The Union Ministry of Culture has withdrawn the draft heritage bylaws for Shree Jagannath Temple at Puri in Odisha. The Odisha Government is demanding withdrawal of the bylaws for temples in Ekamra Kshetra area of Bhubaneswar as well.
The National Monuments Authority was set up under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2010 to carry out the duties of the central government in protecting all national monuments (ruins, statues, natural monuments).
The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act 2010 mandates that monument-specific heritage bylaws be prepared to regulate construction activity near ASI-protected monuments.
The state government made a strong pitch in the Supreme Court for retaining its ban order to restrict the sale of non-vegetarian food items, including chicken and fish around the 12th century Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri.
Odisha has moved a step closer to ending the exploitation of child pilgrims in the name of religion, with the district administration drafting similar heritage bylaws for two temples - the 13th century Vaishnava temple of Ananta Basudev and Shiva temple of Brahmeswar, both in the Ekamra Kshetra area.
In 2020, the state government planned a beautification project around the area spread across 1,126 acre and develop it into a major tourist attraction.
Jagannath Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu and located in Puri, the capital of Odisha in eastern India. The temple is one of the world's oldest stone temples still in use, and much older than the Taj Mahal. The present temple was rebuilt in the 16th century by Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva of Gajapati Dynasty.
Jagannath Puri temple is called ‘Yamanika Tirtha’ where, according to the Hindu beliefs, the power of ‘Yama’, the god of death, has been nullified due to the presence of Lord Jagannath.
This temple was called the “White Pagoda” and is a part of Char Dham pilgrimages (Badrinath, Dwaraka, Puri, Rameswaram).
There are four gates to the temple- Eastern ‘Singhdwara’ which is the main gate with two crouching lions, Southern ‘Ashwadwara’, Western 'Vyaghra Dwara and Northern ‘Hastidwara’. There is a carving of each form at each gate.
In front of the entrance stands the Aruna stambha or sun pillar, which was originally at the Sun Temple in Konark.
Odisha, is famous for multiple reasons. This land of mythological legends and religious sanctity, holds a lot of historical stories in it. Some of them are
