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Architectural Features of the Jagannath Temple  

          
             The sacred city of Puri, in the Indian Province of Orissa, is best known throughout the world for its great temple of Lord Jagannath. The extraordinary sanctity of the Ksetra is reflected in the Puranas and other religious texts of India. The Vishnu Purana mentions Purusottama as the abode of Vishnu, while the Vamana Purana refers to the supreme Purusottama in connection with the tirtha yatra of Prahlada. Even today, Puri the seat of Vishnu as Jagannath (Lord of the universe), is an important centre of Hindu pilgrimage in India and for millions of people. Orissa is the Lord of Jagannath. The celebrated temple of Jagannatha occupies a pivotal position in the religious history of Orissa. On the basis of the traditions recorded in the Madala Panji, the palm-leaf chronical of Jagannath temple, the construction of the temple is attributed to Anangabhimadeva of the Ganga dynasty. A floating verse of uncertain origin, recorded in the Kataka Rajavamsavali asserts that the temple was erected by

           The inscriptions of Ganga rulers, however, attribute the construction of the temple to Anantavarman Chodagangadeva (A.D. 1078-1147) though in his own inscription discovered so far, there is no reference to this. The copper plate charters of his successors, beginning from Raja raja III credit Chodagangadeva for this achievement. The English translation of the earliest reference of the construction, found in the Dasagoba charter dated A.D. 1198, is given below:

“What King is competent enough to construct a temple for Purusottama, whose feet represents the earth; the navel, the aerial region; the ears, all the directions; the two eyes, the sun and the moon; and the skull, the sky ? This (temple), neglected by the previous Kings, was built by Gangesvara”. Thus from the dynastic records it is evident that the temple of Purusottama (Prasadam Purusottamasay), which is no doubt, the present temple of Jagannath was built by Gangesvara or Anantavarman Chodaganga. The exact date of construction is; however, not known. Chodaganga conquered Orissa around 1108 and he is known  to have ruled up to A.D. 1147. The earliest inscription of Chodagangadeva (1035 Saka i.e., A.D. 1113) on the Narasimha temple, in the premises of Jagannath temple would make us believe that by this time the construction of the Jagannath temple must have been in progress. Being situated quite close to the Jagannath temple, the Narasimha temple could not have existed at the time of the excavations of the foundations of the massive temple of Jagannatha. It is possible that the building of the temple started in the Somvamsi period itself when the foundations were laid but the temple proper was not erected. The building activities were neglected by earlier kings until the victorious king Chodaganga again started building this temple. One inscription dated in Saka 1035 (A.D. 1113) refers to Chodaganga as Prabhorbhritaya who dedicated his wealth to Sri Purusottama.

There are several inscriptions of Chodagangadeva on the Narasimha temple, ranging in date from A.D. 1113 to A.D. 1136, which refers to gifts of perpetual lamps to God Purusottama. Even one inscription records the gift of some nishkas by a florist (malakara) named Jayaraja to Purusotama, Balabhadra and Subhadra, thereby attesting the worship of the Trinity during the time of Chodagangadeva. It is also significant that on this temple we find inscriptions belonging to the time of Kamarnava and Raja raja. This would suggest that during the construction of the new temple Purusottama, Jagannath was worshipped in the Narasimha temple.

The earliest reference to the Temple of Purusottama in the Dassgoba Charter would make us believe that, in any case the date of temple cannot be later than A.D. 1198. One must, however, admit that God Purusottama was worshipped in the Narasimha temple.The earliest reference to the temple of Purusottama in the Dasagoba charter would make us believe that in any case, the date of the temple cannot be later than A.D. 1198. One must however, admit that God Purusottama was worshipped in the Odradesa long before Chodaganga conquered it and constructed a grand temple in his honour. The reference to the abode of God Purusottama is found in the Anargharaghava of Murari (C.A.D. 900), Prabodha Candrodaya of Krishna misra (11^th Century) and in the Saradadevi temple inscription (middle of 10^th century A.D.) in Maihar, Madhya Pradesh. The Jagannath temple as it stands today with two lines of enclosures consists of deula, jagamohana, natamandaira and bhogamandapa. Of these the last two structures appear to have been subsequent additions. According to the tradition of the Madala Panji, the outer prakara was built by Kapilendradeva (A.D. 1435-1469). The inners prakara, called Kurma bedha was built by  Purusottamadeva A.D. 1467-1497), who also constructed the bhogamandapa of the temple. Over the centuries, subsidiary sanctuaries were  built, the existing ones were repaired and renovated. The pidha temple over the western entrance was repaired with the donations of Stambha, now in front of the eastern Simhadvara was brought from Konark in the later half of the 18th century.