~~ By VCSL Treasurer, Rameshbhai P Bharkhada and his wife, Jyotiben R Bharkhada.
( Part 1 of 3 – May 2009)

Before we start to tell you about our adventure, let us give a brief history of Orissa from what we have read so far and it was our quest to see three of the most important temples in Orissa, the Lingaraj Mandir at Bhubaneswar (11th century), the Jagannath temple at Puri (12th century) and the great Sun Temple at Konark (13th century).

BACKGROUND

A visit to this part of India is an experience not to be missed. One feels as if one is entering a world of spiritual tranquility. Orissa, formerly known as 'Utkala' in the ancient past, Utkala was a part of the Kalinga Empire which was invaded by Ashoka the Great in the 3rd century B.C.

The Indian history depicts the havoc and horror of this war and there are tales of Ashoka's unfettered greed and ambitions. It is said that he had killed his own brothers to become the unrivalled ruler of the Mauryan Empire. The Battle of Kalinga was yet another example of his thirst that was not pacified until gallons of blood was shed in the battlefield. It is said that it was such a disastrous war that almost all the warriors were either wounded or dead and then women had to come to the vanguard. This battle was vividly visualize in SRK movie ‘Ashoka'.

It was shocking for Ashoka that he had become the cause of death of so many people. He felt that he was in violent dreams. He put down his arms and pledged to spread the religion of peace and of mercy. Thus he became the follower of Buddha and spent rest of his life in sending emissaries of peace far and wide and concentrated on the welfare of the people. Buddhism soon became a popular in the religion because it opposed the Brahmin philosophy of rituals. It was a great relief for the majority of people, and soon spread in the region taking over Hinduism. .

As we know that India has been the cradle of many Faiths and Religions but Hinduism is deep rooted. Invaded, converted, coveted and perverted time and again it ultimately stands out as a gigantic tree, firm in its roots amidst the storms of time. What most the storms could do was to snatch away some leaves and pluck down some dried twigs.

At such a declining stage of Hinduism when most of its old adherents were fleeing to Buddhism, a unique personality was born in India known to all by the name of Shankaracharya who was hailed by his followers as "Jagadguru" (the teacher of the world) and was believed to be an incarnation of one of the Trinity1, Lord Shankar. Shankaracharya devoted his time and energy to the reinstatement of the lost glory of Hinduism

The revival of Hinduism brought to Orissa the golden age of Temples. It is believed that only around Bhubneshwar, the capital of Orissa well known as the City of Temples, there were over 7,000 temples but many of them were invaded and destroyed and now only some hundreds exist. Most of these Oriyan temples were built between 8th-13th century A.D. and though all of them are marvels of time and attractive masterpieces of Orissan style of architecture.

DAY 1

Jagannath Temple
Although I have been working in Jamshedpur, India, for nearly a year I have never ventured out to seek marvel architect of ancient civilization. When my wife Jyoti called me to say that she will be visiting me during half term, school break, I thought, this is the time to organize a trip to see Konark in Orissa. Ever since I visited the Sun Temple in Modhera, Gujarat, I had vivid imagination of this Sun Temple in Konark, which was meant to be constructed in grandeur scale. Also the city of Puri in Orissa is counted among seven sacred spots that lead to salvation. Ayodhya, Mathura, Kashi, Kanchi, Avantika and Dwaraka are the remaining six of such sacred spots. The essence of the sanctity of Puri is its famous Jagannath Temple, a temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu.

Due to work constraint I had limited time so we decided to spent two days in Puri and one and half day in Kolkata to relax. We took a night train from Jamshedpur to Puri to utilized full day in Puri. However ten hours train journey turn into fourteen hours so we lost half day. What a start!!!

After re-arranging our schedule we decide that we will spent rest of the time in Puri and visit Jagannath Temple in the evening so that we have the full opportunity to take part in Aarti and also see the temple with sun setting in the background. We also pre-arranged to take ‘pandit’ with us so that we don’t get any harassment from mandir pandits. Although Jagannath Temple has lots of architect to admire, it is famously known for people coming here to worship the Lord. After washing our feet and hands we enter the temple from the main gate with ‘Garunda Stamba’ in front.

The temple is very selective regarding who is allowed to entry into the grounds! Most non-Hindus are excluded from its premises.

The huge temple complex covers an area of over 400,000 square feet (37,000 m2), and it contains at least 108 temples and shrines. We only managed to see four shrines. To see and digest the history of each shrine would probably take at least a week!

The temple complex is surrounded by a massive, six metres high stone wall which has four entrances. The main entrance is the Lion Gate with on each side two stone lions. The main part of the complex has four buildings:

1. The 65 metres high sikhar or sanctuary
2. The Jagamohan or assembly hall
3. The Nata Mandap or dancing hall
4. The Bhog Mandap or refractory. The refractory is a large kitchen, where food is prepared for more than 6000 people.

It was here in Bhog Mandap we nearly got stampede by the crowd of people coming in and out from a same gate. We were pushed around in all direction and the steps at the entrance hall were slippery which could have easily caused injury.

The harmony of this Bhog offering ceremony is so dramatic and lively to watch. People were moving fast with huge food container over head, dodging people around! It is said that ‘Chapan Bhogan’ is offered to the Lord everyday. We sponsored part of this Bhojan cost but as usual, being NIRs they were expecting us to give large amount of donation. We looked at the dance hall and continued to main hall, the Lord Jagannath sikhar.

The sikhar hall has three shrines of Jagannath, brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra sitting on a decorated platform of inner sanctum. Once you are inside you tend to forget the entire crowd around and somehow feel solace of peace and calmness within yourself. After taking blessing from Lord we headed to golden beach of Puri

Puri Beach

The beaches of Puri are beautiful with golden sands and stretch for miles. A leisurely evening stroll on the beach after a long hot day is so peaceful; but watching the sunset was just magical.

The beach by night with the brightly lighted kiosks selling fast food and souvenirs, were very busy. People were walking on the beach or sitting by the beach enjoying the cool fresh breeze from the sea while the furious roar of the sea has music of its own! The whole thing simply enthralls you and captivates your soul!

On the second day on our way back from Konark we visited Chnadrabhag beach in the late afternoon and were lucky enough to reach our hotel’s private beach to enjoy the breath taking view of the sunset. If someone wants to combine holiday of beach and Yatra than Puri is the right place, but try and avoid any festive season.

Although we did not see them, Puri beaches are renowned for the sand sculptures created particularly by the internationally famed Sudarshan Patnaik.

To be continued………………(in June 2009)