12 Mysterious Facts About Puri’s Jagannath Temple Which Will Amaze You

A temple came into existence in 12th century and finds its mentions in the oldest Upanishads and Vedas marking Puri as a sacred pilgrimage for the Hindus. In fact, today the state Odisha is known unanimously by tourists within and outside India majorly for this temple, the temple of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra in Puri.

However, besides the divine emotions of devotees that makes this temple world famous, the unsolved and unanswered oasis of mysteries beyond the common logic of man hidden within the temple and the fact that this old temple has undisputedly withstood several foreign invasions that failed to harm the sacredness of it, provokes the overwhelming devotional sentiments of the people and thus makes the temple all the more striking and appealing to the masses.

The argument of whether it’s the science or the engineering in the making of this temple or the living proof of God’s phenomenal presence behind the mundane miracles in the temple has also remained unanswered yet. Nonetheless, the temple, its rituals and stories sing pompously of the rich heritage of the culture, traditions that holds the heart of India into a single divine unit.

Here we bring we some incredible facts about Puri’s Jagannath Temple which will amaze you:

1. How the deities came into existence

The story of how the deities in the temple came into being is a dramatic story full of unbelievable dreamy episodes and suspense. As the story goes, it was when Odisha was reigned over by King Indrayumna. He happened to be an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna and so it happened that during one of his deep slumbers, Lord Krishna appeared in his dreams in the most beautiful form. It was after the dream that the image of the idol that King Indrayumna wanted to get built in the temple was determined. Finally after many efforts and another dreamy episode the sacred log of wood to be used to carve out the idol was found on the Vaitarani river and alongside came a rightful carpenter to king’s help. However, the carpenter asked the king to be not disturbed for 21 days by anyone that included the king himself as he worked inside a closed room.

Sadly, unable to bear with his urges, the king and the queen had a peek-a-boo into the room. Having seen the king and queen peeking inside the room, the carpenter merged into the unfinished idols as a ray of light to the utter amazement of the king and queen. And therefore, the idol of the three Gods doesn’t have hands or legs. One may call it another undisputed wonder of the God himself.

2. Rebirth of the Gods

The term nabakalebara basically symbolizes rebirth of the Gods as the Gods of the temple adorns new bodies. It is performed after every 12th to 19th year. It is mainly conducted by the ‘Daitapatis’ or the first worshippers of Lord Jagannatha. The Daitapatis transfer the soul or the “Brahmapadarth” from the old idols to the new idols in a blind folded form.

3. Daru-brahma, The mystery of Lord Jagannath’s idol

Lord Jagannath is also famously known as the “Daru Brahma” as the idols of the four Gods – Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Sudarshana is made out of Neem (a variety of fig tree). The perfect neem tree to be used as the sacred “daru” is found once in 19 years and it qualifies fit only if it bears certain special attributes. Few of them are – it must be situated close to a Shiva temple and a water body, there must be cremation ground close to it, it should have four principal branches signifying four arms of Lord Narayana and it should bear special conch-shell or ‘chakra’ marking.

4. None of the invasion attacks could defile the deities

The Jagannath temple has withstood as many as 18 invasions but none of the attacks could defile the deities as during each of these attacks the deities were taken out of the temple and were hidden at several different places. Therefore, the serenity of the temple remained intact. Invaders include: Illias Shah, Feroze Shah Tughlaq, Ismail Ghazi and the most destructive invasion by Kala Pahar. Kala Pahar succeeded in detecting the idols and burnt the idols but the “Brahmapadarth” was retrieved by a pilgrim and kept safe. The next attack was by Suleiman, however Emperor Akbar had a big role in suppressing this attack. The next attacks were by Mirza Kuram, a Bengal Nawab in the year 1607, Qasim Khan, Kesodarmaru, Kalyan Mal – he attacked the temple twice, Mukarram Khan, Shah Jahan who had attacked Odisha in general, Amir Mutquah Khan, Mudbaq Khan, Aurangzeb, Mohammed Taqi Khan.

5. The Ratna Bhandara

The Ratna Bhandara refers to mysterious treasury of Lord Jagannath temple. The Bhandara has seven chambers and the temple management uses only the “Bahara Bhandara” and the “Bhitara Bhandara” (outer and inner chamber). The remaining five have remained closed and untouched for centuries. In fact, even after severe attacks and loots, surprisingly, no invader could ever plunder the treasury of Lord Jagannath. The Bhandaras are used in “suna vesha” during the annual chariot festival. They are said to have pearls, golden hands, feet, crowns and necklaces, gems and other treasuries.

6. Prasadam Mystery

The kitchen within the temple premises is considered to be the largest in the world with 400 cooks (Supakars/ Mahasuaras) working on 200 earthen pots to feed thousands of masses. Daily offerings are made to the Lord six times in a day and the most popular among all is the ‘Avada’. After being offered the Lord, it is made available to the devotees as Mahaprasad. However, the eeriness lies in the fact that, 7 pots are kept one above the another and cooked in firewood but it’s the contents in the pot on the top that get cooked first than the bottom ones. Moreover it is said that the quantity of food cooked in the kitchen always remains same but neither does it fall short nor goes wasted.

7. 1800 years old ritual

Since the last 1800 years, a priest climbs the top of the dome of the temple and changes the flag. To remind you, the dome of the temple is as high as a 45 storied building. According to ritual it is being said that if the flag is not changed any day, the temple must be shut for the next 18 years.

8. The flag waves in the opposite direction

Another important fact about the flag on the top of the dome of the temple is that it flies in opposite direction to that of the airflow.

9. The mystic Chakra

The Sudarsana Chakra installed atop the main dome of the temple can be seen from any corner of Puri. And in any corner of Puri the Chakra would seem facing the onlooker himself. In addition to this fact, the installation of chakra which is 20 feet high and a ton in weight all the way from Gopuram 2000 years ago is yet another exclusive part of unsolved and unexplained mysterious sagas of the temple.

10. No shadow play

The structure of the temple is such that it temple doesn’t cast a shadow at any given hour of the day, another mouth gaping engineering prodigy indeed.

11. Nothing flies above the temple, absolutely nothing

Neither the birds fly or sit on the dome of the temple unlike any other temple nor has any plane ever flown above it.

12. The reverse breeze

Normally, the sea breeze i.e. the wind flows from the sea to the land during the day and quite the reverse occurs in the evening. But in Puri, the exact reverse of this phenomenon occurs.

Also read- 21 Fascinating Facts About Odisha That You Should Know