Peetha: Shrine

Shrine is a place or object, where the god/goddess's have lived (or some part of them) at some point of time.
Temple is the (holy)building built around shrine.

Siruli Mahavir temple is an ancient shrine dedicated to Lord Hanuman and it is located at Siruli Village which is around 10 km on left of Siruli Crossing after Chandanpur on the Puri Bhubhaneswar National Highway. Hanuman Temple at Siruli is around 22 km from Puri and around 72 km from Bhubaneswar.

According to a legend, Lord Jagannath used to keep Lord Hanuman as his guard at Puri. It is said that Lord Hanuman’s snoring disturbed Maa Lakshmi’s sleep. The goddess complained to Lord Jagannath and as a result the latter asked his guard to shift to Siruli. According to another legend, when Lord Hanuman was going to Siruli, his long tail was hurt with the plough of a farmer. The farmer became unconsciousness and when he came to his senses, he constructed the Siruli temple. Hence, in modern times we can see Mahavir's idol at one place and his tail at another place which is far away from the temple at around 7 km's.

The Murti/Idol of Hanuman presently worshiped here is 10 feet tall and faces west.The width of the chest of the murti is enormous.The chest exhibits the famous posture Lord Rama and Sita in Hanuman’s heart. In the right hand he holds Gandhamardana parvata (a huge rock). Left hand holds katuri or short dagger . He wears a garland of jewels (Vaijantimala) in his body. The murti of Hanuman has been designed as trampling over Murasura. A Shiva Linga canopied by seven-hooded serpent is carved on top of the head of the figure. Anjana, the mother of Lord Hanuman is carved to the right side of the pedestal.

The legend's say, the original murti of Mahavir Hanuman worshipped in the temple was Swayambhu – that which appeared on its own.

A unique aspect of the murti of Mahavir at Siruli is that the eyes are not properly aligned. Left eye of the murti is looking through a hole in the wall and the right eye is looking southward towards lanka, the native place of Ravana. Legend's say that left eye hanuman is fixed at the Neel Chakra atop the Jagannath Temple.

The temple faces to south and is built with both laterite and sand stones locally called mankada and kanda patharas respectively. Two huge lions are installed on both sides of the main entrance gate. The outer walls of the main temple contain figures of Hanumana, Ganesha, Mahisamardini Durga, Siva Linga and bull. The figures of nine planets (navagrahas) are carved above the eastern side entrance of the temple. There is a very old Peepal tree (Ashvastha tree) in front of the temple. There is a pond just outside the temple. Devotee's are required to wash their hand and legs in that pond before entering the temple.

This temple consists of four structures such as Vimana, Jagamohana, Natamandapa and Bhogamandapa.

The Vimana’s height is about 25-feet and its base is square. It is erected on the platform of 2-feet high. The bada of the Vimana is panchanga i.e. in five-fold divisions such as pabhaga, tala jangha, bandhana, Upper jangha and baranda.

The Jagamohana of the temple is apidha deula and its height is about 20-feet. The base of the Jagamohana is rectangular measuring 20-feet in length and 10-feet in width respectively.

The Bhogamandapa of the temple is a pidha deula and its height is about 18-feet from the surface of the temple complex. The base of the structure is rectangular measuring 40-feet in length and 20-feet in width respectively.

The Natamandapa of the temple is a flat roof supported by 10 pillars was constructed in modern period. The temple complex is enclosed by a high masonry wall.

Once we had a good view of the temple, the next thing on our mind was to enjoy the delecacies of Mahavir's prassad. For new travelers, please keep in mind to order for the prassad's in advance as limited prassad's are made available. We had some one hour before prassads to be made available. We have heard from local people about a nearby village where Mahavir's tail is present. We thought of utilizing this time to visit that place. People travelling by 4 wheeler please keep in mind that the road to the tail will pass through 2-3 villages and these are single lane roads.

The place where his tail is found is an isolated place and generally people don't visit that. But our curiosity drove us to that place. The roads are very narrow and steep and as i said you have to pass through many villages to reach the tail. We asked as many as 12-15 people on our way for the reference. Even after that we missed the actual place and moved few meters away before realizing it. The piece of land is a little far from the village road on which we traveled. There is a peepal tree nearby and we can some see salu cloths tied all around it by the devotees. This made us believe that, this is not an isolated place, although devotees visit less frequently and mostly during Sankranti's. We were fortunate enough to touch the tail. We could see a priest staying nearby, who approached us when he saw around the tail. while talking to him we learnt about few legends related to Siruli.
                                                                          

                                                                                

We then headed back to the main shrine with some fond memories. We reached near in time for the prassad sevan. The prasaad that was served to us has arna, dalma, sweet dal, besara, saaga and kheer. We were in the august company of the head priest who arranged the prassad sevan for us. We also got to taste the famous Chudaghasa and pitha. We got the chudaghasa packed for our families and relatives. Even right now i am having that while writing this travelogue. The prassad was so tasty that we would have increased few kilo's there. 

               

                                                                       

We then took some rest before leaving this beautiful place and headed towards our final destination, Puri.