Introduction:
Jai Jagannath
If you are a Bengali Indian and you have not visited Puri, then it is actually pathetic.
Puri, in Orissa, the neighbor state of West Bengal, is probably the most visited tourist spot for most Bengalis. As a Bengali myself, I enjoy the Puri beach a lot.
Recently I visited Puri and this blog is about my visit to the Puri beach and the Jagannath temple. You will find necessary tour guidelines in my blog and if you are planning to visit Puri, you can use my blog as a guide.
Entering Puri:
Train is the most popular mode of transportation if you want to go to Puri from West Bengal. There are many trains that depart from the Howrah Station. It takes a night to reach the Puri station.
Another useful transportation mode is the airplane. You can go directly from Kolkata airport to Bhubaneshwar airport. It takes around 2-3 hours.
We went by flight and stayed for a very small period of 2 nights. Our purpose was to visit the Jagannath temple and give puja.
We started on a Friday noon and reached the Bhubaneshwar airport by afternoon. Then we took an auto from the airport.
One thing to note here, the Puri Beach is almost 5 hours journey from the airport. You will get auto-rickshaw or taxi from the airport. If you want, you can pre-book a cab for convenience. The journey can be pretty boring.
If you are travelling by train, you can directly go to Puri station and this is near the Puri beach.
We reached the Puri beach around 9 pm and it was actually pretty hard to get a place to stay at that time.
A lot of Bengalis visit Puri during summer break or when the kids’ school tests are over. So it is hard to get a room without pre-booking. Usually, this happens during March-April.
During Rath Yatra (chariot festival) also, a lot of devotees visit Puri to celebrate. It happens around June or July.
Another tourist season is during the Durga Puja around September-October. This is when many Bengalis get a long break and they like to enjoy at Puri.
So, to avoid hassle, you should either choose an off-season time to visit or you can also pre-book hotels. Usually, most hotels have online booking system and you can book 3-months prior.
Anyway, somehow, we got a good room after wandering for more than an hour. There are many restaurants around the locality. The restaurants serve Bengali cuisine simply because the huge number of Bengali tourists there.
We had some food and took rest because next morning, we were to visit the Jagannath temple.
The Jagannath Temple: some mysteries
The Jagannath temple is one of the greatest architecture in India. It has very high historical and spiritual value.
In this blog, I am not mentioning the actual architecture or the history. But feel free to explore by yourself.
You will find many stories about how the Jagannath temple. I can’t resist mentioning a few I remember.
It is said that when you enter the main gate of the temple, you cannot hear any outside noise.
Then, another interesting thing is the flag of the temple. Everyday, a 12-year boy climbs the temple and change the flag with new piece of clothes.
There is a story about a queen of the royal family that built the temple. She used to grab the flag while dipping in the sea (Indian ocean) to not float away. The flag was that much long!! Also, the ocean was much closer before.
The Rath Yatra (chariot festival) is the biggest festival in Puri. Hundreds of thousands of people gather in the city to celebrate. During Covid Lockdown, there were a lot of restrictions and only the insiders were allowed to attend the festival.
There is another interesting thing called the ‘Naba-Kalebar’, which has a greater spiritual explanation. After every 12 years, the idols of the gods- Shri Jagannath, Balaram and Subhadra- change their physical forms.
The idols are made with wood and there are many rules that are followed to create the idols.
When the time comes, the head worshipper of the temple gets dreams about how to get the wood. Sometimes, the woods also come floating in the ocean!! Exciting, isn’t it?
Also, after the idols are created, a very secret ritual is performed. The ritual is like this- there will be the old idols and the new idols inside the main temple. And there will be 3 worshippers with their eyes blindfolded. During this ritual, the whole city is put under blackout. The street lights are turned off and the lights inside the temples are also turned off.
As told by one worshipper who told about his experience during that ritual- there is a secret chamber inside the idols. That chamber is opened and one worshipper extends his hand inside the old idol and takes out an element.
Then, another worshipper takes that element from his hand and gives it to the third worshipper beside him. The third worshipper would put that element inside the secret chamber of the new idol.
The person shared his experience that, that element in his hands felt like a rabbit- warm and soft. And it was beating like a heart. The reason of blindfold is that, no one is allowed to see it.
Don’t ask me much, just believe. Too much scientific mind is making you dumb.
One interesting thing is that, Sri Krishna’s heart did not get burnt after his departure. This living element is probably Krishna’s heart.
Another interesting thing in the temple is how the food is cooked. The food is cooked in earthen pots. And these pots are of different sizes. The pouts are kept in such manner one above another that the biggest one is the lower most layer and the smallest one is the top most. But interestingly, the topmost pot gets cooked the first.
There are such many mysteries and stories about the temple, I can’t finish telling all those at once. So, I will just continue with our visit to the temple.
Our visit to the Jagannath temple:
The hotels usually have connections with the worshippers and If you ask them, they will contact the temple-insiders to let you give special puja in the temple. We asked for this and the arrangement was made. The temple-insiders are locally known as Panda (not those cute fat animals, These Puri Pandas are simple humans).
So, the next day was Saturday and we woke up around 5:00 am and got ready. The panda was waiting for us and we set off to visit the temple. We took a rickshaw and it took about 20 mins to reach the temple.
One thing to note is, the Jagannath temple does not allow non-Hindus to enter the temple. The devotees are asked to wear proper dresses. Mobiles and shoes are not allowed inside. It is recommended to keep your shoes inside a shop and shops also have provisions for this.
After this, you may have to stand in a queue to enter the temple through the main gate ‘Singha Duar’ (Singha means Lion in English). It usually does not have more than 5-10 minutes to enter the gate if you visit in morning.
After you enter the main gate, there will be some small temples at the left side, As far I remember, those are of lord Hanuman. Pay your regards there.
Then, you have to climb stairs. After that, you will have to stand in another queue to enter the main temple. Also, this does not take too much time if you visit in the morning.
The inside of the temple is full of designs, statues and scriptures. As you enter the main temple, you will find a pillar, above which, Garuda is sitting and looking at Lord Jagannath inside the Innermost sanctorum of the temple. You can pay your regards to Garuda.
Then, you can enter the main sanctorum (garva-griha). There are police inside the temple to maintain flow of crowd.
As you enter the main sanctorum, you can see the idols of Jagannath, Balaram, Subhadra about 50-70 meters away inside another ultimate sanctorum.
This Last sanctorum was open to visitors before but after terrorist attacks increased in the last decade, they decided to not let people enter. Otherwise, earlier, we would enter this ultimate sanctorum and revolve the idols and touch it. When I was very young, my parents have experienced this. I don’t really remember much.
Please note that, taking photographs inside is prohibited and if you do this, your camera or phone will be confiscated by the police or worshippers. Anyway, you should focus on paying your regards to the gods, rather than taking pictures.
Inside the main sanctorum, worshippers will come to you and ask for money. It is up to you if you want to donate. I would recommend that you donate to the worshippers who are inside the ultimate sanctorum. They will surely be there with some pots where you can donate money and flowers.
Due to heavy crowd, it is a bit hard to reach near the ultimate sanctorum, but you will surely reach there slowly. The police does not let people stand for too long in front of the ultimate sanctorum. So, as you move forward, keep seeing the idols of Lord Jagannath, Subhadra and Balaram.
Keep looking at them with love and respect. Lose yourself inside the large eyes of the lord.
If you get chance, take blessings from the pradeep/dia lights. I don’t know the correct word but it looks like this. You will find it in front of the ultimate sanctorum with the worshippers.
Another important thing is that, the main sanctorum stays open in the morning and then it closes. So, if you are late, you might not be able to enter the main sanctorum and you have to see from outside.
So you should try to visit in the morning.
After paying your regards to the gods, you can come out of the main temple. If you want the ‘prasad’ (food cooked for god) after worshipping is done, you have to tell any panda and they will take your name, address (hotel you are staying). And you have to pay some amount to them. You can also request them to give you some flowers devoted to the gods. They will arrange it.
After paying our regards, we came out and asked for the ‘prasad’. then, our panda gave us a small tour around the temple. There are many small temples of Laxmi, Narayana, Ganesha, Gayatri and other gods.
You can also lit candles and put it in in specific places of the temple premise.
There is also a place where you can make some rituals. It is like making deals with the god. If you want something from god, you can make some promise that you won’t eat certain fruit for a year and you have to pay a certain amount and create a deal. This is called ‘Maanat’ and if you want, you can ask a panda to guide you.
After seeing around, we bid goodbye to the panda. He said that he will visit our hotel with the ‘prasad’ in the afternoon. Please note that, pandas take some money for their guidance.
After this, we visited the temple 3 more times to quench our thirst to see the gods. It felt satisfying to visit the temple and the gods.
Jai Jagannath.
Then, we came outside the main temple.
After exiting, we collected our shoes and phones and returned out hotel.
In the afternoon, the panda visited us with the ‘prasad’. It was a lot of food. There were gaja (a sweet made from flour and sugar syrup), rice with cinnamon, payas or rasagolla (a dessert made from milk) and some more.
It was a delight to consume the divine food. I would really recommend you to get ‘prasad’ if you visit the temple. You won’t regret it.
Our major task to visit the temple was completed.
The Puri beach:
After coming from the temple, we enjoyed in the beach.
Puri beach is probably the best beach in India for enjoying a sea bath. It is not deep and it is very safe.
The water is more or less clean. Everyone enjoys the water there.
Bikini is not allowed in here. Women can wear saree or salwar etc. without any issue.
The local people have taken up many interesting ways of living based on the tourists. You will find camera-men wandering and asking people if they need photographs.
There are people with horses and camels who will give you a ride. There are tea stalls, coconut stalls and many other things right on the beach.
Some people even keep chairs on the beach; if you sit, you need to pay.
The original language of local people is Oria. But, due to the high number of Bengali tourists, the local businesses need to become fluent in Bengali language.
In the evening, you will find a large fare on the beach. And tis fare stays all year long. People sell almost everything there, cloths, jewelry, show-pieces, souvenirs, god portraits, toys, utensils, sea-shells, conches and many more. Don’t hesitate to bargain with them to get some extra discounts.
Other than these, you will find numerous food stalls on the footpath, selling fish fries, chicken items, bhel puri, ice cream and many other things. If you have a preference for eating food with dirt, go ahead and eat these.
One thing I really like in Puri beach is the beautiful breeze. It soothes the soul. Also, an interesting thing is, no matter how long you spend inside the water, you won’t get sick. It simply shows the good weather there. However, the sea water and the sun will give you some tan.
Alongside the beach, there is a huge market. And it goes inside the streets too. Cotton towels (gaamchha) in Puri are comfortable. You can buy some. Another thing you should buy is gaja.
After wandering and exploring, we had dinner and returned the hotel.
The next day, we returned home via flight.
It was a nice trip.
Endnote:
Puri trips are always enjoyable. We stayed for only 2 days but if you want to explore, you can stay for 5-6 days.
You can visit the Konark Sun Temple, Udai Giri, Khanda Giri, Chilka Lake etc.
Anyway, don’t miss visiting the Jagannath temple. And don’t miss the sea bath. These two are the must-do attractions in Puri.
That’s all for today. I will come back with another blog another day. Till then…
Jai Jagannath
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