common sight of any of the pilgrimage location. We went through looking each of them, but not stopping at any of them. It was too early to shop for anything.
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We planned to take some accomodation near the temple as well which is nearer to the beach. The beach is hardly a kilometer away from the main temple area. As we get closer to the temple, we were pulled by a different sense of aura. There were no hymns or chanting, still, there was something unexplained aura that makes us to stop and take a glance at the temple. The abode of universal Lord.
Jagannath temple is famous for its annual Ratha Yatra (Chariot Festival) in which Lord Jagannath and his siblings Lord Balaram and Subhadra are placed in a huge ornamentally decorate chariot and pulled on streets as a procession.
The rath yatra happens once in a year and we were walking on the same streets. We were getting a different imagination of rath yatra and number of devotees attending the annual festival.
The place is not as modern as any other places. You will find many things which is lost in the race to modernization.
The pathetic heading towards the templenis very crowded with many shops on either side. They were selling many items from conch shell to prasadam for offering. It was very beautiful and colorful world we were walking into.
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The main attraction remain the besutiful wood artefacts of the idol.of the main temple. It was selling in multiple shops. They are like taking the lords to their home. So people prefer to buy these replica as a momento for their trip to the holiest place.
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The place is also famous cotton cloth and khaza an Indian sweets. While there are many shops selling the cotton sarees, the sweets were allover the streets. Multiple people selling them as hot cake.
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Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri, is one of the oldest temples of the Hindus. As we getting, there was quite a bit of crowd all over the temple. It was overcrowded, with many devotees lines up in the shed out side the temple, waiting for the number to comes. However there were not much chaos. Looking at the crowd, we felt if we could offer prayers or not.
But we have the faith, within not to go our trip waste. The temple.is quite big and grandeur.
The temple has four gates, each named after the animals guarding it – Singhadwara (the Lion Gate), Hathidwara (the Elephant Gate), Vyaghradwara (the Tiger Gate) and Ashwadwara (the Horse Gate)
Note: Photography is not allowed inside the temple premises.
So we are making the most of time in clicking pictures from outside.
On enquiring with local person, we were asked to perform the prayers in the early wee hours. Looking the crowd and the long queue, we felt too. Our body already gave up after the overnight journey. We checked in the hotel, enjoyed a little bit of beach and then again came back in evening to experience the divine faith and belief. It was simply orchestrated on the street outside the temple.
As the flags of the temple was changing, a group of women came out to offer their prayers, right in the streets. It was sight of pure faith and belief in the existence of the lord. People from far away visits this places to offer prayers and respect. The incredible myths, mystery and wonders are making it a place to explore more often.
As said in beginning, it is a way of life and one can experience it with the faith that devotees shower on the temple.
