Which sculpture attracted you the most? And why?
Answers
Thank you
The sculpture that attracted me the most is Jagannath Puri temple, Chennai, India. It is because there are several mysteries revolving around this temple that have no scientific logic.
Explanation:
1. Puri’s famous Jagannath Temple holds a prominent place of importance for devotees. It is one of the Char Dham pilgrimage sites in India, and is also well-known for the annual chariot festival or Rath Yatra. If various legends are to be believed, King Indradyumn built this holy shrine after Lord Vishnu blessed and guided him in his dreams to find Nila Madhava.
2. It is also believed that when the Pandavas started their journey to Yamraj, Sapt Rishis advised them to visit the ‘Char Dham’ to get closer to ‘moksha.’ And, Jagannath Temple in Puri is one of holy places of ‘Char Dham.’ Since then, Jagannath idol has always remained off-limits for people, and devotees can see him only for a particular period of time.
3. The mysteries about these temple are bizzare and cannot be explained.
i) The temple flag that defies logic.
- The flag atop the temple strangely always floats in the opposite direction of wind.
- The flag floating in opposite direction brings your scientific reasoning to a halt, and you just tend to believe that there is some force more powerful than science.
ii) The Sudarshan Chakra
- The chakra is actually 20 ft high and weighs a ton. It is fitted on top of the temple.
- But what is interesting about this chakra is that, you can see this chakra from any corner of the Puri city.
- The engineering mystery behind the placing and positioning of chakra is still a mystery because irrespective of your position, you can always feel that the chakra is facing toward you.
iii) No planes, no birds fly above the temple.
- By contrast, such an aspect is a rarity at any other temple in India.
- The site is a no-fly zone actually, which has not been declared by any state powers, but by some divine power.
- This phenomenon also apparently has no explanation. It still remains a mystery.
iv) The temple structure
- The structure of the temple is such that it does not cast any shadow at any given time of the day.
- It still remains to be deciphered whether it is an engineering marvel or a phenomenon that can be attributed only to the divine force.
v) Mystery of Simhadwaram.
- The Jagannth temple has four doors, and Singhadwaram is the main door of entrance to the temple.
- While you enter through Sindhadwaram, you can clearly hear the sound of waves, but once you passed the Singhadwaram, simply take a turn and walk back in the same direction, you will no longer hear the sound of waves.
- In fact, you will not hear the sound of waves as long as you are inside the temple.
vi) The sea mystery
- In any part of the world, you must have witnessed that during daytime, the wind from sea comes to the land, whereas the wind from the land blows toward sea at evening.
- However, in Puri, the geographical laws are also reversed. Here, just the opposite thing happens.
vii) An 1800-year-old ritual
- Every day a priests climbs atop the temple, which is as tall as 45 storey building, to change the flag.
- This ritual has been in place for 1800 years.
- It is believed that if this ritual is ever missed, the temple will remain shut for the next 18 years.
vii) The prasadam mystery.
- Nothing goes wasted in Jagannath Temple.
- Depending on the day, records state that 2,000 to 20,000 devotees visit the temple.
- But, the quantity of prasadam, which is cooked in the temple, remains the same throughout the year.
- Yet, the prasadam never get wasted or is insufficient in any given day.
ix) The cooking technique of prasadam
- Pots are actually used to cook this special delicacy using firewood.
- 7 pots are used for this and they are placed one on top of another.
- Interesting to note here is that the contents of the topmost pot gets cooked first, followed by the bottom pots.