Orissa

Along the long coastline of Orissa are pristine and quiet beaches at Puri, Chandipur and Gopalpur where the blue waters of the Bay of Bengal laps the edges. The state has low mountain ranges, waterfalls, hot sulphur springs and thick forests. Chilka Lake is a birdwatchers delight with migratory birds stopping over for the duration of winter and Bhubaneshwar, Konark and Puri are the three temple towns in the state.
Of all the places to see, Konark is famed for the magnificent stone chariot that is in the temple dedicated to the Sun God.
One can go on a tribal sightseeing tour or explore rock caves or soak away aches and pains in sulphur spring spas at Atri, Taptapani, Deulajhari and Tarabalo. Animal lovers have a wonderful opportunity to see the rare white tiger at Nandankanan Zoo and other wildlife at the Simlipal National Park and Bhitarkanika National Park. November to May is the best time to visit Orissa as the weather is pleasant and also the time when many festival celebrations take place. For those interested in outdoor activities and adventure tourism, Orissa has on offer angling at Chilka Lake, Kayaking and Canoeing at Dhabaleshwar and Barkul, Surfing and Sailing at Gopalpur Beach and Chandipur Beach and exotic treks like the Mahendragiri Trek, Gandhamardan Trek, and Nilagiri Trek in areas endowed with sparkling streams and lush undergrowth.
Bhubaneswar, the capital has a domestic airport and the city along with Behrampore is the railhead connected to major cities in the country. The city is also connected by road to Calcutta and Visakhapatnam in the neighbouring states.

क्या आपके शहर के कार्यालयों की चारदीवारी इतनी सुंदर है ?

क्या आपके शहर के कार्यालयों की चारदीवारी इतनी सुंदर है ?

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भारतीय शहरों में आम तौर पर सरकारी चारदीवारियों को उनके अपने वास्तविक रंगों में कायम रख पाना एक टेढ़ी खीर है। राजनैतिक दलों के…

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Meandering through the Brackish Backwaters of Chilika

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Thanks for all the praise showered on the Jagannath Puri Series.

As promised, I am back with the latest in the remainder write ups on Chilika, Konark, Bhubaneswar (Lingaraj Temple, Nadan Kanan Park), Pipli and Dhauli. In the current part, however, I will cover only the Chilika lake.

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Experiencing the temple town of Puri, Oddisha

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Then panda took us to Anand Bazar area of temple and went away to collect Mahaprasad for us. It was offered to each of us on pattals i.e banana leaves. A huge variety was there but I think children will not like this as it consists of rice, daal and several other items most of which is not liked by children. At last we were offered Rabri, which was very tasty indeed and satisfied our taste buds.

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The Living Stone

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It is a very small temple which has sixty four Yogini figures placed inside the circular wall. Each Yogini has a name and special characteristic such as one with lion face, one with a monkey face, one standing on a human head or one standing in fire and so on. There are a few Yogini temples all over India and all are circular in shape depicting the ‘Yoni’.

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Rambha and Barkul – The flavours of Chilka

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A few were really very nice. Having spent our time at Kalijai we hopped back into the boat and returned to panthanivas. After lunch we took a Tata Iris van and moved on to take a llok at some local places of interest. First we went to Nirmaljhar temple 11 kms away. Inside the small gate there is a small pond in the centre, a small temple on the left and the main temple on the right. A stream flowing from the Easter Ghats has been directed here into a small kund, The sweet sound of flowing water was the only one that could be heard. There was no other living being inside. At the rear, there are small deities of ‘Dashabatara’. Though the temple has immense significance we hardly saw any signs of maintenance. We moved on to Narayani Mata temple 10 kms away. This temple is situated atop Valerry hill. After ascending the loopy road our car came to an abrupt halt. There were several cars and busses ahead of us caught in a fierce jam. Each was having its free run with restless crowd of people don’t know from where created a ruckus. The lone traffic police stood helplessly. After failed attempts by our driver to make a way through, he asked us to make the rest of the journey on foot and parked the car. We started walking past the vehicles and crowd and made our way up the steep road.

I could not understand what we so many people doing here. The area was surrounded by jungle with ‘saal’ and other trees. As we climbed further up the road we saw groups of people cooking food on giant pots. That’s it! These local people are having a picnic, and what a place to choose – a jungle. Never before I had seen so many people (thousands) picnicking in a forest. After walking further we came into a clearing with several steps. There were few shops selling puja items. Manu devotees were buying these for offering to the goddess. After climbing one more flight of stairs we reached the temple sitting amidst the forest with trees and boulders hanging over it. There were lots of monkeys prancing around and I had to be very careful with my cameras. My son was however very amused. The temple complex had a small ‘kund’ and one side there were a few fallen tree trunks (courtesy phailin).

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Konark – The Heritage of Mankind

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On the three sides of Temple three forms of Sun god idols are placed. The southern side GOD called “Mitra” described as the rising Sun. It is 8’3” in height. The western side GOD is called “PUNSAN” and described as mid day Sun, it is 9’6” in height. The northern side GOD is called “ Haritasva” described as setting sun, it 3.58 meters in height which is approximately above 10’.

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