GundichaTemple
The 12th centurey AD ‘Gundicha Temple’ – Garden House of Lord Jagannath in Puri, Odisha (Orissa)
Address:
Gundicha Temple at Jagannath Puri
At: Gundicha Qquare, Post/Tehsil: Puri, District: Puri, Odisha, Pin: 752001.
Approach:
Located in Gundicha Square, in close proximity to Puri bus stand
The Temple:
Spanning across an area of 11.00 mtrs in length x 95 mtrs in breadth and surrounded by walls, standing in the middle of a garden Sree Gundicha Temple though remains vacant most of the year has its own glory. The temple is named after Gundicha, the queen of King Indradyumna, who is said to have built the original structure of the Jagannath temple.
This temple also referred as Garden House of Lord Jagannath is located at the end of Badadanda (The Grand Road, as wide as any freeway, extending from Jagannath Temple to Gundicha Temple) northeast of the Jagannatha Temple. At the time of the Ratha-yatra (Car festival), Lord Jagannatha, Balbhadra and Subhadra visit the Gundicha Temple and stay there for one week. The temple is divided into four parts Vimana, Jagamohan, Natamandap, and Bhogmandap. And the Ratan-vedi on which the three holy idols are placed is 4 feet high and 19 feet long. There is a beautiful garden in temple compound.
The wagon-vaulted roofs, divine figures, the depicted stories relating to Krishna, a series of decorated pilasters beautifies the exteriors part of the temple.
One must notice the two ornamented gateways in both eastern and western side of the inner compound wall of Gundicha Temple.
Structure and Construction Technology:
The temple is built of light gray sand stone in “ashlar dry masonry” (a type of building construction in which primarily rectangular blocks of stone are used) with use of iron dowels. It is a pidha temple of Kalingan order, i.e., a structure with pyramidal roof.
Date of construction:
The precise date of construction of the temple is in 12th century A.D. during the Ganga rule. At present the temple is safeguarded by Jagannath Temple Administration, Puri, Odisha.