Puri the spiritual capital of the
state and popularly known as Jagannath Puri, Nilachala, Nilagiri, Niladri,
Purusottam Khetra, Srikhetra, Shreekhetra and Sankha Khetra, occupies a significant place in
the map of torism and field of spiritualism of the country for its magnificent
culture and striking beauty. In the 8th century A.D. Adi Sankaracharya toured
this entire country on foot to unite it culturally by generating an atmosphere
of mutual understanding and reciprocal fellowfelling and in course of this
journey, he visited this temple city perhaps in the year 810 A.D. and
established a 'Matha' known as 'Govardhan Pitha' which still reminds the
tourists regarding the great tradition of this sacred city and unparalleled
philosophy of 'Advaitavada' or monism of Acharya Sankar. Adi Sankaracharya also
took adequete care of the temple of Lord Jagannath, which, as per mythological
narrations, was existent in this Neeladri or blue mountain from time
immemorials and introduced a svstematic ritualistic procedure inside the temple
as a result of which the idols of Sankaracharya and his disciple, Sri
Padmapadacharya, who adorned the Govardhan pith as its first pointiff were
installed on the 'Ratnasimhasana' of Lord Jagannath. But subsqueneely these
idols were removed probably during the invasion of Muslims and Marahattas.
Prior to the advent of Adi Sankaracharya, Lord Jagannath was worshipped as
'Buddha', the incarnation of enlightenment and wisdom, which is evident from
the scripture janasiddha of Indrabhuti.
Although Puri is famous for Lord Jagannath and known as Jagannath Puri,
other deities like Shubhadra, Balabhadra and Sudarshan are also worshipped in
the main temple. All these four deities are called 'Chaturdha Murty'.
Puri-An Overview
Puri, the sacred place of pilgrimage,
is situated on the sea i.e. Bay of Bengal. The climate of this temple city is
neither too hot in summer nor too cold in winter. The main two attractions of
this city are famous Jagannath Temple and finest Sea beach. Not only is the
temple holy,but the whole of its surroundings,the Khetra,extending over metres
has been extolled as holy in the Puranas.The Khetra,according to the sanskrit
writers,extends from the temple of Lokanath on the west to that of Vilveswar on
the east and from the eternal sea to the Matianadi,a small stream. But as two
krosas out of the five have been, it is said, engulfed by the sea, the remainder
very closely represents the present extent.This sacred tract is said to
resemble in shape a conch-shell, sankha, which is one of the four ayudhas of
Vishnu, others being chakra (discus), gada (mace) and padma (lotus). Puri is known as
Sankhakhetra and Bhubaneswar, Jajpur and Konark are respectively called
Chakrakhetra, Gadakhetra, and Padmakhetra .
In the early years of the British
rule, in the Government records, Puri has been described as the City of Jagannath
and the district was also given the same name. As the present name Puri was not
used formerly either by the Christians, the question naturally arises as to how
it came into vogue. It appears that after the British conquest, the town was
sometimes called Jagannath-Pooree; and William Hamilton in his 'Description of
Hindostan'(1820) mentions the City as Juggarnath, Juggarnathpoor, and
Pooree. Andrew Stirling in his 'Account of Orissa'(1824), uses both
Jagannath-Pooree and simply Pooree. Evidently, therefore, the latter name
commended itself to popular taste as a handy abbreviation and displaced the
older and more appropriate name.
-: Jai Jagannath :-
Destination Summary