Chilika Lake had hidden Shree Jagannath when invaders attacked Puri

Vast deep waters of Chilika Lake had hidden Shree Jagannath. Threatened by a Muslim invasion, deities of Shree Jagannath temple had left Puri in 1509 AD. During this exile Chilika Lake had become their shelter. This had happened during the reign of Prataprudradeva in Odisha. At that time Allauddin Hussain Shah was the sultan of Bengal. He was always trying to invade Odisha and Puri. But this sultan of Bengal had not dared to attack Puri when Prataprudradeva was present in Srikhetra or nearby.

Nefarious intention:

In 1509 AD, Prataprudradeva had to leave for southern region of his empire for some administrative and defence related work. This news reached Allauddin Hussain Shah. His commander Ismail Ghazi invaded Odisha. Bengal sultan’s commander launched an attack on Puri. Without the king, the defence of Puri was weak. Priests of the temple could assess that the Islamic invader had aimed to desecrate the deities of Shree Jagannath temple.

Protecting the divine:

The priests of Jagannath temple decided to protect the idols from the nefarious intention of Ismail Ghazi. The best way was to hide the deities in the nearby Chilika Lake. The deities were secretly taken away from the inner sanctum of the temple to a large boat termed ‘chapa’ floating in the large lagoon. Shree Jagannath, Shree Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Shree Sudarshan boarded this boat along with some selected priests. The boat along with the deities had moved to the foot hills of Chedheiguha Pahada inside the lagoon.

No match:

Receiving information about the Muslim invasion on Puri, Prataprudradeva rushed back from Deccan. Ismail Ghazi led army of the Bengal sultan was no match for the mighty Odia warriors of Prataparudradeva. The Odia king drove away the Muslim invader from Puri and territory of Odisha as well. Ismail Ghazi and his army had to retreat back to Hughli. The deities returned back to the temple again to provide darshan to the awaiting devotees.

Better to escape:

During the rule of Bhanudeva-III, the Muslim ruler of Delhi, Feroz Shah Tughluq had invaded Puri. He had also preferred to attack Puri in 1360 when the Odia king was not present to protect Srikhetra. Hearing news about the invasion, Bhanudeva-III had rushed back. Feroz Shah Tughluq did not prefer to have a confrontation with the Gajapati king of Puri. He went back to Delhi via Jajnagar (Jajpur) before the arrival of Bhanudeva-III.