Emar Matha or Embar Mutt was a
matha located in the south-eastern (agneya kona) corner of
Jagannath Temple, Puri outside the main Prakara near Kalikadevi Sahi.
It used to be one of the biggest and oldest mutts in Puri, demolished in 2019 by the Odisha government for beautification purposes and facilitating pilgrims circulation. The monastery had great impacts on the history of the city and overall the region, notably through its large and generous social activities during the
Orissa famine of 1866.
Biswanath Das (1911-1995) was one of the key figure associated with the Mutt and served the Mutt during Ramanuja II. A statesman and intellectual, he was an avid reader and had excellent command of Sanskrit, Odia, Sanskrit and Bengali and is known to have read more than 1000 books that once were in the Mutt’s Raghunandan library, the oldest library of Puri before it was demolished for beautification project around the temple. People far from the Odisha state would visit him for consultation on legal matters. During his time with Mutt as an advisor which he served for more than 60 years, three Mahants were made in those six decades. He used to reside in Daitapara Sahi, Puri.
History
Ramanujacharya while coming to
Puri
Puri, also known as Jagannath Puri, () is a coastal city and a Nagar Palika, 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 ca ...
established this Mutt. It is said that Govindacharya (Govinda acharya) was the first pontif of this matha. Govindacharyas other name was Embar,by the name Embar the mutts name was emar mutt .Govindacharya was a cousin brother of Srimad Ramanuja, and he saved Ramanuja from Yadavaprakasha's conspiracy. The matha houses images of
Krishna and
Radha along with
Rama
Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda' ...
parivaar.
Archaeology
The doorjambs of Emar mutt are noteworthy to see. It has all features of
Kalingan architecture. The mutt was renovated during
Maratha
The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...
ruling on
Odisha
Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...
. The followers of this mutt belong to
Thengalai sect of
Srivaishnava sampradaya.
Approximately 18 tonnes of ancient silver treasure has been recovered from the mutt.
[http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4972982 18 tonnes of treasure recovered]
See also
*
Ramanuja
*
Ranganatha
*
Melkote
References
reports on Emar mathatreasure in Emar matha
{{Hindu Temples in Puri
Mathas in Puri