Bhubaneswar: Alarnath temple at Brahmagiri has been witnessing a beeline of devotees after darshan of Trinity at Puri Srimandir closed for a fortnight until Rath Yatra.
It is believed that those who cannot worship Lord Jagannath during his stay in the sick chamber (Anasara Gruha) can get the His blessings if they visit the Alarnath temple.
For the last three days, devotees have been thronging the shrine to have the darsan of Alarnath Deb and taste the temple’s signature prasad ‘kheer’, a special delicacy offered to the presiding deity of the temple.
Just 23 km from the holy city, the temple belongs to the 9th century and was constructed during the reign of King Vanudev IV. However, the temple came into the limelight during the first phase of the 12th century followed by the construction and renovation done by Sri Ramanujacharya, said sources.
On the other hand, historians are of the opinion that the rulers of Alwar in Rajasthan had established the temple here for which the temple was later known as Alwarnath or Alarnath. Though there is no specific mention of the time and date of construction in the pages of history, the temple, however, became famous following the visit of Sri Sri Chaitanya Dev in 1610 A.D. Sri Chaitanya had written volumes about the place and temple. He claimed to have visualised the manifestation of Lord Jagannath in Alarnath and camped there for a quite long period in worshipping the deity.
Apart from having a glimpse of Lord Jagannath temple in Alarnath temple, scores of devotees go to Alarnath temple to taste the special bhog ‘kheer’ during the fortnight.
Sources said over 10,000 litres of buffalo milk among other ingredients is used for making the kheer prasad every day and offered to the deity.
It is learnt that Lord Bishnu is the presiding deity of the temple. The idol of the presiding deity is made of hard black granite. The five-feet murti has four hands and he holds Shankh and Chakra. The sanctum also has the murtis of Bhudevi, Sridevi and Brahma. Garuda is seen with folded hands kneeling at the feet of Vishnu.
