The Puri town is just a short enchanting drive away from Bhubaneswar in Odisha. The majestic Jagannath Temple in Puri is a major pilgrimage destination for Hindus and is a part of the Char Dham pilgrimages, From the Puri Sea Beach you can see marvellous sunrises and sunsets over the Bay of Bengal. Puri is also famous for Ratha Yatra festival and other tourism places nearby it Chilka Lake, Pipili, Chandrabhaga, Konark and Satapara. Millions of people visit Odisha to gain Lord Jagannath blessings.
The Rath Yatra Festival
The Jagannath triad are usually worshiped in the sanctum of the temple at puri, but once during the month of Asadha , they are brought out onto the Bada Danda (main street of Puri) and travel (3 km) to the Shri Gundhicha Temple, in huge chariots (ratha), allowing the public to have darsana. This festival is known as Rath Yatra, meaning the journey (yatra) of the chariots (ratha). The Rathas are huge wheeled wooden structures, which are built anew every year and are pulled by the devotees. The chariot for Jagannath is approximately 45 feet high and 35 feet square and takes about 2 months to construct. The artists and painters of Puri decorate the cars and paint flower petals and other designs on the wheels, the wood-carved charioteer and horses, and the inverted lotuses on the wall behind the throne. The huge chariots of Jagannath pulled during Rath Yatra is the etymological origin of the English word Juggernaut. The Ratha-Yatra is also known as the Shri Gundicha yatra.
Rosaighara
The temple’s kitchen is the largest kitchen in the world. Tradition holds that all Mahapasada cooking in the temple kitchens is supervised by the Goddess Mahalakshmi, the empress of Shrimandira herself, and that if the food prepared has any fault in it, a shadow dog appears near the temple kitchen, a sign of her displeasure. If the shadow dog is seen, the food is promptly buried and a new batch cooked. All 56 varieties of food produced are vegetarian and prepared without onions, garlic, or chillis, as prescribed by Hindu religious texts. Cooking is done only in earthen pots using water drawn from two special wells near the kitchen called Ganga and Yamuna. The most awaited offering is Kotho Bhoga or Abadha, offered after midday. After being offered to Jagannath and the other deities, the food is sold at Ananda Bajara, an open market near the temple.
Sea Beach
Puri Sea Beach or the Golden beach is a beach in the city of Puri in the state of Odisha, India. It is on the shore of the Bay of Bengal. It is known for being a tourist attraction and a Hindu sacred place. The beach is the site of the annual Puri Beach Festival, which is co-sponsored by the Indian Ministry of Tourism .The beach hosts sand art displays, including work by international award-winning local sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik. The Golden Beach at Puri was awarded the prestigious ‘Blue Flag’ tag on October 11, 2020 by the Foundation for Environment Education (FEE), Denmark.
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