If you're living in Odisha since 4 long years and haven't visited the sacred city of the state - Puri, then my friend you haven't seen the real Odisha yet.
As we all know that Puri is famous for its none other than Lord Jagannath. But, there are so many other things to explore here that it might blow up your mind. With the tinge of humidity and sweat in the air, we entered the city in the early hours of the day and decided to go directly to the temple.
THE JAGANNATH TEMPLE :-
Jagannath Temple
The Jagannath temple is one the holiest pilgrim centers among the four in India. The 65m high temple dominates the landscape visually and spiritually and is one of the most magnificent monument of India.
The only problem you'll face here as a tourist is that there are so many pandits/priests in the temple heading around you that they will cause a headache to you. Not only a magnificent amount of pandits is the sole problem, but also at every turn in the temple they will demand a huge amount of money for the prasad or tulsi or whatever is there inside it. To let your journey be finished in the budget you have decided, you've to avoid these pandas or pandits.
A happily posing pandit.
Inside the temple, it's a huge chaos and force with which pilgrims push and pull each other. If you're with your family, specifically children, you've to be very careful as anyone's elbow can blow your child's eye.
"You have to struggle really hard to just have a look of Lord Jagannath." - Priest.
He said this when my brother got stuck in the crowd and we were about to shout at the crowd who did so.
As the queue reaches the boundary, there you see the three sacred statues of the Lord, seems to be looking straight at you with their bold eyes and calm gesture. The view is worth looking and the dedication of the pilgrims will make you forget every kind of hardship with which you had reached there.
In the evening around 5pm or so, the flag hoisted on the top of the stupa of the temple is changed everyday and that too a man will climb the entire stupa by taking the support from his back. That very moment is full of energy and enthusiasm. As the man reaches the top, the crowd standing below it, applaud and the entire thing lies for one hour.
Overall, the temple is itself an another magical creation of God.
Also read about the RATH YATRA experience here.
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