Lord Krishna, Subhadra, Balarma
The Jagannath Temple in Puri is a famous Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath (Krishna) and located in the coastal town of Puri in the state of Orissa, India. The name Jagannath (Lord of the Universe) is a combination of the Sanskrit words Jagat (Universe) and Nath (Lord of). The temple is an important pilgrimage destination for many Hindu traditions, particularly worshippers of Krishna and Vishnu, and part of the Char Dham pilgrimages that a Hindu has to be visited in one's lifetime .
According to recently discovered copper plates from the Ganga dynasty(reference required), the construction of the Current Jagannath temple was initiated by the ruler of Kalinga, Anantavarman Chodaganga Dev . The Jagamohana and the Vimana portions of the temple were built during his reign (1078 - 1148 CE). However it was only in the year 1174 CE that the Orissan ruler Ananga Bhima Deva rebuilt the temple to give a shape in which it stands today.
Jagannath worship in the temple continued until 1558, when Orissa was attacked by the Afghan general Kalapahad. Subsequently, when Ramachandra Deb established an independent kingdom at Khurda in Orissa, the temple was consecrated and the deities reinstalled .
The traditional story concerning the origins of the temple is that the original image of Jagannath (a deity form of Krishna) was found near a fig tree in the form of an Indranila or the Blue Jewel. It was so dazzling that Dharma wanted to hide it in the earth. King Indradyumna of Malwa wanted to find the image and to do so he performed harsh penances to obtain his goal. Vishnu then instructed him to go to the Puri seashore and find a floating log to make an image from its trunk. The King found the log of wood. Vishwakarma appeared in the form of artist and prepared images of Krishna, Balarama and Subhadra from the tree.
The central forms of Jagannath, Balabhadra and the goddess Subhadra constitute the trinity of deities sitting on the bejewelled platform or the Ratnavedi in the inner sanctum. The Sudarshan Chakra, idols of Madanmohan and Bishwadhatri are also placed on the Ratnavedi. The idols of Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Sudarshan Chakra are made from sacred Neem logs known as Daru Bramha.Depending on the season the deities are adorned in different garbs. Worship of the deities pre-date the temple structure and may have originated in an ancient tribal shrine.
The temple's kitchen is considered as the largest kitchen in India. Tradition maintains that all food cooked in the temple kitchens are supervised by the Goddess Mahalakshmi herself. It is said that if the food prepared has any fault in it a dog appears near the temple kitchen.The temple cooks or Mahasuaras take this as a sign of displeasure of Mahalakshmi with the food which is promptly buried and a new batch cooked. All food is cooked following rules as prescribed by Hindu religious texts. Cooking is done only in earthen pots with water drawn from two special wells near the kitchen called Ganga and Jamuna. The food after being offered to Jagannath is distributed as mahaprasad to devotees in the Ananda Bazar located to the North of the Singhadwara inside the temple complex.
