ODISHA TOUR FOR 5 DAYS

Part I

Daulagiri, Art work villages and Puri - Jagannath and other temples and Puri Beach

I was in Odisha in the last week of February 2023.   Started from Bangalore on 22nd February and reached on 23 rd Morning Bhubaneshwar by train.  Got accommodated in a hotel on the Puri-Cuttack Road and nearby to the Railway Station.  In the evening, I was around Rajpath of Bhubaneshwar and also had the chance of getting darshan at the Ram Mandir there.  Later I could see that the Unit I markets were nearby and could have gone there too.  Adjoining the RamMandir, is an eatery where very tasty Poori's are served with sabji throughout the day along with dosa and dahi vada too.

On 24th Morning, vacated the Hotel, after having the complementary breakfast and most of the Hotels in Odhisa serve their breakfast around 8 am and the programme any could be only after that.  The plan was to reach Puri by afternoon 2 pm and first in itinerary was the Buddhist monument at Daulagiri.  It is slightly on an elevated place with a steeper road and around 30 steps to be climbed.  It has a lift, it can be used but still a part of the road has to be covered by foot and also the 30 steps have to be necessarily climbed.  But the place is quite beautiful and also you can have a view of the city from this raised location and a photographer's paradise.

The second stop was at Pipli, the Applique village and I felt we had reached the place very early at 8.45 am.   This is the village where the products of their own and also from the patachitra of Raghurajpur are sold.

  

Further we went to Raghurajpur and around 30 houses in a samll village street are the main producers of the Patachitras and one can get into any of those houses. You are welcomed and shown their produce.  No compulsions that you have to purchase and they have no problems in your purchasing the art works elsewhere from the village.  The costlier ones are made in Palm Leaves strips lined up one after the other to make a full size painting.  The place has other paintings too and some on the wooden boxes, some on bottles and also on cloth and stuck to paper.   

Smaller art works are sold around Rs. 800 to 1000 and larger ones are sold in thousands and some in lakhs.   The criteria is that the no. of days of paintings that are to be done and how many manhours have gone in and naturallly this is based on the intricacies in the paintings.

From there we proceeded to Puri and by the time we reached it was 1.45 pm and as I wanted to have my lunch from a vegetarian hotel, I finished lunch and settled in the Hotel there later.   Took rest and got prepared to go for Puri Jagannath temple in the evening hours.   The flag in the Puri Jagannath temple is done in the evening and from 5 pm and goes on up to 6.30 pm.  Devotees offer flags to be hoisted on completion their wishes.  This has been done over 800 years, and the responsibility has been assigned to a family of priests by the Gajapati King. Every evening, one priest climbs the walls of the temple barefoot and with bare hands, without any equipment and changes the flag.

The blue wheel (Nilachakra) perched on top of the shrine is made of eight metals (asta dhatu).

 

This temple is unique in several ways as the food is prepared in Mud jars kept one over the other and the food gets cooked in the top jar first.  Throughout the day, prasad in the form of food is offered for all devotees and there is brahman bhojan too.   In the kitchen of the temple, there are about 250 hearths, where 56 food items for almost 20,000 people are cooked daily and 50,000 people on special occasions.

 

The darshan of the Lord Jagannath is only for a few minutes like Tirupathi and always with full of devotees to follow this procedure.   In the mornings the Pandiths and locals of Puri are only allowed early in the morning when the temple is opened at 4 am and the darshan starts for devotees only at 6.45 am.   Only Hindus are allowed inside the temple.   All vehicles are stopped much ahead of the temple at Market Square and temple runs battery trucks for those who need up to the main entrance of the temple.  Mobile phones and shoe stands operate at this point.  From here onwards one has to follow the queue and after the temple there are separate sanndihis for the main deities, Nrusimha, Agneeswara, Satyanarayan, Bata Ganesha and Nrutta Ganesha, Vimala, Mahalakshmi, Surya the sun god.  Shops are available inside the temple which sell earthern lamps with wick and ghee for lighting up and placing them at stands provided.

Tulsi vanam behind the temple premises gets its importance because Lord Krishna is said to have been cremated here as per one version.  Also, the wooden idols of Lord Balarama, Jagannath and Subhadra which are replaced every twelve years in the celebration known as Navakalebar and the old idols are buried here. 

Gundicha temple

The Rath Yatra of the temple takes place in the Ashada month.  The mythology of the temple is extended to another temple that stands at the other end of the avenue called the Gundicha Temple. This temple named after Indradyumna’s queen plays host to Jagannath, Subhadra and Balarama during the gorgeous pageant of the Rath Yatra. The three deities leave their home in three colourful chariots and spend ten days there before returning to the Jagannath Temple in a reverse chariot journey.

Apart from other prasads, a special type of sweet unique to Puri Jagannath is Khaja.

                                                              Loknath temple, Puri

Mata Matha or Gauri Vihar

                                                Light House and Puri Beach

I had darshan at the Loknath temple on 25th late evening and also was at the Matha Matt or Gauri Vihar on 26th Morning before going to Satapada (Chilka Lake).   On 25th evening I was at the Puri Beach which has a beautiful drive of 1.5 kms along the beach with eateries and as well as hotels lined up in the entire route.  A new Lighthouse is coming up and was told that it would be ready next year.  The special item of Khaja which is being given as Prasad in Jagannath temple is a wonderful sweet and these are available in the sweet shops here.

On 25th February, I went to Konark and returned early to Puri for the evening Beach view at Puri.  On 26th Feruary I went to Satapada, to have the boat ride in the Chilka Lake and returned back to Puri. Thus the stay at Puri was for 3 days.

At Puri, in these 3 days - first had darshan of Lord Jagannath and also was able to have darshan at Loknath temple.  Further went to Mata Matha and Puri Beach and outstation tour to Konark and Chilka lake.