Jagannath Temple, Puri

The Jagannath Temple at Puri is one of the four Char Dham of Adi Shankaracharya (with Badrinath, Dwarka, and Rameshwaram) and one of Hinduism's holiest sites. The 65-metre temple was built in the 12th century by Eastern Ganga king Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva. The presiding deities are Lord Jagannath (a wooden form of Krishna), his elder brother Balabhadra, and their sister Subhadra — all carved from neem wood and replaced in a secret ritual every 12 to 19 years (the next Nabakalebara is due 2027). The annual Rath Yatra (chariot festival), held in June or July, is the world's largest religious procession of its kind — 10 to 15 million pilgrims gather along the 3-km route from the temple to the Gundicha Temple, pulling three massive chariots that are dismantled and rebuilt afresh each year. Non-Hindus are not permitted inside the inner temple but can view the deities during Rath Yatra. The temple kitchen, said to be the world's largest, prepares the Mahaprasad (cooked offering) for up to 100,000 devotees daily.