Visually arresting enough to merit nothing short of one’s most rapt attention, Puri is one of the four dhams, the holiest places on earth according to Hindus. Unsurprisingly, Hindus are always the first to own a map of Puri or two.
Hallowed as this locale is, pilgrims come here by the untold multitudes. Not a few pundits say that one can attain moksha, the liberation from endless cycle of birth and rebirth, here just by staying three days and nights.
Jagannath, the all-omnipotent Lord of the Universe, has his earthly bastion here, in the form of the massive Jagannath Temple. Pilgrims from far and wide come to this blessed abode, built in the twelfth century by a Ganga king.
Even prior to entering Puri, one already gets to see the sheer enormity of this temple, towering over every other at 214 feet. Each side of this cavernous entity measures 650 feet. |
