~ Dr MPG Kurup former Executive Director National Dairy Development Board
India : Art , History , Culture , Architecture , Vedic India
Culture , Art , Architecture
Jagannath Temple ! Puri , Odisha : existed as an ancient structure of historically unknown Origin : in the centre of Puri City :
Now existing Temple built in the 12th Century , by King Ananthavarman Chodaganga Deva of Ganga Dynasty , completed and consecrated by King Anangabhim Deva in 1744.
Architecture : mixed Kalinga / Dravidian Culture . From inception , Temple Priests are from the Gajapathi Dynasty of Khurda : the practice still continues.
Puri Jagannath Temple is one of the Char Dham Temples , the other three : Rameswaram , Dwaraka and Badrinath !
Adi Sankara visited Puri in 810 AD : thereafter Puri became the abode of one of the Jagad Guru Sankaracharyas in the Country.
The Temple has an annual Rath Yatra : Chariot Procession : 3 Enormous Wooden Chariots , Pulled by thousands of Devotees along the ritual path ( the Streets and Major Roads of the Modern Puri City now). The Chariots carry the Deities : Sri Krishna ; His Sister Subhadra , their Brother , Balarama ! See picture !
Odisha is surrounded by intense Islamic influence and Culture , for centuries. : many small Muslim Kingdoms , now the Islamic Republic of Bangladesh , all along In the entire region. The Muslim Kingdoms and Islamic Invaders around , have attacked and plundered the Jagannath Temple 18 times between the 7th and 16th Century.
For several decades from time to time the Kalinga Kingdom had been under Islamic Rule. Never-the-less , Odisha has remained the State with the proportionally , lowest Muslim Population and with the slowest rate of increase among all states in the Indian Union.
Source : Google / Wikipedia
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