Row over Puri Heritage Corridor Project in Odisha
Recently a PIL has been filed in the court against the ‘Puri Heritage Corridor’ project. According to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the Odisha state government is building the ‘Puri Heritage Corridor’ without proper license in the ‘protected and controlled areas of monuments’.
Due to which concerns are being expressed over the structural security of ‘Jagannath Temple of Puri’.
The Puri Heritage Corridor Project:
From the year 2016, the objective of this project is to convert the religious city ‘Puri’ into an International Heritage Site. It also includes redevelopment of ‘Puri Lake’, and restoration plan of ‘Musa River’.
Jagannath Temple, Puri
- This temple is located in the coastal city of ‘Puri’ in Odisha.
- According to historians, this temple was built in the 12th century by King Ananthavarman Chodaganga Dev of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty.
- It is dedicated to ‘Jagannath’, a form of Lord Krishna and is an important temple of Vaishnava sect.
- Jagannath Puri Temple is also called ‘Yamanika Tirtha’, where according to Hindu beliefs, the power of ‘Yama’, the god of death in ‘Puri’, ends because of the presence of Lord Jagannath.
- This temple is also known as “White Temple” and “White Pagoda”, and is a part of ‘Char Dham Tirtha’ (Badrinath, Dwarka, Puri, Rameshwaram).
- Jagannath Puri Temple is famous for its annual Rath Yatra or ‘Rath Utsav’. In this Rath Yatra, the 3 main deities are made to travel on chariots built in the shape of a huge and elaborately decorated temple, and pulled by the devotees.
Source – The Hindu
