Jagannath Puri Temple Chennai is a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

temple dedicated to the divine trinity

Jagannath Jagannath ( or, ଜଗନ୍ନାଥ, lit=Lord of the Universe, Jagannātha; formerly en, Juggernaut) is a deity worshipped in regional Hindu traditions in India and Bangladesh as part of a triad along with his brother Balabhadra, and sister ...

, Baladeva and Subhadra in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The temple located in Kannathur off the

East Coast Road East Coast Road (ECR), combination of SH-49, NH-332A, NH-32, officially known as Mutthamizh Arignar Kalaignar Road, is a two-lane highway (now being partially upgraded to four-lane way from Chennai to Mamallapuram) in Tamil Nadu, India, built ...

by the seaside is built in

Kalinga architecture The Kaḷinga architectural style is a style of Hindu architecture which flourished in the ancient Kalinga previously known as Utkal and in present eastern Indian state of Odisha. The style consists of three distinct types of temples: Rekha D ...

reminiscent of the

Jagannath Temple, Puri The Jagannath Temple is an important Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath, a form of Vishnu - one of the trinity of supreme divinity in Hinduism. Puri is in the state of Odisha, on the eastern coast of India. The present temple was rebuilt f ...

. The temple has shrines dedicated to

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

Ganesh Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu ...

, and Bimala. The annual Rathyatra is the main festival celebrated.

Location

The shrine is located at Reddy Kuppam Road, Kannathur, off New Mahabalipuram Road (East Coast Road).

The shrine

The temple was consecrated on 26 January 2001. The shrine is a replica of the

Jagannath temple The Jagannath Temple is an important Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath, a form of Vishnu - one of the trinity of supreme divinity in Hinduism. Puri is in the state of Odisha, on the eastern coast of India. The present temple was rebuilt f ...

Puri Puri () is a coastal city and a municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state capital of Bhubaneswar. It is also known as '' ...

and is built in Oriya style. The temple is built with 22 marble steps leading up to the shrine. The idols of deities at the shrine are made of

neem ''Azadirachta indica'', commonly known as neem, nimtree or Indian lilac, is a tree in the mahogany family Meliaceae. It is one of two species in the genus '' Azadirachta'', and is native to the Indian subcontinent and most of the countries in Afr ...

wood, similar to those at the Puri shrine. The shrine is built of black

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

originating from

Kancheepuram Kanchipuram ('; ) also known as ''Conjeevaram,'' is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu in the Tondaimandalam region, from Chennaithe capital of Tamil Nadu. Known as the ''City of Thousand Temples'', Kanchipuram is known for its temple ...

and white

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

from

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

. The landscaping around the temple complex covers an area of one acre. The flowers grown in the garden alone are used for the pooja, which is conducted in Oriya style. The priests at the shrine too are from

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of S ...

. Other ''sannidhis'' (sanctum) at the shrine include those of Yoganarasimha, Shiva, Ganesha, Devi Gajalakshmi, and Devi Vimala, in addition to a Navagraha sannidhi (sanctum meant for the nine planets). The entrance to the main shrine has a huge ''dhwaja sthambha''. The most important festival at the shrine is the rath yatra, which is celebrated on the same day as in Puri. The primary deities of the shrine, namely, Lord Jagannath, Devi Subadra and Lord Balabadra, are taken around the Kannathur village during the occasion. Unlike Puri, the rath is a single one made of stainless steel and decorated with wood and cloth. It is claimed that the shrine is the only temple in the world to have a stainless steel rath for Lord Jagannath. The temple also has Pata Chitra paintings on the walls and ceilings, similar to Oriya temples, including the depictions of the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu.

References

External links

Official homepage of Lord Jagannath Puri Temple, Chennai
{{Places of worship in Chennai Jagannath temples Hindu temples in Chennai

Location

The shrine

See also

References

External links