 Puri being a coastal district of Orissa , is famous for its Historic antiquities ,Religious sanctuaries , Architectural Grandeur , Sea-scape beauty,moderate climate.It holds a wealth of attraction for the visitors. It boasts of a continuous history from the 3rd Century B.C. to the present day and its unique monuments like those of Lord Jagannath at Puri , the Sun God at Konark are the famous in the world.
It has the Chilika lake , one of the largest brackish water lakes in India, that holds a picturesque Sea-Scape beauty. It offers an ideal resort for birds who migrate from different parts of the continent . By virtue of Geographical location , the climate of Puri is equable through out the year.
Puri the abode of Vishnu as Jagannath which contributed the word " Juggernaut" to the English language, represents its integrated individuality as its cultural heritage , a unique blend of claims of time and eternity with a power answerable only to wisdom . Puri's compendious heritage has been representing that spark of immortality that the Oriyas and the Indians have own against the powers of negation , through a spirit of university , adaptability , and an astute mixture of the present which no other culture can aspire to explain as its self justification.
The name of the Lord as Purusottama (perfection personified) or as Jagannath (Lord of Universe) represents a universality in true with the familiar faternity of mankind (Vasudheiva Kutumbakam). Adi Shankaracharya visited Puri , set up the Gobardhan matha (monastery) as the exception from his other three mathas as a vaishnavite, defined Jagannath as the Supreme one. It is thus not only one of the four Dhams (Holy Places) for Hindus but the most pious and sacred place.
Various sectarian head visited Puri on piligrimage , setup his own monastery for continued serve to Lord Jagannath and returned .
Spiritually mollified - The list includes Kabir and the "Torani' of Kabirchaura nayak the founder of Shikhism , visited Puri and gained entrance into the temple by performing a miraculous feat of showing the trinity reflected on his palms . He setup the bauli and Mangi mathas which still attract the Shikhs from the worldover . Sankar Deva of Assam had followed the same path .
Other religious heads and dignifiers like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Rai Ramananda , Jayadeva, Gorakhanath, the father of Nath, cult of religious icoloclasm supposed by visited Puri. Saint Totapuri a vedant teacher of Ramakrishna has also visited puri.
Bhakti Krishnatirtha and Muquaddam Jahanies visited Puri . The latters synthesized "Pir" concept at konark bears testimony . Sridhar Swami , SadhuSundar Das and the devote ma visited Puri for fulfilment of their spiritual Craze.
 The Quintessential characteristic of its culture and philosophy has made it from Pan-Indian to Pan-Continental. The Car-Festicval of Shri Lord Jagannath now not limited to Puri or Orissa rather it is celebrated in global scale , the reverberation echos of which are heard from Los Angeles to Piccadily from Heidelberg to Tokyo.
The Jagannath culture is not only pre-dominated in Puri but it is global. Its Universal affirmation is secular defusion of such an attitude is futuristic. It calls for unity in diversity is an age of diverse perversity.
The consecration of all the empire by Gajapati of Puri .Kapilendra Deva to Lord Jagannath , the lord emerging as "istadeva " and "Rastradevata" and rolled down the centuries as the crest of nationalism which found Madhusudan Das (the eminent barister of British era )in 1928 to cryout 'serve us, Lord Jagannath'. The dazzle of Kohi-noor, originally gifted to Lord Jagannath , the Hum of devotional "Janana"(non-bhajan), the cries of Chandan Hajuri (the chief warier of Maharani Laxmibai) and 'the Mahaprasad brotherhood' have been unifying forces and symbols of national unity .
The evolution of Odissi Dance and music out of the Devadasi-institution still enchants all with its mystic rhythm. The Orissan school of architecture emerging from here is a poetry frozen in stone.
The Patta-paintings and applique work are a craze in the west ,particularly in U.S.A. of today . The Shell-craft of Puri have a major appeal.
It is thus here at puri that the pattern of a Pan-Indian ,(nay, global) culture of tomorrow is on the anvil . People are individual atoms ever contributing their properties to the "matter" of Jagannath Dharma without conciousness of mutual distinctions . Puri belongs to humanity , the seat of an eternal education , the bridge that gulfs the past and the future and the blending of diverse impulses for a single embodiment in the march of all fulfilling time . |