Jagannath Temple, Puri

Jagannath Temple, Puri — The Lord of the Universe

The Rath Yatra

One of the Char Dham pilgrimage sites and the site of the famous Rath Yatra (Chariot Festival). The deities are wooden images replaced every 12–19 years in the secretive Nabakalebara ritual. The temple's kitchen is the largest in the world, feeding 100,000 people daily with food cooked in earthen pots over wood fires.

The Mahaprasad

The temple's mahaprasad (sacred food) is considered so holy that even non-Hindus can partake of it — a rare exception in orthodox temples. The food is cooked in earthen pots stacked one on top of another, with the top pot cooking first — a phenomenon attributed to the divine presence.

The Shadow That Never Falls

The temple's main spire is said to cast no shadow at any time of day — an architectural mystery attributed to divine intervention. While engineers attribute this to the spire's curved design, devotees see it as proof of the deity's supernatural power.