OdishaLIVE Bureau
A look into the history of Shree Mandir the Jagannath Temple at Puri, Odisha.
Jagannath temple was built in 12th century (AD), by King Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva, first of the Eastern Ganga dynasty. The high walls of the holy temple are known as the ‘Meghnath Prachir’ or ‘Meghanada Pacheri’. There are four Mahadwars (doors) of the temple in four directions: Singhadwara or the Lion gate (facing towards east), Ashwadwara or the Horse gate (facing towards west), Hathidwara or Elephant gate (facing towards north) and Vyaghradwara or the Tiger gate (facing towards south).
Singhadwara is the main entrance to the temple. The Singhadwara is so named because two huge statues of lions adorn the either side of the entrance. The gate faces east opening on to the Bada Danda or the Grand Road. Then there are the ‘Baisi Pahacha’or the twenty-two steps leading into the temple. It is said that these twenty-two steps mark thetwenty-twoweaknesses or sins of man.
Inside the temple there is akshya bat which is basically a tree where people tie a thread while making a wish and it is believed that doing so makes your wish be fulfilled in future because you have asked the deity of the world Jagannath for something. It is believed that great saints and scholars like Sri Chaitanya, Kabir, Guru Nanak have all visited Shree Mandir Jagannath Puri at various times and hence the Shree Mandir is said to be a confluence of all religions.
Watch all the videos in the series ‘Shree Jagannath Katha’ here:
: Know the lesser known facts and the history of one of the dhams out of the 4 auspicious place of worship for Hindus, i.e The Jagannath Temple, Puri. The Shree Jagannath Katha a talk series available in hindi in OdishaLIVE's You Tube channel.){kind=link}