Gundicha
Temple
Gundicha Temple or the garden house of Jagannath is towards northeast direction
of the Jagannath Temple. A major part of the present precinct was built during
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The compound has two walls, one outer
and another inner in the middle of which stands the main shrine. Unlike any
other Orissan temple design it is almost a dome with Vishnu's wheel on the top.
The inner and parts of the outer walls are full of murals and paintings belonging
to the sixteenth century. A beautiful Garuda idol adorns the eastern most corner
of the temple. The images of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are annually
taken in a chariot procession to the place. The Jagannath triad stay here for
seven days. The pious believe that a sight of the Lord here is equal to thousand
visits to the main Jagannath temple.
Many devotees from North India consider this spot as the birth place of Sita,
the consort of Rama. Gundicha temple has two gateway temples - one for Jagannath's
entry and the other for his exist. In front of the latter one sees a stretch
of land known as Saradhabali or the sand of divine love. It is so named because
the devotees flock around Jagannath and his car here out of sheer love and devotion.
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