(Lord Jagannath Temple)

Puri, one of the coastal districts of Odisha, isfamous for its historical and archaeologicalantiquities and religious and cultural heritagesadded with natural sights. The districthas been named after its headquarters city ‘Puri’,the place being significant for the ‘Lord Jagannath’.
During thereign of Chodaganga Dev, the world famoustemple of ‘Lord PurusottamJagannath’ was constructed here and the imagesof the deities were installed and worshipped. Sincethen the place is known as ‘Purusottam Dham’or in short ‘Puri’ or ‘Srikshetra’. In brief it is thesynopsis of socio-cultural testimony of the stateof Odisha.It is surrounded by the district Cuttack andJagatsinghapur in its north, Khordha in its west,Ganjam to the southwest and the Bay of Bengalto its east and South East.The district of Puri is the main attractionof tourists and Hindu devotees. Thus it presentsa culture of assimilation and thus its demographicfeatures may manifest some of its influence.The population of the district is enumerated Puri District is a coastal District on the Eastern part of Odisha, India and famous, being the abode of Lord Vishnu, most popularly known as Lord Jagannath. This District derives its name from the heritage city of Puri, one of the four pilgrimage centres of India. Covering an area of 3051 sq/kms, the District may be divided into two dissimilar natural divisions-the Littoral tract and the Level alluvial tract.

Being in close proximity to the Bay of Bengal, this District has tropical climate. The summers are from March to June, monsoons from June to September and winters are from October to February. The minimum temperature of the District is approximately 16. 45 degrees Celsius and the maximum 33. 9 degrees Celsius.
Handicraft and cottage industries of this District is famous the world over, its original source being the temple craft of Lord Jagannath and the Sun Temple at Konark. The rich traditional culture and heritage of the District gives a boost to this industry. The important products of this industry are in applique, stone carving, patta chitra, wood carving, modern patch work, terracotta, bell metal, and sea shell items etc.

Sri Jagannath Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Samanta Chandra Sekhar Autonomous College, Rastriya Sanskrit Santhan Deemed University, Sadasiv Parishar, Gangadhar Mohapatra Law College and Biju Pattnaik National Steel Institute are some of the leading educational institutions of this District.
Puri District has given birth to a number of eminent personalities-both past and present. The past personalities included Jayadeva, Gobardhan Acharya, Sridhara Swamy, Jagannath Das, Raya Ramananda Pattanayak, Kanhai Khuntia, Jayadeva-II, Kavi Chintamani Mishra, Balaram Das, Jagannath Das, Bhakta Kavi Salbeg, Dinakrushna Das and Utkalmani Pandit Gopabandhu Das. Noted present personality who has brought laurels for the District both in India and abroad is Padma Bhusan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. His contribution towards Odissi dance is remarkable. The celebration of 'The Car-Festival of Lord Jagannath' and 'Puri Beach Festival' with an equivalent gusto thus presenting a fine blend of spiritual and sensory pleasures.
Recognition of the RathYatra at a global level, acceptance of Odissi as a classical dance form, Odishan School of architecture referred to as poetry frozen in stone and 'the Mahaprasad brotherhood' have no doubt helped a lot to fetch Puri, the status of an internationally known city

The holy land of Odisha is divided into four kshetras. These kshetras are named after the four names of weapons of Lord Vishnu such as sankha (conch shell), chakra (disc), gada (mace) and padma (lotus).PuriDham is known as SankhaKshetra. Bhubaneswar is Chakra Kshetra, Jajpura is GadaKshetra, andKonark is Padma Kshetra.
Puriis known by various names of which SankhaKshetra is one. Sankha means conch shell. The geographical size of Puri resembles a right oriented conch shell, the ‘DakshinavartaSankha’, which is why it is also called the SankhaKshetra. The sacred section of puri looks like a conch shell and it is in this section that all the sacred centers like temples, mathas, sacred tanks, trees and various other sacred sites are located. Sankha or conch shell is one of the Aiyudhas of Lord Vishnu, who resides in the naval or the central part of the Conch shell in the form of Lord Jagannath. The SankhaKshetra covers an area of 10 miles, out of which nearly 40% is submerged under water and the other part which lies above water is of the shape of a conch shell or Sankha.