The Shree Jagannath Temple
Context: Virus negative report not required to enter Puri temple from Jan. 21
- Puri is one of the four Dhams or most sacred places of pilgrimages for the Hindus in the country.
- The Shree Jagannath Temple is an important Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath, a form of Vishnu, in Puri in the state of Odisha on the eastern coast of India.
- The temple was built by the Ganga dynasty king Anantavarman Chodaganga in the 12th century CE, as suggested by the Kendupatna copper-plate inscription of his descendant Narasimhadeva II.
- 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.
- It is one of the Char Dham.
- 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.
- It is known as White Pagoda.
- The Odisha style of temple architecture is also accorded as Kalinga Nagara style.
- 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.
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