Lord Jagannath had faced attacks from invaders during the Mughal era and devotees and servitors took him to various places for safety. The Telegraph’s Subhashish Mohanty travels to a few such places in and around Chilika, where the deities had been taken

Berhampur (Chakanashi) island

It takes a 25minute motorboat ride to reach Chakanashi. A country boat will take nearly 45 minutes to reach the destination.  A small thatched structure has been constructed and inside it, the people of two villages — Berhmapur and Mahisa — offer puja to the Lord. Sukant Mallick, a fisherman, said: “Since my childhood I have seen my parents coming to this place to offer puja. Three round-shaped stones on which the images of the deities had been placed were found near a bush. I get peace of mind when I come here.”   

For the last few years the villagers of these areas have been organising a mela to commemorate the event.

Leela Kshetra Gurubai island

It’s big village dominated by members of the fishing community. A huge Jagannath temple and Maa Charchika temple have been built with donations of five villages located inside the chilika lagoon.

Resident Purna Mishra said: “The Puri Jagannath temple administration has also visited the place. We hold pujas and other rituals as practiced by the Jagannath temple in Puri. Only rath yatra is not held here. Lord Jagannath was brought and hidden here when Mughal general Makraam Khan attacked the Puri temple in 1617.  The servitors of Puri took the three deities by road to Satabhaya from where he was brought here.”
Mishra said erstwhile scion of the Parikuda royal family Santosh Kumar Singh Mardaraj Bhramarabar Ray looked after the temple.  

“Our ancestors had to struggle a lot to save the Lord,” said Ananta Jena, a local fisherman.

Nairi Kankana Shikhari 

The place is located in the middle of the Chilika. When Mughal Nawab Taaki Khan attacked Puri during the reign of Ramchandra Deb in 1731, the servitors fled with deities to this place covering a distance of 45km by boat.  
Satyanarayan Sarangi, who teaches Odia at Nachuni College in Khurda, said: “There, kankana (spine gourd) was offered to the deities as naivaidya for the first time. There on, kankada was permitted as naivaidya (offerings) to the deities.”
The temple administration has given one of the wheels of the chariots of Lord Jagannath to be worshipped here. The state government is also developing it as a major tourist spot. 

Nairi Hariswara temple

It is a big and beautiful temple, where Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu are worshipped.  All the rituals of Puri Jagannath temple are followed here.

Banapur

One of the nerve centres of Puri district and Maa Bhagawati is the presiding deity here. “The Lord had come to Banapur using the water route of Chilika and visited Chadehiguia, Gabapadar, Badahanula, Nairi Hariswara temple near the lagoon,” said Sarangi adding that the Lord had come here between 1500 ando 1700 AD. 

The deportation of the Lord prompted his devotee, Salabaga to sing: “Kene gheni jauccha Jagannathanku, ambhe darshan karibu kahaku.”