A quaint old town with little else to sell than an ancient religious heritage as one of Hindu India’s four most sacred Hindu pilgrimages, Puri is a rambling seaside town on the eastern coast of Orissa overlooking the Bay of Bengal. Puri attracts visitors and lulls them into a soporific trance, a state of mind popularly known as Puri Paralysis. Its other major claim to fame is that it is the home of the Lord of the World, Lord Jagannath, whose awesome chariot procession through the streets gave English language, the word "juggernaut", the unstoppable force. The ‘Rath Yatra’ or chariot procession is the only frenzied activity that transpires here when the gods who reside in the Jagannath Temple are ceremoniously transported to a garden retreat and the town is flooded by vast multitudes seeking salvation.

History

The earliest history of Puri has it that it was once a thickly wooded hillock inhabited by the Sabaras, a Pre-Aryan and Pre-Dravidian tribes of the Austro-Asiatic linguistic family. The sacred Buddhist site called Dantapura (town of the tooth) may also have been here, as legend has it that Buddha’s tooth was kept here before being spirited off to Sri Lanka.
Till the seventh and eighth centuries, the city was a provincial outpost along the coastal trade route linking eastern India with Southeast Asia. Shankaracharya, the Hindu reformer, declared Puri as one of his four mathas (centres for the practice of a new ascetic form of Hinduism). Learned and holy men came here to debate the new philosophies from across the whole subcontinent, a tradition that is still carried on to this day.
The kings of the Ganga dynasty consolidated the religious and political importance of Puri in the beginning of the 12th century. In 1135, Anantavarman Chodaganga founded the great temple in Puri, and dedicated it to Purushottama, one of the thousand names of Vishnu, the Preserver in the Hindu Trinity. The Gajapati rulers changed the town’s name to Jagannath in the fifteenth century. Puri remained a temple town, a holy place till the British realised its potential as a seaside resort. Since then, Puri has developed into a pilgrimage cum holiday destination with the Rath Yatra, the annual festival at the Jagannath Temple still the main draw.

How to get there

Best time to visit

Dining Out

The rich verdant land brings forth vegetables that are lush and fruits that brim over with beneficial properties and are therefore form a large part of Puri 's diet. Rice drawn from the emerald paddy fields in sun-drenched valleys finds its way to the table --sweet smelling and delicious . With the religious leanings of the District , meat consumption is  relatively low , though most hotels and restaurants have it on their menus.
   
what is rich and plentiful is the diverse selection of sea-food , with crabs and lobsters steeped in the ever present ingredients of -- Puri's cuisine -- curd (yoghurt) and Coconut milk . The curd here is rich and creamy and gives the succulent flesh an additional flavour . It is not only the sea-food  which is traditionally cooked in curd and coconut milk but also yams , brinjals and pumpkins are liberally used in curd with mustard seeds giving the whole preparation that extra zing.

Small cakes or 'Pithas' which are both sweet and savoury are extremely popular in Orissa . Chhenapodapitha  the caramelised custard-like dessert is popular not only with the locals but also with the tourists . 
Another traditional must is the tasting of the 'Mahaprasad 'or the sacred food offered as 'bhog' to Lord Jagannath . Available at the ananda Bazar of the Jagannath temple , your hotel can help you procure it quite easily . The temple kitchen is believed to be the largest kitchen in the world . Created on a cooking facility which is highly efficient despite its age , 400 'Supkars' (cooks) work around 200 hearths daily to feed over 10,000 people.
                     
Most hotels and restaurants in Puri have a good selection of multi-cuisine on their menus including some house specialties . The fish and prawn catch of Puri coast basically the prawn of Chilika are totally free from toxic substances like mercury and lead etc.

Special Events & Festivals

Shopping

Tourist Offices