Jagannath Temple, Mohanpur

Jagannath Temple, Mohanpur
Location in West Bengal
Geography
Coordinates	21°50′19″N 87°25′53″E / 21.83856°N 87.43145°E / 21.83856; 87.43145Coordinates: 21°50′19″N 87°25′53″E / 21.83856°N 87.43145°E / 21.83856; 87.43145
Country	India
State	Paschimbanga
District	Paschim Medinipur
Location	Mohanpur
Culture
Sanctum	Jagannath
Architecture
Architecture	Kalinga architecture
History
Date built	1611
Creator	Parashuram Koudi of Karmahapatra Dynasty

Jagannath temple is one of the ancient temples in Mohanpur in the Midnapore district of West Bengal, India. It is situated about 20 km from Jaleswar, 16 km from Egra and 201 km from Kolkata. Idols of Jagannath, Balaram and Subhadra are present in the temple. This temple was constructed around 1611 by Parashuram Koudi of Karmahapatra family and has been renovated by the Jagannath haat unnayan committee and given a new look in 2016-17.

Every year during the punyatithi of rathayatra, thousands of devotees gather to ask for blessings from the divine Jagannath dev, balaram and Subhadra. Representative from the Karmahapatra family currently the grandson of Satyabrata Karmahapatra, named Ranajay Kar does all the sacred rituals associated with the Snan Purnima and Rath yatra.Unlike Puri most of the rituals are being followed here. In Rath yatra, that way Brothers Jagannath and balaram along with their sister Subhadra go to aunt's house (Masir bari) which is around 0.7km from the main temple.They stay there for a week and then return on the occasion of ultorath (Bahuda in odia).Before the Bahuda or ultorath,Hera Panchami festival is being celebrated.During these days, the residents of Mohanpur also enjoy in the form of a mela and social gathering. lots of stalls pop up and sell things like cosmetic items for village women and girls, tasy sweet items like jilipi, khasta goja, kathi bhaja etc. But the great part is lots of baby plants ( of all kinds) are sold. The Rath yatra in Mohanpur is quite a large human gathering and also gives villagers a great reason to rejoice. Analogous to Puri Jagannath the main deity of this temple is also made of daru bramha and sacred salagram Sila's have been kept inside the idols' wooden structure which is why, the idols are heavy in weight making it difficult for the bramhins' who carry the idols upon their shoulders during the Rath yatra. Not only the locals of Mohanpur but also from the various parts of the state people come for darshan here in this temple due to it's famous tales and ancient architecture.

Jagannath, Balaram and Subhadra

References