Gundicha Mandir

Gundicha Temple has some interesting legends related to it. One legend says that Gundicha was the queen of the King Indradyumna, the legendary founder of the 1st great Jagannath temple. It is because of the deep devotion of the queen Gundicha, Lord Jagannath prefers to pay a visit to her house for nine days during Car Festival. Another Legend says Gundicha Ghar is the house of Lord Krishna’s adoring aunt Gundicha. It is believed that their aunt gives a welcome to the three siblings with a special delicacy made of rice called ‘padoapitha’. This rice cake is also known as ‘Podapitha’ or ‘Porapitha’. This temple is regarded as equally holy as Jagannath temple as Lord Jagannth stays here for nine days during the annual car festival.

The temple built in typical Kalingan style . The temple is sorrounded by a wall and stands in the middle of a garden. The height of the wall is 20 feet and width is 5 feet. The length of the temple is 430 feet. The height of this temple is 75 feet. The temple consists of four parts connected with kitchen rooms by a narrow passage. All the four structures (Vimana, Jagamohana, Natamandapa and Bhogamandapa) bear the traces of several plasterings and are carved in places with obscene figures in mortar. The whole temple is built of light gray sand stone. There is a plain raised seat, 4 feet high and 19 feet long, made of chlorite and this is called the ‘Ratnavedi’, the throne on which the images are placed when brought to the temple. This temple has two gates. The western gate is the main gate and the eastern side gate. The eastern gate is also known as Nakachana gate. The deities enter to this temple through the west gate and come out by the east gate. The temple is under the care and maintenance of Jagannath Temple Administration, Puri.

Gundicha mandir entrance
Gundicha mandir

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