Puri

Puri is one of the four dhams, the sacred corners of India, and everything here turns on one temple. The present Jagannath temple was raised in the twelfth century by the Eastern Ganga king Anantavarman Chodaganga, and its spire still dominates the low town between the Bay of Bengal and the paddy fields. Inside are Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra — wooden figures with great round eyes, unlike any other deities in India.

Once a year, in June or July, they come out. At Rath Yatra the three are placed on huge wooden chariots, built new every year, and hauled by hundreds of thousands of people down the Bada Danda, the Grand Road, to the Gundicha temple. The English word juggernaut comes from this procession.

The temple is closed to non-Hindus, and that rule is firmly kept. What everyone can share is its food. The temple kitchen, one of the largest in the world, cooks mahaprasad every day in stacked earthen pots over wood fires — rice, dalma, khechudi, sweet and sour curries — and sells it in the Ananda Bazaar inside the walls. Outside, the town eats khaja, the layered fried sweet sold by the kilo, and chhena poda; on the coast, macha besara, fish in mustard.

Beyond the temple, Puri is a village of craftsmen. At Raghurajpur, 14 km away, every household paints pattachitra — mythological scenes on cloth and palm leaf — and boys still train as gotipua dancers. Konark's thirteenth-century Sun Temple, carved as a chariot on stone wheels, is 35 km up the coast, and Chilika, Asia's largest brackish lagoon, lies to the south-west.

Visit Konark by the coastal Marine Drive in the early morning, before the heat and the buses, and stop at Chandrabhaga beach on the way. At Chilika, go from Satapada for the Irrawaddy dolphins, and ask your boatman to keep his distance from them. In town, eat mahaprasad from Ananda Bazaar if you are allowed in, or ask a Saint where to find it outside. Watch the sand artists on the beach at dusk. And agree a fee with any temple guide before you start.

Puri's beach has strong currents and drownings every year; swim only near the traditional lifeguards, the nuliyas, in their conical hats. Respect the temple's entry rules without argument. The cremation ground at Swargadwar is on the beach; walk past it with care and no camera. Buy pattachitra from the painters at Raghurajpur rather than from the town stalls.

Puri is where the temple tradition is most alive; Bhubaneswar, an hour inland, is where it was built in stone. The old Ekamra temples, the Jain caves and Dhauli's edicts make the other half of the story.