Heritage Corridor: Rejuvenating the Abode of Lord Jagannath Where Divinity Meets Religious Grandeur and Development

Puri: The identity of Odisha and its people is firmly associated with Jagannath Culture. Without Jagannath and its divine culture, the world would not have been the same. We owe our existence to Lord Jagannath and our wellbeing, progress and prosperity is only possible when we bow ourselves to the Lord. Spreading Jagannath Consciousness and bringing in a divine atmosphere in the world is the responsibility of all. Today, as we see the rejuvenation of the abode of Lord Jagannath, we see a new dawn of spiritual reinvention. Odisha today is going through a phase of cultural transformation that was never seen before. At the core of this transformation is the Srimandir Heritage Corridor Project also known as the Parikrama Prakalpa.

With the inauguration of the Parikrama Prakalpa, a spiritual environment has descended all over the state. The Srikshetra has been decked up for this historic event and people from across the state and outside have become the part of this history. The entire state is in a mood of festivity to celebrate the resurrection of Jagannath cult.

Odisha under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and personal supervision of 5T Chairman Kartik Pandian has taken unto itself to record this holy event in the history books. From villages to cities, people across all the state are celebrating and taking part in the event.

The Jagannath Ratha traveled across the state spreading the essence of Jagannath culture. This was the most important event associated with the inauguration of the Heritage Corridor Project in Puri. People across the state took part in this ten-day event to make themselves associated with the divine activity. The Sri Jagannath Parikrama Ratha accompanied Sankiratan Mandalis singing the glory of the Lord Jagannath. Along with this, cultural and religious programs associated with Sri Jagannath culture have been organized at the Panchayat and Block levels ahead of the opening of the Parikrama project to promote, preserve and protect Jagannath culture and to make the future generations aware about these. Thirteen teams visited the holi places of Odisha handed over the invitations to temples such as the Lingaraj Temple, Maa Samaleswari temple, Maa Biraja shrine, Taratarini Temple etc. Another 17 teams visited various cities of the country and invited the teple authorities to witness the most important inauguration of the Jagannath Temple Parikrama Project. Nepal’s Pasupatinath Temple, Madurai Minakhshi Temple, Tirupati Balaji Temple, Badrinath Dham, Kedarnath Temple, Vaishno Devi Temple, Mallikarjuna Temple, Somnath Temple in Gujarat, etc., have also been invited to the Inauguration program. From east to west and from North to South, the whole country today witnessed the spiritual event where divinity meets development.

Puri is on the cusp of becoming the heritage capital of the country. The transformation works being undertaken in Puri will make it the hub of pilgrimage. We are seeing one of the most important development works undertaken in Puri in the last few centuries. The much needed development will help devotees and pilgrims to have hassle free darshan of Lord Jagannath and have divine experience at the most revered holy place of the country.

The Srimandir Parikrama Project entails the development of the 75 meters corridor around the Jagannath Temple with amenities and infrastructure. The various components of the project include a modern Shree Jagannath Temple Administration building redevelopment, a 600-capacity Srimandir reception centre, Shree Jagannath cultural centre that would include the Raghunandan library, integrated command, and control centre, Badadanda heritage landscape, Srimandir amenities improvement, Sri Danda, AC Tunnel for devotees and many more.

The Heritage Corridor Project has further enhanced the glory of the pilgrim city. The holy city today sees a lot of changes in terms of infrastructure and facilities.

Improving the amenities at the temple has been necessitated by a manifold increase in the number of people in the last few decades. From the security point of view also there was a necessity to create an open space around the important temple. The efforts of the state government to transform the Sri Jagannath Temple are in the right direction and surely lead to make Puri one of the best heritage cities of the world.

Today, the temple, with its glorious past and present significance needed a transformation. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s dream to transform the temple into a world heritage site has a valid reason and the efforts being undertaken are in the right direction.