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 The
citizens of Chennai need not go all the way to Puri to worship Lord
Jagannath, for a temple is now here at Reddy Kuppam Road, Kannathur,
off New Mahabalipuram road. The main deities of this temple are Lord
Jagannath, Devi Subadra and Lord Balabadra. One can pay obeisance to
Lord Yoganarasimha as well. The other Sannidhis in this temple are
those of Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesha, Devi Gajalakshmi and Devi Vimala.
There is also a Navagraha sannidhi. A huge dhwaja sthambha stands
majestically at the entrance to the main shrine.
The shrine is made up of black granite from
Kancheepuram and white marble from Rajasthan and built in Oriya
style. The temple precincts are aesthetically beautified with green
lawns and flowerbeds that lay over an area of one acre. The flowers
from the garden alone are used for the pooja. Even the priests are
from Orissa and they chant the slokas in Oriya. The pooja is also
performed in the Oriya style.
This temple was consecrated seven years ago, on January 26, 2001. It
is a replica of the Jagannath temple at Puri. The deities of this
temple are also made from the wood of the neem tree from which the
original deities of Puri were made.
The most important festival is the rath yatra, which is celebrated
on the same day as in Puri. The deities of the temple, Lord
Jagannath, Devi Subadra and Lord Balabadra are taken around the
Kannathur village during the rath yatra.
 Unlike Puri, there is a single rath, made of stainless steel, which
is decorated with wood and cloth. Prof. S.N. Majhi, Managing Trustee
of the temple says with an element of justifiable pride that this is
the only temple in the world to have a stainless steel rath for Lord
Jagannath.
The best of traditions of Orissa’s paintings still lives in Pata
Chitras. It is a living art form that exists in Orissa since many
centuries. These special paintings with vegetable dye depicting
stories from epics are found in ancient as well as in modern temples
of Orissa.
The Jagannath temple in Chennai also has Pata Chitra paintings on
the walls and ceilings of the shrine of Lord Jagannath. The
incarnations of Lord Vishnu are also depicted.
The devotees of Chennai are now privileged to have the darshan and
benign grace of the Lord of the universe, Lord Jagannath, in their
neighbourhood.
U. Bakialakshmi
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