Padmanabhan Famous Temples of India : Puri Jagannath Temple Kitchen A TO Z INDIA JULY 2022 PAGE 17 Sri Jagannath is the Lord of the Universe. His kitchen is considered as the largest and the biggest kitchen in the world. It is situated south-east direction of the outer compound of Srimandir. The length of the kitchen is 150 feet, breadth is 100 feet and height is about 20 feet. It consists of 32 rooms with 250 earthen ovens within these. Around 600 cooks (Suaras) and 400 assistants serve here everyday for preparing Lord's food. There are three types of hearths in the kitchen of Srimandir such as Anna Chuli, Ahia Chuli and Pitha Chuli. The dimension of hearths where rice is prepared are 4' x 2.5' x 2'. The rectangular space created between two rice hearths is called Ahia. All types of Dal and Curry items are cooked in Ahia Chuli. There are only ten numbers of Pitha Chuli in the temple kitchen wh ich are made of cement. The fire of this kitchen is known as Vaishnava Agni, because it is the fire in the kitchen of Lord Jagannath and used to serve Vishnu Himself. It is never put out. The fire of this kitchen is known as Vaishnava Agni, because it is the fire in the kitchen of Lord Jagannath and used to serve Vishnu Himself. It is never put out. Puri Jagannath Temple Kitchen feeds 100,000 people ever y day and is the world's largest open air kitchen. You will be shocked to see the scale of operations there. There are certain people in each action. Some men pull water from a well, some are in charge of cutting vegetables, some are in-charge of cutting wood and some in charge of cooking. Food is prepared using only pottery; 15,000 pottery utensils are used daily and none of them are recycled. Food is pr epared using a unique technique. Seven pottery
A TO Z INDIA - JULY 2022 Page 16 Page 18