In 2006, a female student of Moscow state University, who is interested in the teachings of Osho, came to our temple for the first time. And this guest, staying in the ISKCON temple, saw on the wall of the staircase leading to the guest room a poster with the Jaganatha temple or a similar planned 50-meter temple in Moscow, and asked confusedly why it was so strangely shaped. To be honest, I also received similar allusions about the proportions of the main temple tower, which is called deul. The Internet also met the statement in the caption under the photo that at first glance, the roots of this undeniably phallic cult. And such is Orissa Hindu architecture compared to Bengali, South Indian or other regional temple architectures.
If The jaganatha temple was originally a Shiva temple, like the Lingaraja temple in Bhuvaneswar, then the question would be removed, because in shaivism there is a worship of lingam.
But in the description of the creation of The jaganath temple, it is said that vishwakarma built It. Or is there Shiva present in the form of a tower as his watchman, a guard similar to Vrindavan?

Or is this form necessary to reduce the flow of ordinary people who reduce religion to a profane, secular, secular, non-religious level?
Or Shankaracharya, who transformed the temple of Juhatada and bequeathed to adhere to this architecture in future reconstructions?


2. And another question about the internal structure of The jaganath temple. The network could not find a video about what is inside all or at least one building of the temple complex. For example, in the main tower, Deula, then there is a void inside, many floors, or is it a monolith and only a staircase leads to the roof, where there is a change of flags?


And two quotes of auto-translation from Russian:
From the original architecture of the temple over the centuries, not a trace remained, as the temple was rebuilt many times. The last reconstruction of it was undertaken in the first century ad, although in the XIII century the temple was greatly renovated by the efforts of king chhadoganga Deva and his successor Anangabhima. However, its location has always remained unchanged.
Gauranga No. 6-7, 1997 from the three-volume book " Gauranga. A message of love»

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Question: it is interesting to know about The jaganatha temple. When was it built?

Bhakti Vigyana Goswami: The current temple Jagannathi in the form in which we see it was built... Its construction began sometime in the 10th century and ended sometime in the 12th century. Several kings participated in its construction. It ended during the reign of the king named Chaogang Deva dynasty of the Ganges. The dynasty preceded another dynasty, the Solar dynasty, to which Maharaja Prataparudra belonged

Question: what happened before that?

Bhakti Vigyana Goswami: Well, before that, there was always a temple here. Just the current temple in the form in which we see it was built in the 10th century.

Question: what about Shankaracharya?

Bhakti Vigyana Goswami: No one knows exactly when he lived. Some say that he lived in the 7th century. But there is an opinion that he lived much earlier: in the 2nd century ad, in the 3rd century ad. That is, there is no exact date. People more inclined to tradition refer it to an earlier time.
Shankaracharya established 4 major mathas covering the entire Indian subcontinent with his preaching. One in Badarikashram, one in Sringer, one in Dwaraka and one here in Puri. That is, he took four key positions in order to protect the Indian subcontinent from the influence of various atheistic philosophies.

He fought Buddhism and his other enemies. And when he came to the temple, they worshipped Jaganatha according to some very ancient traditions. What did he do? He established the form of worship that still survives. And the official head of the Jaganatha temple is still the Shankaracharya Govardhan Matha, which is opposite you. All philosophical questions, all questions of worship, all questions concerning certain orders-the final word remains with him. He heads the so-called Mukti mandap. Parikrama in Puri (20.02.2008) Darshan, Disc 98, l. 8 (in Russian)

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