Hotels in Puri / Puri Hotels

History of Puri

Even before the Aryans, the forested lands of Puri were inhabited by the Sabars, a Pre-Dravidian and Pre-Aryan tribe of the Austro-Asiatic family. In those days even the name for Puri was z i.e the place for tooth (Danta). It is said that the canine tooth of the Buddha was kept in the temple. The Dantosav of the Buddha used to be celebrated with a convoy of 3 chariots. Heresay that in those days a Buddhist Stupa used to stand there where the Jagannath Temple stands now. And after the construction of Math by Sankarcharya the revered Hindu reformer, the Hindu religion atlast registered the name of Puri.

In1135 Anantabaram built the Chodaganga temple with Purushottam as its deity.During the rule of the Gajapati Kings, the deity Purushottam ungergoing a change of name become Jagannath (the Lord of the Universe). Both happen to be nomenclatures of Lord Vishnu. Likewise with the British quitting India, there was a sea-change in the ownership of landed properties as most of the bungalow houses previously under British ownership were taken lease of by Bengali people. Though the past predominance of Bengal is now at a low ebb, a Bengali smells hover over Puri even now. In fact, Puri became an important center of pilgrimage by the 12th century. The history ofPuri also proves that Sri Ramanuja visited Puri during 1107 and 1117. Sri Ramanuja was followed by Vishnu Swami, who is known to establish the Vishnuswami Matha, near Markandeshwar Tank.