The Folk-Ethnoecological Practices in the Temple of Lord Jagannath at Puri

The present paper is on the famous Jagannath Temple at Puri, Orissa, India that has a continuous history (about 900 years), of change, adaptation and survival; and promotes exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism at the same time. Here an effort has been made to understand the dynamic interrelationship between a religious organization, its agent, and the communities of followers, involved constantly in producing codes and representations, thereby, analyze diversified aspects of the role of religion. The approach taken in understanding the above mostly adheres to the Ethnoecological perspective that goes on to show how this religious tradition has gone beyond the contours of rituals and adopted practices that imbibe a sense of responsibility and obligation for the environmental sustainability and rejuvenation. The paper expects to show how the whole community is involved around this religious tradition in undertaking apparently ‘religious events’ that play positive role in saving the natural environment.