Sonar Gouranga Temple - Puri

It is Bengali temple in the heart of the city of Puri dedicated to the sevak of Lord Jagannath, Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who hailed from Nabadwip, Nadia in Bengal and who left his life here at Swargadwar for worshiping Lord Vishnu. The life of this spiritual leader's life is celebrated with his golden idol in this temple.

Very age old temple of Shree Gouranga Dev. The inside of the temple is well maintained and depicts the best of the ancient art.

As the name itself describes the temple belongs to the Golden idol that is dedicated to lord Vishnu. The Sunar Gauranga had so many stories regarding its establishment and it's flourishing. It is located the chakratirtha road. Nearby good beaches are found. The famous sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik has his farm nearby this.

Very small idol in a relatively large temple - the Idol is not of Gouranga Mahaprabhu, but of Krishna You are not allowed in this temple with smart phone or camera. So there is no photograph with this review. Not sure why photography is prohibited in most temples of Puri. The idols are no national security issue, I do not suppose the camera flash light will do harm to the idols. I would be very interested to know if there's any good reason for why cameras are prohibited. Now let us go to the part of the idol. Gouranga = Gour+Anga (Bahubrihi Samas) = Gour (Pale skin complexion) + Anga (Limbs). Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (also known as Chaitanyadeb/ Srikrishna chaitanya/ Nimai Sanyasi) was born in 1486 and was also called Gouranga due to his pale skin colour. Sonar in Bengali is "Of Gold". However, don't expect to see gold idol of Chaitanyadeb. Instead you will see a gold idol (supposedly - because it is very small, precious gold result in small idols normally) of Sr Krishna playing flute. The guard at the gate told me that Gouranga assumed the Krishna roopa here. Hence the name. I don't know the history of the place. The building looks like it used to be a place of a moneyed householder in the yesteryears. Now with their money gone - it is probably in the hands of trustees. Who do not have the business acumen or wish to make it a place of business. So this place has no entry fee, neither it is well maintained. You need money to maintain it - that money is not coming from anywhere. Therefore, though it might be a place of Vaishnava religious significance, it is not that crowded, neither is it well maintained with pom and fare.

Please Keep Distance from Panda because they took your all Money

Quite peaceful. Very blissful.

It is a serene place to stay & philosophical attire will grow from within your heart ♥ and Krishna consciousness will bend you from the core of your heart ♥..

very good place but no so popular temple found broken partly and not maintained properly requesting odisha govt to take care. this is a historical place.