Nestling on the eastern coast along the blue waters of the Bay of Bengal the unique State of Orissa offers to her guests a 'tourism capsule' containing magnificent temples, sunny beaches, colourful wildlife, traditional tribal culture and a rich heritage.To her credit, it has housed the important pilgrimage center for the Hindus - Puri, the 13th century magic carved on sand stone - Konark, the largest brackish water lake of the continent - Chilika, the wonder greenland of the white tigers - Nandankanan, and many more caves, Chaityas, Stupas. temples, forts and palaces. Statistics suggests, most of the visitors frequent this place for Lord Jagannath and the blue bay.

While several temples have vanished or have declined in importance, the great temple of Lord Jagannath at Puri is still a living and vibrant temple. Over the centuries it has attracted kings, conquerers, religious teachers, devotees and pilgrims. In the minds of the millions of Indians, Orissa is the land of Jagannath. The temple of Lord Jagannath ('Lord of the Universe') at Puri is one of the most sacred pilgrimage spots in India, one of the four abodes (dhamas) of the divine that lie on the four directions of the compass.

The Orissan temples broadly pertain to three orders locally known as the Rekha-deul, Pidha-deul and Khakhara-deul. The sanctum with the curvilinear shikhara (rekha) is called the rekha deul and the mandapa with the (jagamohana) with a pyramadical roof of tiers (pidhas) is known as pidha deul. In a typical Orissan temple the latter two form the component parts of a single architectural scheme. The later Orissan temple adds in front two more mandapas known as the nata mandapa (dancing hall) and the bhoga mandapa (hall of offering) in the same axis.