Lord Lokanath Temple is
dedicated to lord Siva and also a Hindu temple which is located in the town of Puri and 2½ kms to the west of Lord Jagannath Temple. This temple has
specialty that as per ancient India mythology in the Tratya yuga, Lord Ramachandra established this temble on
his hand. For which it is a holy place for the hindu and in view of Oriya
cultural, it is important. The
campus of the Lokanatha temple is below the road level. When you enter the
lokanatha temple compound by climbing down the stairs from the main road, you
will find a big pond (known as Parvati Sagara in odia language) at your right
side. Devotees wash their hands and feets in this pond before entering into the
temple. This pond houses a lot of fishes. Devotees enjoying a lot by offering
foods to these fishes.
The
mythology said that Ravan ( king of demon) kidnapped Mata Sita when lord Ram came to know that
mata Sita was missing, he was searching Mata Sita here and there. In the
meanwhile lord Ram along with laxman reached at sea beach of Bay of Bengal,
Puri. That time in the said locality a
village was there in name of Sabarapalli. The villager of Sabarapalli gave to
lord Ram a vegetable which is look like as Shiva Linga. Lord Ram installed the said vegetable and sit
on mediation and charting the Solko of lord Shiva for guidance. Lord Shiva pleased on the prayer made by Lord
Ram. Since then lord Shiva is there and famous in the name of Lokanath.
This
Shiva linga is visible to the devotees once in a year. The chamber including
the linga is filled with water throughout the year by a natural fountain. In
the night of 3 days before the famous Shivaratri festival all the water is drain out and the Shiva
Linga becomes visible. To see lord Shiva Linga, a thousands of devotees come
forward. According to mythology, the
people who suffer from deadly diseases
come here and prayed to Lord
Shiva. The devotees come to this place in throughout the year and offer to lord with flowers, sandal paste, milk, Curd (yoghurt),
honey, beetle leaves, Coconut water, bilva leaves, etc. .
The Lokanatha temple has divided in to four
parts such as Vimana which is called as
Main Temple, Jagamohana which is called
as Entrance Hall, Natamandapa which is
called as Dancing Hall and Bhogamndapa which is called as Offering Hall. This
temple is built with stones and made some design by architecture over the said
stones. The main temple is about 30 feet from the ground level and most
portions of the main temple have been covered with marbles donated by devotees.
The outer walls of the main temple made images of different Deities by
architecture. There are three door which is described as on the northern side
wall is the image of Shiva-Parbati, on the eastern side wall is image of Lord
Kartikeya and on the southern side wall the image of Lord Ganesha with four
handed is designed. Many small temples are there inside the premises of
Lokanatha temple. There is a small temple to the left of the inner courtyard
which preserves architectural images of Surya-Narayana and Candra-Narayana. The
Satya-Narayan temple within the premises conserve architectural images of
Vishnu, Laksmi and several brass idols. On the right side of the entrance towards
inner court one will find a figure of Lord Hanuman.
There is a relation between Lord Lokanatha
and lord jagannath since beginning. Lord jagannath has secrete chamber where
all the valuable materials, diamonds, golds etc are storage since long time.
The protector of the secrete chamber is lord lonknath himself. one image of
Lord loknath is established in the Sri Jagannatha temple which is known as
Bhandara Lokanatha. He is the guardian deity of the Ratnabhandara (secrete
chamber) of Sri Jagannatha temple. The Ratnabhandara (secrete chamber) is
famous due to its guard and its safety. The mythology said that Vasuki
nag, carriage of
lord Shiva, is sitting and watching on the Ratnabhandara (secrete chamber) as the guard.
There
are total five number of chamber in the Ratnabhandara. Regularly four hamber are using at the time of various
festival and ritual of lord jagannath. But fifty number is closed since last
400 to 500 years. On last time ( in the year of 2018-19) a committee was
constituted to inspection the Ratnabhandara and the committee when open the
door of Ratnabhandara, one big (approximately
12 ft) cobra come out but the said snake rescue by the snake helper. The
committee made inspection of four chamber and when they tried to inspection the
5th chamber, they heard the sound of snakes which were coming inside
of the 5th chamber. They come out from the Ratnabhandara with fear.
The 5th Ratnabhandara is the
bigger chamber then others (no one know
how much bigger is that) and in the said chamber there is many valuable stones,
golds, diamonds etc. The 5th chamber is closed but there is no lock
and key system. In the Ratnabhandara, the very sensitive and developed device
is installed which is till yet has not
developed by the modern technology. At the time of British Ruler, they tried
many time to open the 5th chamber but they failed to open. This
Ratnabhandara is lock with particulate voice system that is called Nagfasa Solko and opening
system of the Ratnabhandara is different
voice system which is called Garuda Solko. Without those solko it is not
possible to close and open. As per Indian mythology, if some one try to open
with the respective solko and pronounce wrongly, then the said person may
killed by the Snake on the spot. Many time the chief priest hard the sound of
snakes which are coming inside the Ratnabhandara. The mythology said that it is
not easy task to breakdown the Ratnabhandara and till yet no one entered without
clean hand or ill intension. No one know that who know the Garuda Solko and
also on one know what is the actual value of the 5th chamber. For
that reason the 5th chamber called as secrete chamber.
Some
of famous festival which are greatly celebrated in the temple of lord Lokanatha such as Sivaratri, Sivabibaha and
in this day the temple is full of devotee. And some of festivals are also
associated with lord jagannath such as Candan Yatra and Sital Sasthi. A meeting
of Hari and Hara (Siva and Vishnu) takes place on the day.
The role (lila) of lord Loknath and lord
Jagannath is large which cannot imagine
by a common people. Whoever come to the holi place of lord jagannath, they are
also go to Lord loknath.
Distance:-
By Air- it is 63 Km from Airport, Bhubaneswar.
By Train:- direct trail is always available from every time
By Road it is 63 Km from Bhubaneswar and 80 Km from Cuttack.
It is 2 ½ km from lord Jagannath temple.
