On the shore of the Bay of Bengal at Puri — Purushottama Kshetra, the sacred Nilachala — stands the great temple of Jagannath, the Lord of the Universe, worshipped together with his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra in their unique wooden forms. The Skanda Purana devotes an entire Purushottama Kshetra Mahatmya, of some sixty chapters, to this kshetra, and the tradition preserved in the Puranas narrates the beloved legend of King Indradyumna of Avanti, who, guided by a dream, sought the hidden sapphire deity Nila Madhava; when a divine daru (log) washed ashore, Vishwakarma himself is said to have carved from it the sacred images installed in the temple.
Adi Shankaracharya honoured Puri as the eastern seat of the Char Dham and founded here the Govardhana Matha. Whether the deities are beheld as forms of Vishnu or of Krishna, tradition holds that a single darshan of the Lord who dwells here dissolves the sins of many lifetimes.
Each year Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra emerge from the temple to ride immense chariots through the streets in the Rath Yatra — among the largest religious processions on earth — allowing every devotee, without distinction, to behold and draw near to the Lord.
The deities at Puri are carved from neem wood, not stone — and at intervals set by the calendar they are ritually rebuilt and replaced in the Nabakalebara.
Source: Shree Jagannath Temple Administration, Puri; Nabakalebara
