COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT PLAN - Puri District

Comprehensive Development Plan – PKDA 2031As reported in the Puri Gazetteer (1929) the "Mathas are monastic houses originally founded with theobject of giving religious instructions to chelas or disciples and generally of encouraging a religiouslife." The Mathas were originally founded with the purpose of Fig 3.20: Matha in Grand roadimparting education to Chelas or disciples and give shelter topilgrims, feeding travelers, ascetics and beggars. Most of theMathas of Puri are connected with the worship of Jagannathand have various sevas or duties to perform in the temple. InPuri, not only the temple is holy, but the whole of itssurroundings is treated as grand and splendid. Many aMatha (Monasteries) grew up gradually in course of time inthis holy town. In the past many Saints and Sadhus had cometo Puri to have darshan of Lord Jagannath. They came incontact with and influenced the Gajapati Kings throughtheir philosophical doctrines. The saints and sadhusestablished their monasteries on the lands donated to them bythe kings and wealthy persons. The Mathas continuedpreaching their respective doctrines and also performedcertain ritual services in the Jagannath Temple. Withendowed properties and lands, the heads of the Maths wereable to maintain their institutions. Lands were donated to theMaths for 'Amritmanohi' the proceeds thereof were spent inoffering „Bhoga‟ to Lord Jagannath and the „Mahaprasad‟thus obtained, were distributed among the pilgrims, pupils,ascetics, and beggars.The functions of the Mathas were: Propagation of the essential philosophy of Hinduism and Jagannath Culture. Providing shelter to pilgrims coming to Puri. Providing accommodation/ financial help to poor and meritorious students. Participating in various rituals of thetemple of Lord Jagannath.Fig 3.21: Functions in Matha in Puri Historic functions of the MathasThe western gate or the Vyaghradvara facesBaseli Sahi and in the South Western sideHarachandi Sahi. Both these old localities aremostly Inhabitated by temple functionariesbelonging to the catagories like singharies,Puspalakas, Supakaras, Maha Supakaras,Madeli, bazanitri maharies besides other.Various sub-sects have their own mathas in the holy city Puri. The Mathas belonging to differentSampradayas or sub-sects of the cult are numerous at Puri, of which Emar and Dakhinapaswa aresupposed to be the richest.Prominent among the Goudyamathas are Radhakanta and Gangamata whereas the Oriya, Sisu andfew other mathas belong to the local sect of Utkaliya Vaisnavas. The Gobaradhana and theCEPT, Ahmedabad 44