History

In 1968, Shri Jagannath Mandir and Orissa Arts & Cultural Centre were formed in Delhi and got registered under Societies of Registration Act, in the same year. Some Jagannath devotee – Odias who tried their level best to establish a platform for forming an association to organize non-resident Odias in Delhi at that time and the main purpose was to build a temple for Lord Jagannath. However, this is the oldest form of association formed by the Odias in Delhi which took the initiative of building a temple. As per the history, the foundation stone of the temple was laid on 15th January 1968, however the construction work started on 5th February 1968. A small and beautiful temple was constructed and regular worshiping of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balbhadra and Maa Subhadra started with the installation of small size idols of three Deities.

Architecture

The Mandir has been built as per Odisha style and the temple structure is in the same design as of Shri Mandir in Puri. There is Simhadwar at the front of the temple with 22 numbers of steps called “Baishi pahacha” leading to Mukhashala. Chuturdha Deities (Shri Jagannath, Shri Balabhadra, Maa Subhadara and Shri Sudarshan) are installed inside Garbhagriha of the Mandir.

In the same floor of the Mandir, other Deities, namely, Lord Shiva, Navagraha, at the East, Lord Hanuman at South West, Maa Bimala at North West and Maa Laxmi at North East are installed inside Their respective small temples separately built for the Deities around the main Mandir of Lord Jagannath, In front of Mukha shala, there is a pillar called “Aruna stambha”built in marble stone facing the Chaturdha Deities. It is tradition that before entering the main temple each devotee touches/embraces Aruna stambha.