Alarnath Temple (Alarnatha Mandira)
Brahmagiri, Puri district, Odisha, India
Also known as: Alalanath Temple · Alarnath Dev Temple
- Deities
- Alarnath Dev (four-armed Vishnu; some Gaudiya Vaishnava traditions identify this form with Balarama), Mahalakshmi
- Traditions
- vaishnava
- Worship status
- active
- Coordinates
- 19.795, 85.6503
- Darshan hours
- 6:00 AM to 9:30 PM.
- Best time to visit
- During Anavasara, the roughly 15-day period (typically June/July, before Ratha Yatra) when Jagannath's deity at Puri is withdrawn from public view and pilgrims traditionally come here instead.
- How to reach
- In Brahmagiri, a semi-urban town in Puri district, Odisha, about 23 km from Puri city.
- Festivals
- Anavasara pilgrimage period (June/July (~15 days before Ratha Yatra))
- Associated saints
- Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ramanujacharya
Location
Open in Google MapsAlarnath Temple (Alarnatha Mandira), in the town of Brahmagiri roughly 23 km from Puri, houses Alarnath Dev, a four-armed form of Vishnu, alongside a shrine to his consort Mahalakshmi. It is counted among the 108 Abhimana Kshethram of the Vaishnava tradition and is best known today as the destination pilgrims turn to during Anavasara — the roughly two-week period before Ratha Yatra each year when Jagannath’s deity at the Puri temple is withdrawn from public darshan following his ceremonial “bathing festival,” Snana Yatra.
Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, including the Chaitanya Charitamrita’s account of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s travels, records Chaitanya visiting this temple during his years based at Puri, both en route to and from his pilgrimage through South India, and specifically during Anavasara periods when he could not see Jagannath. A stone preserved at the site is associated with his sankirtana (congregational chanting) there. The temple remains an active place of worship today, open daily from 6:00 AM to 9:30 PM, with a full daily bhoga (food offering) schedule that draws particular attention to its rice-pudding (kheeri) offering during the Anavasara season.
Sources
- historical record: Cross-checked against Wikipedia's 'Alarnatha Mandira' and 'Brahmagiri, Odisha' articles during verification pass: confirms the temple's location in Brahmagiri, Puri district (~19°47'42"N 85°39'01"E, ~23 km from Puri), dedicated to Vishnu in the form of Alarnath Dev (with a shrine to consort Mahalakshmi); confirms it is one of the 108 Abhimana Kshethram of the Vaishnava tradition and that it becomes a major pilgrimage destination during Anavasara, the period when Jagannath's deity at Puri is unavailable for darshan; confirms daily temple hours of 6:00 AM-9:30 PM and that a stone at the site is associated with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's sankirtana.
- oral tradition: Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, during his years at Puri, is recorded in Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition (including the Chaitanya Charitamrita's account of his travels) as visiting this temple both en route to and from his South India pilgrimage, and as coming here during Anavasara when Jagannath's own deity was unavailable for darshan; some accounts additionally connect the medieval Vaishnava theologian Ramanujacharya to the site.
For review
- Sources differ on the precise identity of the Alarnath Dev form: Wikipedia's own article describes it simply as a four-armed form of Vishnu, while some Gaudiya Vaishnava sources and pilgrimage tradition identify it with Balarama (relevant given Chaitanya's visits here coincide with Jagannath temple's Anavasara, a period otherwise linked to Balarama); this entry notes both without asserting one as definitive.
- No construction date or architectural history for the temple is given in the sources consulted this pass.