Puri

Puri, Odisha, India

Puri: Jagannatha temple

Puri, city, eastern Odisha (Orissa) state, eastern India. It is situated on the Bay of Bengal, about 35 miles (55 km) south of Bhubaneshwar.

Puri fell under British rule in 1803. The Raja of Khurda rebelled in 1804, and there was a peasant uprising in 1817–18. The seacoast town is now a market centre, rail terminus, and resort; its industries include handicrafts, fish curing, and rice milling. Puri is also a famous Hindu pilgrimage centre, the site of the 12th-century temple of Jagannatha. About 2 miles (3 km) away is Jagannatha’s Garden House, to which pilgrims pull his image and those of his brother and sister on giant chariots during the Rathayatra (Chariot Festival) each summer. (The English word juggernaut comes from the name Jagannatha, meaning “Lord of the World.”) Puri, the summer residence of the state governor, has two colleges, an observatory, and a palace.

Puri’s surrounding region comprises a rice-growing alluvial plain in the east and a forested hilly region crossed by the Eastern Ghats range in the west. The forests provide bamboo and sal (a resin source). Chilka Lake, one of India’s largest, is a shallow saline water body nearby that produces large numbers of fish. Industries include rice milling, metalworking, and weaving. Pop. (2001) 157,837; (2011) 200,564.