Puri Jagannath.

On archaeological and epigraphically grounds we cannot definitely establish the historical importance of Puri before the 7th Century A. D. There is a commonly prevalent notion that the temple of Lord Jagannath is situated on a blue mountain and therefore called Niladri, Nilachal or Nilagiri.

But we find no mountain at Puri or any reference to a hill or a mountain near Puri in the history, it can be presumed that it might have been built on a sand hill called Niladri or the Blue Mountain only on the grounds of analogy. There was a small Jagannath Temple before 12th Century A.D. where the present temple is situated. As the old temple became weak and starts damage, the King "Raja Ananta Varman Chodaganga Dev" decided to build a new temple.

It is believed that the present temple built on the garbage of old temple. Because of the height of the base of the present temple is more than 30 feet. The management of the temple continued under the Hindu rulers till 1558.Then the State of Orissa was conquered by the Afghan Nawab of Bengal and the temple was attacked by the Afgan General ‘Kalapahad’. At that time, an independent Khurda kingdom was established by "Ramachandra Deb", who assumed the management of the temple.

He consecrated the temple and reinstalled the deities. Till 1760, the temple continued under the Khurda Raja (King), who was paying tribute to Mughals and Marhattas. Raja Mansingh, a General of the Mughal King Akbar, defeated the Afghans and annexed Orissa in to the Mughal dominion. It remained under the Mughals till 1751 A.D.

Sri Puri Jagannath

Then Marhattas took up direct management of the temple till 1803. The British annexed Orissa into British Empire in 1803 and allowed Puri Raja to manage the temple. . However, to the credit of the British it must be said that they respected the right to worship of the Hindus at Jagannath and indirectly allowed patronage.

They recognized that Jagananth Puri's King of Orissa (Gajapati Maharaj) as the Superintendent of the Temple and granted some revenue rights and privileges to the temple to run it's affairs. The position continued till 1947. Shree Jagannath temple is a ‘Rekha Deula’ with curvilinear tower on a ‘Pancha Ratha’ plan. The height of the temple is 214 feet 8 inch from the ground level and 181 feet from inner base (ANTARVEDI).

It stands on an elevated platform of stone measuring about 9.83 acres. There are four major temples in a row, named ‘Viman’ (The main temple where Lord Jagannath is worshipped with brother Balabhadra, sister Subhadra and Sudarshan), Jagamohan (Audience hall), Natamandap (Dance hall) and the Bhoga Mandap (offering hall).

The height of Jagamohan is 120 feet and the base area is 80 feet x 80 feet. The base area of Nata Mandap is 80 feet x 80 feet and the base area of Bhogo Mandap is 58 feet x 56 feet. The temple has four gates at the Eastern – Lion Gate (Singha Dwara – The main entrance), Southern – Horse Gate, Western – Tiger Gate, and Northern – Tiger Gate at midpoints of the Meghanad Prachir (Outer Wall).