Tag: Durga Puja

Jagannath Puri is a land of fairs and festivals. Throughout the year tourists could enjoy their visit to Puri and enjoy a number of festivals that enhance the spirits of the city on regular intervals.

Puri brings a host of colorful fairs and festivals every season and ‘Durga Puja’ is one of the most important festivals apart from Jagannath RathYatra. In Puri the festival of ‘Durga Puja’ is also known as ‘GosaniYatra’. Every year several clay idols of MahisamardiniDurga are worshipped during this festival.

Gosani Yatra

The GosaniYatra of Puri has its origin in the folk culture. This fact is evident from the local folk names, they bear such as Kakudikhai, Janhikhai, Barabati, Janhimundia, SunyaGosani, Hadabai, Gelabai, Belabai etc. During GosaniYatra, different types of other clay figures like ravana lifting kailash mountain, demons, nagas, wooden toys etc. are also worshipped. Like Gosanis, gigantic images of Naga are also made and worshipped during the festival. These large male images symbolise heroism and valour. The Naga images represent the Akhada culture of Puri.

At Puri the faces of the Gosani figures are depicted in such a manner which gives an impression that Devi is closely watching Mahisasura and engaged in fierce fighting. Here in this case both Mahisasura and Devi look at each other with great concentration. Another feature of the Gosani images of Puri is that, here the demon in most of the cases is depicted in theriomorphic form i.e., the head is of the buffalo and the body is of a human being.

The decoration of these figures is also interesting like the images which are also indigenous in nature and arranged with sola (thromocol) and jari (polythin) work. The crown, ornaments, attributes and the halo are made of sola and jari which double the beauty of these images.

On the following day of Dusshera the Goshanis from all the sahis (streets) come together in procession in front of Jagannath Temple to pay tribute to Lord Jagannath. This is known as ‘BhasaniYatra’. Huge crowd from puri and nearby villages gather in front of Jagannath temple to celebrate BhasanaiYatra. In late night, the idols are taken for visarjana in the nearby rivers and sea.

Know more about colorful traditions of Puri with us. Stay at Hotel Holiday Resort and experience the Puri at its best.

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Vimala Temple Puri

Puri holds a prominent place as a Hindu Pilgrimage site. With Lord Jagannath residing here, Puri attracts a lot of ardent devotees from all over the world to seek the blessings of Lord Jagannath. However, Puri is not just one among the Char Dhams, but it is also regarded as an abode of Hindu Goddess Vimala, and therefore is highly regarded as Shakti Pitha.

Who is Goddess Vimala?

Goddess Vimala is regarded as tantric consort of Lord Jagannath and is therefore believed to be another form of Goddess Laxmi. It is believed that she guards the temple complex and devotees should pay visit to Goddess Vimala before seeking blessings of Lord Jagannath.

The importance of Goddess Vimala becomes instantly visible by the tradition of temple, which is based on an age-old legend- Food offered to Jagannath does not get sanctified as Mahaprasad until it is also offered to Vimala.

The Shrine

The temple of Goddess Vimala is located in the south-west corner of the inner enclosure of the Jagannath temple complex and on the western corner of the tower of Jagannath, next to the sacred pond Rohini kunda. Facing towards east, the temple is constructed of sandstone and laterite in typical Deua style of architecture.

Significance as Shakti Pitha

The Vimala Temple is considered to be one of  the most Shakti Pithas. The Shakti Pithas are the most sacred temples dedicated to Hindu Goddesses, and are ainly identified with Goddess Durga and Goddess Parvati.

A Wikipedia article dedicated to Goddess Vimala states that

“In Goddess-oriented worship, Vimala (Bimala) is regarded as the presiding goddess of the Purushottama (Puri) Shakti Pitha. Jagannath, a form of the god Vishnu/Krishna (Krishna is generally regarded as an avatar of Vishnu), is worshipped as the Pitha’s Bhairava. This is a departure from the usual tradition of Bhairava as a form of Shiva. So, in this temple complex, Vishnu–one of the Hindu trinity – is equated with Shiva, another of the trinity; this is interpreted to convey the oneness of God. In this regard, Vimala – generally associated with Shiva’s consort – is also considered as Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu. Conversely, Tantrics consider Jagannath as Shiva-Bhairava, rather than a form of Vishnu.”

Vimala Temple

The shrine may not be a palatial one, but certainly holds a crucial significance and is revered by Goddess-oriented Shakta and Tantric worshippers.

Festivals

Durga Puja and Vijayadashami are the two main festivals celebrated to revere Goddess Vimala

History of The Temple Complex

The present structure is believed to date back to 9th century, with the central icon dating back to 6th Century CE. Based on the architecture of the temple it seems to build under Eastern Ganga Dynasty. However, there are indications that a shrine would have been situated before the present structure, which somehow got destroyed and it’s the renovated version of the shrine. At some places, like the sculptures, especially the parshvadevatas (attendant deities), as well as the background slab of the central icon, reflect the Somavashi style and may be part of the original temple, on whose ruins the new temple was constructed.

The temple was renovated around 2005 and is maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India, Bhubaneswar Circle.

Those were the key features and interesting facts of Vimala Temple, situated in Jagannath Temple. Make sure to seek Goddess’s blessings while in holy town of Puri and stay tuned with Hotel Holiday Resort for more such updates of abode of Lord Jagannath.

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