Jagannath Temple

Description

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Context: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has asked the Odisha government to tweak its Shree Mandira Parikrama Project (SMPP)—a massive beautification project around the 12th-century Jagannath temple in Puri.

About Jagannath temple:

Location

The Shree Jagannath Temple is an important Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath, a form of Vishnu, in Puri in the state of Odisha.
Puri is one of the four Dhamsor most sacred places of pilgrimages for the Hindus in the country.

Founder

The temple was built by the Ganga dynasty king Anantavarman Chodaganga in the 12th century CE, as suggested by the Kendupatna copper-plate inscriptionof his descendant Narasimhadeva II.

Festival

The Puri temple is famous for its annual Ratha yatra, or chariot festival, in which the three principal deities are pulled on huge and elaborately decorated temple cars.

Saints associated

The temple is sacred to all Hindus and especially in those of the Vaishnava traditions. Many great Vaishnava saints, such as Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya, Nimbarkacharya, Vallabhacharya and Ramananda were closely associated with the temple.
Ramanuja established the Emar Mutt near the temple and Adi Shankaracharya established the Govardhana Mutt, which is the seat of one of the four Shankaracharyas.
It is also of particular significance to the followers of the Gaudiya Vaishnavism whose founder Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, was attracted to the deity, Jagannath, and lived in Puri for many years.

Temple architecture

The Odisha style of temple architectureis also accorded as Kalinga Nagara style. It is known as White Pagoda.
The Kalinga Nagara style comprises three typologies i.e. Rekha Deula, Pidha Deula, and Khakhra Deula.
The famous temple of Lingaraja at Bhubaneshwar and Jagannatha at Puri are two prominent and gigantic examples of Rekha Deula.