The Puri Jagannath temple located in Puri in the State of Odisha, is dedicated to God Jagannath in the symbol of universal love and brotherhood is worshipped in the Temple alongwith Balabhadra, Subhadra,Sudarshan, Madhaba, Sridevi and Bhudevi on a Ratnabedi platform.

Legendary account as found in the Skanda-Purana, Brahma Purana and other Puranas state that God Jagannath was originally worshipped as Neela madhab by a saver king(tribal chief) named Viswavasu. Having heard about the Deity, King Indradyumna sent a brahmin priest, Vidyapati to locate the Deity, who was worshipped secretely in a dense forest by Viswavasu. Vidyapati tried his best but could not locate the place. But at last he managed to marry Viswavasu’s daughter Lalita. At repeated request of Vidyapati, Viswavasu took his son-in-law blindfolded to a cave where Neelamadhab was worshipped. Vidyapati was very intelligent. He dropped mustard seeds on the way. The seeds germinated after a few days,which enabled him to find out the cave later on.

On hearing from him, King Indradyumna proceeded immediately to Odra desha (Orissa) on a pilrgimage to see and worship the Deity. The king was disappointed at the sudden disappearance of the Deity. The Deity was hidden in sand. The king was determined not to return without having darshan of the Deity and observed fast unto death at Mount Neela, when a celestial voice cried ‘thou shalt see him’. Afterwards the king performed a horse sacrifice and built a magnificient temple for Vishnu. Narasinmha Murti brought by Narada was installed in the temple. During sleep, the king had a vision of God Jagannath. Also anastral voice directed him to receive the fragrant tree on the seashore and make idols out of it.

Some other Facts you possibly didn’t know about the Puri Jagannath Temple:

• 1. The Flag at top the temple always flaps in opposite direction of air.
• 2. Normally during day-time, air comes from sea to land & during evening, the vice-versa occurs. But in Puri it’s totally opposite.
• 3.No bird or planes fly above the Temple.
• 4.The shadow of the main dome is invisible at any time of the day.
• 5.The quantity of cooked food inside the Temple remains same for the entire year. But that same quantity of prasadam can feed few thousand people & 20 lac people, Still it won’t get wasted.
• 6. After entering from Singhadwara’s first step (from inside of the Temple), u can’t hear any sound produced by the ocean. But, when u cross the same step (from outside of the Temple) u can hear it. This can be noticed clearly during evening.
• 7. A Tree cut by the Sudharshana Chakra is in the premise of the temple.

Visit http://www.ishtadevata.com/shri-jagannath-temple.html to check out more details and how to get there.

Picture Credits:
Wikipedia