Gundicha Temple

The Gundicha Temple is the destination of the Puri Ratha Yatra and one of the more accessible places to visit around the Jagannath Temple. It is usually empty outside the festival.

The Gundicha Temple stands about 3 km from the Jagannath Temple in Puri and is the destination of the Ratha Yatra, the chariot festival held in June or July. Wikipedia describes it as a typical Kalinga temple in the deula style, built of light-grey sandstone, with a vimana, jagamohana, nata-mandapa and bhoga-mandapa. During Ratha Yatra the images of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra stay here for seven days of the nine-day festival before the return journey (Bahuda Yatra).

For most of the year the temple is vacant. The same source says foreigners, who are not permitted in the main temple, may enter the Gundicha Temple during the festival and that no entry fee is charged. Rules for non-Hindu visitors outside the festival period were not found in an official source, so confirm locally before planning a visit.

The Gundicha complex is on the Ratha Yatra route and can be reached from the Grand Road; the festival draws very large crowds, so expect road closures and heavy congestion in the surrounding streets on festival days.