Jagannath Rathayatra ( The Puri Temple Complex ) Part - 3 - Blog - ISKCON Desire Tree

The temple records reveal that the major temple complex calledSri-mandir was built in the 12th century by King Chodaganga Deva(Anangabhima Deva) and it houses as many as 4000 - 5000 priests andcovers an area of approximately one acre bounded by stone walls with agate on each of the four sides. The 25ft high outer wall (655ft x 640ft)is called Meghanada and the inner wall 420ft x 315ft is calledKurma-prachir. The gopura of the main shrine is said to be 215ft talland houses the six foot tall Deities of the three divine siblings on afive foot high holy dais. The small surrounding shrines are said to belater additions of the 16th century and they house around 100 demigods.

The Jagannath Puri temple is a combination of the Dravidian and Nagaraarchitecture. The architectural excellence of the temple is evident fromthe carvings and construction details. In the stone borders and doorframes can be seen the beautifully sculptured 24 forms of Lord Vishnu.The main temple consists of four distinct buildings: (1) Bhoga-mandapa:an 18m x 17m hall for the food offerings to Lord Jagannatha and consistsof beautiful sculptures and paintings of Krsna-lila. (2) Nata Mandapa:is a spacious music and dance hall (21m x 20m). (3) Jagamohana(Mukhashala): This is the visitor’s hall to see the Deities of LordJagannatha, Balarama and Subhadra. Three Garuda-sthambhas are locatedhere from where Lord Gauranga took the daily darshan of VajrendranandanaJagannatha Deva. (4) Vimana: (Bada-deula or Garbha-grha): This is theinner sanctum, the main altar (ratna-simhasanam) for the Deities ofJagannatha, Baladeva, Subhadra, Sudarshana, Lakshmi, Sarasvati andNila-madhava.

Daily artis are held six times a day from 4 AM to 9 PM in the maintemple. Devotees throng up in large numbers to worship the deities andthey ecstatically dance, sing in groups, and chant Lord’s holy names.Several cooks work in the large kitchens and prepare 56 varieties ofdelicious food offerings (chappanna-bhoga) for Lord Jagannath and theremnants of the prasadam are served to the tens of thousands of devoteesvisiting the temple every day. The food offerings include 9 ricepreparations, 14 subjis and curries, 9 milk preparations, 11 sweets, and13 cakes, pancakes and patties. The delicious variety of foods offereddaily to Jagannatha include plain rice, ghee rice, ghee sweet rice, drysweet rice, yogurt rice, plain kitri, sweet kitri, ginger rice, andlemon rice. The timing of the six bhoga offerings to Jagannath every dayare (1) Gopala-vallabha-bhoga at 8.00 AM, (2) Sakala-bhoga at 10.00 AM,(3) Bhoga-mandapa-bhoga at 11.00 AM, (4) Madhyahna-bhoga at 12.30 PM,Sayana-bhoga at 7.00 PM, and Bada-srngara-bhoga at 11.15 PM. TheGopala-vallabha-bhoga is the morning breakfast offering consisting ofmilk sweets, fruit, butter, yogurt, coconut, malai, etc. TheSakala-bhoga (Raja-bhoga) contains various preparations of black gramlike bada kanti, sana kanti, enduri, mathapuli, hamsakeli, kakatua,jhili, kitri, etc. The Bhoga-mandapa-bhoga is prepared in largequantities for mass distribution as prasadam. The Madhyahna-bhogaconsists of rice, dal, subjis, etc. The chefs still work under thetraditional oil lamps and they can prepare food for ten thousanddevotees at an instance. There are nine kitchens and each is around 2500square feet in area. It is said that 752 stoves (chulas) fuelled bywood are used in the kitchen. The kitchenware mainly includes thetraditional clay pots of various sizes and shapes. One thousand welltrained cooks work daily, although the kitchen can accommodate four tofive times the number.

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