A quaint old town with little else to sell than an ancient
religious heritage as one of Hindu Indias 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.