Puri

ଶଙ୍ଖକ୍ଷେତ୍ର

Sankha Kshetra. The conch.

The sacred ground of Puri is drawn as a conch. Shree Mandira sits at the navel of it — the Ratna Vedi read as the heart. Around that stone is a town with a road, a tank, a sea, and a Shiva who keeps the edge. The tower is the sign. It is not the whole kshetra.

• ବଡ଼ଦାଣ୍ଡ

  Bada Danda

  The grand road. About three kilometres from the lion gate to Gundicha. On an ordinary day it is a street. In Ashadha it is the yatra.

  The chariots

• ଗୁଣ୍ଡିଚା

  Gundicha

  The aunt’s house. Mausima Mandira. The deities stay here between Rath and Bahuda. Hera Panchami brings Lakshmi to the door.

  The fortnight

• ନରେନ୍ଦ୍ର

  Narendra tank

  Chandan Yatra runs forty-two days, from Akshaya Tritiya. For the first twenty-one, the representative deities cruise this water in the evening. The second half is kept inside the temple.

• ମହୋଦଧି

  Mahodadhi

  The sea is a tirtha of this kshetra, not a backdrop. Swargadwara, on the beach, is where Puri returns a body to it. The temple itself stands inland.

  The temple, inland

• ଲୋକନାଥ

  Loknath

  The Shiva of the kshetra. A visit to Jagannath is, in the town’s habit, unfinished without him.

  The forms on the vedi

• କୌଳି ବୈକୁଣ୍ଠ

  Koili Baikuntha

  Inside the precinct. When an extra Ashadha renews the wooden bodies, the old daru is buried here. Not on a fixed twelve-year clock.

  Nabakalebara