Puri

Puri, also known as Jagannath Puri, is a coastal city and a Municipal Corporation in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state capital of Bhubaneswar. It is home to the 12th-century Jagannath Temple and is one of the original Char Dham pilgrimage sites for Hindus. Puri has been known by several names since ancient times and was locally known as "Sri Kshetra" and the Jagannath temple is known as "Badadeula". Puri and the Jagannath Temple were invaded 18 times by Muslim rulers, from the 7th century AD until the early 19th century with the objective of looting the treasures of the temple. Odisha, including Puri and its temple, were part of British India from 1803 until India attained independence in August 1947. Even though princely states do not exist in India today, the heirs of the House of Gajapati still perform the ritual duties of the temple. The temple town has many Hindu religious mathas or monasteries.
The economy of Puri is dependent on the religious importance of the Jagannath Temple to the extent of nearly 80 per cent. The 24 festivals, including 13 major ones, held every year in the temple complex contribute to the economy; Ratha Yatra and its related festivals are the most important which are attended by millions of people every year. Sand art and applique art are some of the important crafts of the city.
Puri has been chosen as one of the heritage cities for Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana scheme of Government of India.
Puri is a significant part of the "Krishna pilgrimage circuit" which also includes Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana, Gokul, Govardhan, Kurukshetra and Dwarka.

History

Names in history

Puri, the holy land of Jagannatha, also known by the popular vernacular name Srikshetram, has many ancient names in the Hindu scriptures such as the Rigveda, Matsya purana, Brahma Purana, Narada Purana, Padma Purana, Skanda Purana, Kapila Purana and Niladrimahodaya. In the Rigveda, in particular, it is mentioned as a place called Purushamandama-grama meaning the place where the Creator deity of the world – Supreme Divinity deified on an altar or mandapa was venerated near the coast and prayers offered with Vedic hymns. Over time the name got changed to Purushottama Puri and further shortened to Puri, and the Purusha came to be known as Jagannatha. Sages like Bhrigu, Atri and Markandeya had their hermitage close to this place. Its name is mentioned, conforming to the deity worshipped, as Srikshetra, Purusottama Dhāma, Purusottama Kshetra, Purusottama Puri and Jagannath Puri. Puri, however, is the popular usage. It is also known by the geographical features of its location as Shankhakshetra, Neelāchala, Neelāchalakshetra, Neelādri. In Sanskrit, the word "Puri" means town or city, and is cognate with polis in Greek.
Another ancient name is Charita as identified by General Alexander Cunningham of the Archaeological Survey of India, which was later spelled as Che-li-ta-lo by Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang. When the present temple was built by the Eastern Ganga king Anantavarman Chodaganga in the 11th and 12th centuries AD, it was called Purushottamkshetra. However, the Moghuls, the Marathas and early British rulers called it Purushottama-chhatar or just Chhatar. In Moghul ruler Akbar's Ain-i-Akbari and subsequent Muslim historical records it was known as Purushottama. In the Sanskrit drama Anargha Raghava Nataka as well, authored by Murari Mishra, a playwright, in the 8th century AD, it is referred to as Purushottama. It was only after the 12th century AD that Puri came to be known by the shortened form of Jagannatha Puri, named after the deity or in a short form as Puri. It is the only shrine in India, where Radha, along with Lakshmi, Saraswati, Durga, Bhudevi, Sati, Parvati, and Shakti, abodes with Krishna, who is also known by the name Jagannatha.

Ancient period

According to the chronicle Madala Panji, in 318 AD, the priests and servitors of the temple spirited away the idols to escape the wrath of the Rashtrakuta king Rakatavahu. In the temple's historical records it finds mention in the Brahma Purana and Skanda Purana stating that the temple was built by the king Indradyumna, Ujjayani.
S. N. Sadasivan, a historian, in his book A Social History of India quotes William Joseph Wilkins, author of the book Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Purānic as stating that in Puri, Buddhism was once a well established practice but later Buddhism faded and Brahmanism became the order of the religious practice in the town; the Buddha deity is now worshipped by the Hindus as Jagannatha. It is also said by Wilkinson that some relics of Buddha were placed inside the idol of Jagannatha which the Brahmins claimed were the bones of Krishna. Even during Maurya king Ashoka's reign in 240 BC, Kalinga was a Buddhist center and that a tribe known as Lohabahu converted to Buddhism and built a temple with a statue of Buddha which is now worshipped as Jagannatha. Wilkinson also says that the Lohabahu deposited some Buddha relics in the precincts of the temple.
Construction of the present Jagannath Temple started in 1136 AD and completed towards the latter part of the 12th century. The Eastern Ganga king Anangabhima III dedicated his kingdom to Jagannatha, then known as the Purushottama-Jagannatha, and resolved that from then on he and his descendants would rule under "divine order as Jagannatha's sons and vassals". Even though princely states do not exist in India today, the heirs of the Puri Estate still perform the ritual duties of the temple; the king formally sweeps the road in front of the chariots before the start of the Ratha Yatra. This ritual is called Cherra Pahanra.

Medieval and early modern periods

The history of Puri is on the same lines as that of the Jagannath Temple, which was invaded 18 times during its history to plunder the treasures of the temple, rather than for religious reasons. The first invasion occurred in the 8th century AD by Rastrakuta king Govinda III, and the last took place in 1881 AD by the monotheistic followers of Alekh who did not recognise the worship of Jagannatha. From 1205 AD onward there were many invasions of the city and its temple by Muslims of Afghan and Moghul descent, known as Yavanas or foreigners. In most of these invasions the idols were taken to safe places by the priests and the servitors of the temple. Destruction of the temple was prevented by timely resistance or surrender by the kings of the region. However, the treasures of the temple were repeatedly looted. The table lists all the 18 invasions along with the status of the three images of the temple, the triad of Jagannatha, Balabhadra and Subhadra following each invasion.

Invasion number	Invader, year AD	Local rulers	Status of the three images of the Jagannath temple
1	Raktabahu or Govinda III of the Rashtrakuta Empire	King Subhanadeva of Bhaumakara dynasty	Idols shifted to Gopali near Sonepur. Were brought back to Puri by Yayati I after 146 years and re-consecrated after performing Nabakalebara.
2	Illias Shah, Sultan of Bengal, 1340	Narasinghadeva III	Images shifted to a secret location.
3	Feroz Shah Tughlaq, 1360	Ganga King Bhanudeva III	Images not found, though rumoured that they were thrown into the Bay of Bengal.
4	Ismail Ghazi commander of Alauddin Hussain Shah of Bengal, 1509	King Prataprudradeva	Images shifted to Chandhei Guha Pahada near Chilika Lake.
5	Kalapahara, army assistant general of Sulaiman Karrani of the Afghan Sultan of Bengal, 1568	Mukundadeva Harichandan	Images initially hidden in an island in Chilika Lake. However, the invader took the idols from here to the banks of the Ganges River and burnt them. Bisher Mohanty, a Vaishnavite saint, who had followed the invading army, retrieved the Brahmas and hid it in a drum at Khurdagada in 1575 AD and finally re-installed it in the deities. Deities were brought back to Puri and consecrated in the Jagannath Temple.
6	Suleman, the son of Kuthu Khan and Osman, the son of Isha and then at 'Dadhibaman Temple'.
12	Mukarram Khan, 1617	Purushottama Deva, the King of Khurda	Images moved to the Bankanidhi temple, Gobapadar and brought back to Puri in 1620.
13	Mirza Ahmad Beg, 1621	Narasingha Deva	Images shifted to 'Andharigada' in the mouth of the river Shalia across the Chilika Lake. Moved back to Puri in 1624.
14	Amir Mutaquad Khan alias Mirza Makki, 1645	Narasingha Deva and Gangadhar	Not known.
15	Amir Fateh Khan, 1647	Not known	Not known
16	Ekram Khan and Mastram Khan on behalf of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, 1692	Divyasingha Deva, the king of Khurda	Images moved to 'Maa Bhagabati Temple' and then to Bada Hantuada in Banpur across the Chilika Lake, and finally brought back to Puri in 1699.
17	Muhammad Taqi Khan, 1731 and 1733	Birakishore Deva and Birakishore Deva of Athagada	Images moved to Hariswar in Banpur, Chikili in Khalikote, Rumagarh in Kodala, Athagada in Ganjam and lastly to Marda in Kodala. Shifted back to Puri after 2.5 years.
18	Followers of Mahima Dharma, 1881	Birakishore Deva and Birakishore Deva of Athagada	Images burnt in the streets.

Puri is the site of the Govardhana Matha, one of the four cardinal institutions established by Adi Shankaracharya, when he visited Puri in 810 AD, and since then it has become an important dham for the Hindus; the others being those at Sringeri, Dwarka and Jyotirmath. The Matha is headed by Jagatguru Shankarachrya. It is a local belief about these dhams that Vishnu takes his dinner at Puri, has his bath at Rameshwaram, spends the night at Dwarka and does penance at Badrinath.
In the 16th century, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of Bengal established the Bhakti movements of India, now known by the name the Hare Krishna movement. He spent many years as a devotee of Jagannatha at Puri; he is said to have merged with the deity. There is also a matha of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu here known as Radhakanta Math.
In the 17th century, for the sailors sailing on the east coast of India, the temple served as a landmark, being located in a plaza in the centre of the city, which they called the "White Pagoda" while the Konark Sun Temple, away to the east of Puri, was known as the "Black Pagoda".
The iconic representation of the images in the Jagannath temple is believed to be the forms derived from the worship made by the tribal groups of Sabaras belonging to northern Odisha. These images are replaced at regular intervals as the wood deteriorates. This replacement is a special event carried out ritualistically by special group of carpenters.
The city has many other Mathas as well. The Emar Matha was founded by the Tamil Vaishnava saint Ramanujacharya in the 12th century AD. This Matha, now destroyed, was located in front of Simhadvara across the eastern corner of the Jagannath Temple, and reported to have been built in the 16th century during the reign of kings of Suryavamsi Gajapatis. The Matha was in the news on 25 February 2011 for the large cache of 522 silver slabs unearthed from a closed chamber.
The British conquered Orissa in 1803, and, recognising the importance of the Jagannath Temple in the life of the people of the state, they initially appointed an official to look after the temple's affairs and later declared the temple as part of a district.