Puri, The Home of Lord Jagannatha

This web page is a brief introduction to the famous holy city of Jagannatha Puri (Orissa, India), the center of Purushottama khsetra, and contains photos and a few basic information.

If you wish to know more about Puri or about the other topics discussed in this website, please write to us at:

jagannathavallabha@rediffmail.com

We will be happy to answer your questions.

You can also purchase the book Puri, the Home of Lord Jagannatha (with photos CD)

We arrange visits in Puri and Orissa in the company of the scholars of the Jagannatha Vallabha Vedic Research center, as well as courses and seminars.

Click here to enter the courses section...

The Skanda purana, Utkala khanda 3.52-53 describes the holy dhama of Sri Purushottama kshetra as a dakshinavarta sankha (a special Lakshmi conchshell with the hollow part on the right side), having an area of 16 kms of which 40% is submerged under the sea.

Jagannatha,

the Lord of the universe

The vedic tradition of Sanatana dharma has the special quality of integrating all aspects of reality into the path of the supreme God consciousness.

All over the world, different groups fight each other in the name of religion (while actually striving, consciously or unconsciously, to get material benefits for themselves -- political, economical, social, etc.), without understanding that all the aspects of God are but parts of the Supreme Godhead and there is no opposition or contradiction in them. Apparent contradictions have the specific purpose of helping us to better understand the complexity of the subject instead of taking God cheaply.

In this respect, Puri is a very special place, from which a deep revolution can start to change this old, sectarian and limited way of seeing things, because everyone loves Jagannatha, "the Lord and protector of everyone". In fact, in the transcendental relationship with Jagannatha, the vedic aphorism "vasudaiva kutumbakam" is perfectly demonstrated: everyone belongs to the family of Jagannatha and can develop a deep love and connection with Him.

In the name of Jagannatha all barriers of religion, caste and birth must be overcome: it is a well-known rule, accepted even by caste-conscious pandas, that the Mahaprasadam of Jagannatha should be taken even from the hands of an outcaste -- no consideration of caste is allowed when it comes to the Mahaprasadam, considered non-different than Jagannatha Himself.

Among the greatest, most famous and recognized devotees of Lord Jagannatha there are even a few "Muslims" (like Salabega and Haridas Thakur). Still today, inside the temple a vigraha (Satya Narayana) is said to represent Allah as the form of God worshiped by Muslims: here the puja is conducted in Urdu (a Muslim language). The temple also has some Parsi sevakas, from the ancient religion of Zarathustra and Ahura Mazda.

Jagannatha's original worshippers (whose descendents, the Daita and Patis, still hold to this day an important position in His personal service) were the Sabaras (tribal non-civilized people) who did not follow the teachings of the Vedas and knew nothing of their philosophy or castes. Lord Jagannatha stole even their hearts and gave Himself into their hands to reciprocate their love. The Daitapatis are considered non-brahmanas, but rather the personal family of Jagannatha, and they live and sleep with Him in an exclusive way during the period of Anavasara and Ratha Yatra every year.

We have heard from Bhavisya Purana and also from Bhaktivedanta Swami that Jesus Christ was a great devotee of Lord Jagannatha and spent a few years in Puri; out of love for His devotee, Sri Jagannatha accepted to manifest Himself in many Western countries, by conquering the heart of hundreds and thousands of people there.

Today Ratha Yatras are held all over the world and in some places (like San Francisco. U.S.A., renamed by Jagannatha devotees as New Jagannatha Puri) the local government administration has declared the day of Ratha Yatra an official holiday.

Regarding Buddhism, it must be said that Jayadeva Gosvami -- whose beautiful poem Gita Govinda is so cherished by Lord Jagannatha that He wants it sung to Him every night in His inner chamber at the time of going to bed -- glorifies Lord Buddha as a bona fide avatara of Vishnu (Keshava), as Srimad Bhagavata Purana clearly affirms. The temple structure also recognizes Buddha as an avatara of Vishnu by consacrating to him one of the 22 steps in the entrance stairflight.

Even within the "Hindu" fold, Jagannatha makes everyone happy by accepting all -- devotees of Vishnu, devotes of Krishna, devotees of Shiva, devotees of the Mother Goddess.

Everyone knows that Jagannatha is Krishna or Vishnu, that Balarama is His elder brother and Subhadra is His young sister Narayani. By studying the Vaishnava scriptures, we come to know that Balarama is none other Sankarshana, the manifestation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is the origin of Lord Shiva. Some even directly identify Lord Balarama with Shiva.

The Deity of Balarama shows serpents on His head.

We also learn that Subhadra, the younger sister of Krishna, is Yogamaya or Vaishnavi, explicitly described in 10th Canto of Srimad Bhagavata Purana (at the time of the appearance of Lord Krishna in Kamsa's prison) as Durga Devi. Subhadra Devi manifests Herself in the material capacity as Maya, and in the spiritual relationships as Yogamaya.

This is a delicate and complex point to discuss about, but definitely we can say that Lady Subhadra is Krishna's energy, Shakti -- so the shaktas will be happy to see Vaishnavas and Shaivites worshipping the Mother on the same altar with Jagannatha and Baladeva.

The purpose of all this arrangement is simple: the Lord wants to establish the fact that all human beings are by nature devotees of God, in whatever form they may worship, and they should cooperate together to please the Supreme. To make Jagannatha happy, we must understand His heart and serve Him accordingly.

Another name of Lord Jagannatha is Patita Pavana, the "savior and purifier of the fallen".

He is extremely tolerant and His servants even behave in an exceedingly familiar way with Him, something that is never seen or even imagined in other temples. During the time of the Ratha Yatra everyone comes forward to hug the Lord's body, so much that His lotus face get smeared with color. He plays in a perfect way the part of a human being, so that many are actually convinced He is so. In no other temple the daily and yearly schedule of the Deity worship resembles so much to the actual schedule of a human being - particularly a King.

In the next pages you will find more details about the worship schedule, the festivals, and the Mahaprasadam, probably the most important feature of Jagannatha worship.

Usually in other temples the prasadam is distributed in small quantities to the visiting devotees, but the temple of Lord Jagannatha can feed hundreds of thousands. In Puri everyone can get some Mahaprasadam, and even make it one's staple diet very easily.

The many festivals enable thousands of people to see the Lord, and even His service maintains several hundreds of families of Sevakas (while usually in temples the servants are working on a completely voluntary basis).

All the inhabitants of Puri consider Jagannatha as their family member, their best friend and kinsman, and the Lord is very lenient and benevolent with them all. A little mischievous Himself, Jagannatha tends to overlook His servants' faults, but make no mistake... His security guard is none other than Lord Lokanath, Shiva, feared by everyone, and master of all tantric powers.

The temple of Jagannatha, called Sri Mandir, is the center of the life of the city, and is visited daily by hundreds of people from all over India.

Puri is famous for its many festivals. The most important is the Ratha yatra, the Festival of the Chariots. During this annual festival the main Deities of the temple travel to Gundicha.

Gundicha is the place where Jagannatha was originally installed by king Indradyumna in the Satya yuga.

Besides the main temple, Puri has hundreds of smaller temples, mathas and ashramas of all groups and theological schools.

Some of these temples are so tiny that they found their place on a wall directly on the road.

The city of Puri constantly stages beautiful festivals besides the main Ratha Yatra. This is an image from the yearly Chandana yatra festival, that lasts for 21 days.

Jagannatha Puri is also known as Purushottama Kshetra ("the land of the Supreme Lord") or Sankha Kshetra ("the land shaped like a conchshell"). The conchshell is another reference to Goddess Lakshmi, the Daughter of the Ocean.

The present system of worship was established by Adi Sankara acharya.

The King of Puri, Gajapati Maharaja Divyasingha Deva, is considered the first servant of the temple and the younger brother of Jagannatha.

The residence of King of Puri, in Grand Road.

Situated on the east coast of India, on the Bay of Bengal, Puri can be easily reached by train from all the main cities of India. The nearest airport is Bhubaneswar.

The culture of Orissa is very rich and colorful, full of passion and life, deep with the secrets of Yoga and Tantra.

The 22 step stairs of the front gate are treaded not only by devotees, saints and personal servants of Jagannatha, but by the Deities Themselves whey They go out for the festivals.

The Kalpa Vriksha, the "wish fulfilling tree" inside the Jagannatha temple.

The huge kitchens of the temple prepare enormous quantities of pure vegetarian food every day for the bhoga offerings to Jagannatha.

Not many people know that Puri is guarded by powerful Goddess Vimala. The food offered to Jagannatha becomes mahaprasadam after being presented to Vimala Devi inside the main temple.

The mahaprasadam of Lord Jagannatha is an important part of the life of the people of Puri, celebrating all the important events of their lives and cementing the social life beyond barriers of caste.

The pilgrims visiting Puri carry back home baskets of dry mahaprasadam, that keeps for months, to bless their families and friends.

Traditional Odissi dance is one of the most interesting forms of classical Indian dance. It still retains its traditional character of Deity worship.

The main road of Puri, called Grand Road or Bada Danda, is a shopping paradise, where pilgrims and tourists can spend entire days looking at the typical handicrafts and worship items like sandalwood, tilaka, malas, etc.