Jagannath Sadak – Retracing Orissa Trunk Road from Kolkata to Puri Jagannath Temple

Jagannath Sadak, also known as Orissa Trunk Road, was established in 1790. Pilgrims from Kolkata used to travel by foot through this route to reach the Puri Jagannath Temple. With the arrival of Railways in India, the road route was abandoned. To rekindle the memory of the old journey, a group of Hindu devotees recently undertook the yatra on foot through the Jagannath Sadak – the journey called Sri Sri Jagannath Sadak Sagada Yatra will cover a distance of 484 kilometers between Puri and Kolkata.

Daily India Reports
Anil Dhir, a Hindu devotee said: "It is an initiative to revive the lost glory of a very old road which used to connect Kolkata with Puri. This road was the lifeline for all the pilgrims who would visit the holy abode at Jagannath around the year and especially for the Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath and was established way back in 1790."
"The road has a very rich history, but with the advent of the Railways in 1898, when the first train left from Howrah to Puri, the journey was shortened by 18 hours because by road it took nearly three weeks in a bullock cart and some people even walked," he added.
" After the advent of the Railways, in another five to ten years the road vanished and over the years it was encroached upon by Railways, highways and by the villagers, but in spite of that the tracks of the road are still left," said Dhir.