Story of Puri Jagannatha swamy

Puri is a sleepy seaside town in Eastern India and since time immemorial has drawn to its shores pilgrims, adventurers and explorers.This city is the abode of the Hindu God Vishnu popularly known in Puri as Lord Jagannath. Which if loosely translated means the Lord of the Universe. Puri is also called Sri Purushotthama Dhama the abode of Lord Vishnu on Earth. Hindhu believe in the Holy Trinity Brahma the creator,Shiva the destroyer and Vishnu the preserver. Lord Vishnu is also worshipped as Krishna or Narayan and in Puri, as Lord Jagannath. the home of Lord Jagannath attracts thousands of pilgrims every year.Situated across the four corner of the country Puri along with Rameshwaram ,Dwarka and Badrinath makes the Char Dham are four holy abode of Hinduism.The home of Lord Jagannath attracts thousands of pilgrims every year as these dhams or four holy abode are considered sacred by the Hindus to be visited once in their life time.The idea of Yatra has a special significance in the holy city of Puri. Where the gods themselves go on a journey each summer.This hugely popular event is called the "Ratha Yatra" or the chariot parade Lord Jagannath and his siblings Balabhadra and Subhadra travel a distance of about 3 kilometers from their resident Jagannath Temple to the neighbouring Gundicha Temple in three magnificent chariots .Thousands of pilgrims travel from around the globe to catch a glimpse of the beloved Lord during the yatra in the hope of gaining nirvana or salvation.Puri begin to prepare for the chariot ride more than two months before the event.The preparations get a quick start with sourcing of wood from the near by ex-princely state of Daspalla.Three towering chariots one each for Lord Jagannath his brother Balabhadra and his sister Subhadra are constructed from scratch every year  and there are no written instructions for the craftsmen. Instead,all the knowledge is handed down orally from one generation to another.Incredibly the construction of these gigantic chariots is based on the centuries -old tradition of using hand-spans to measure the wood.

One of the greatest attractions of Puri is the magnificent Jagannath temple built in the 12th century ,in honour of the Lord.It sprawls over 400,000 square feet of land with an imposing fortifving  surrounding wall about 22 feet high.The main structure rises to a height of 200 feet almost as high as the famous Tajmahal.The main temple is surrounded by 30 smaller temples os varving sizes housing .It has a wheel right on top made of eight metals known as the "Neela Chakra" or the Blue wheel.The wheel symbolises  the primary weapon of Lord Vishnu the Sudarshana Chakra.While serving an important practical purpose as it protects the high-rise temple from thunder strokes every day,a flag is hoisted on the wheel.A sevak or servitor harnessed only by faith climbs up swiftly to change the flag nearly 200feet above the ground.

Neela Chakra

The pilarim  tax apparently introduced  in the 17th century was a source of revenue for the Government of Odisha on account of the popularity of the temple. The entry to the temple is through four massive intricately carved gates,The Lion's gate,the Elephant gate ,the Horse gate and the Tiger gate.The deity of Lord Jagannath is steeped in history and a fascinating legend surrounds the origin of Lord.

Once up on a time a King called Indradyumna ruled central India.He was a greate devotee of Lord Vishnu and an ardent desire to see him oneday,a travelling mendicant came visiting the court and told him that Vishnu was worshipped in his truest form as Neel Madhav in Odisha ,The King immediately ordered the Head priest's brother Vidyapati to head to Odisha in search of Neel Madhav .After a long tiring journey vidyapati reached Odisha.There he found the Tribal chieftain Vishwavasu secretly guarding Neel Madhav. He pleaded Vishwavasu to show him the place of workship but the Tribal chieftain refused .Vidyapati continued to stay in the villaage eventually,he fell in love with Vishwavasu's daughter and,in time got married to her.Soon after the wedding Vidyapati cajoled his wife to convince his father-in-law for just one glimpse of Neel Madhav on his daughter's insistence Vishwavasu finally agreed but on one condition Vidyapati would be taken blindfolded .But Vidyapati managed to outsmart the Tribal Chieftain  on his way,he dropped mustard seeds to later track his way back with the King.Upon reaching the secret cave once the blindfold was removed Vidyapati was spellbound to see the most magnificent image of Neel  Madhav . He rushed back to tell his King who at once set forth to catch a glimpse of his beloved Lord.But,later when the King reached the cave with Vidyapati he had found it to be empty Neel Madhav had disappeared.

                                                    The King was devastated but he received a divine vision that he should go to Puri and draw ashore a log of wood which would be floating on the waves.The King obeved and found a log floating on the shores of Puri.Ecstatic ,he brought it to the palace only to face a greater challenge no one could carve through that hard wood.And since no one else had seen Vishnu no one could carve the figure in his likeness. When the task was getting impossible to execute Vishwakarma,the artisan of the gods appeared in the guise of an old carpenter.He convinced the King that he could carve out the idols on the condition that no one should disturb him for 21 days.The King readily agreed after the 15 days, the Queen grew impatient and persuaded the King to open the door there to his dismay he saw that the carpenter had disappeared only to leave behind wooden images in their incomplete form,and it is believed that the same form these iconic wooden idols is housed in the
famous Jagannath temple in Puri.