ORISSA TOUR OF 5 DAYS

PART II

BHUBANESHWAR

Though I reached on the morning of 23rd February, Bhubaneshwar - I had darshan at Ram Mandir in the evening and then proceeded next Morning to Puri and was there for 3 days. On my return from Puri, I went to various places in Bhubaneshwar.  Also in the process, could see the PMG Chowk, turned into an Andolan Square with various posters and many of the shelters have not even been removed, though the andolan was over.   The day I was there, the women journalist had their protest.

                                                                         Ram Mandir

The Ram Mandir with a beautiful architecture is an addition to Bhubaneshwar Temples from 27th June 1979 by a private trust in Kharvel Nagar near Rajpath.  The evening ‘Aarti’ performed at Ram Mandir holds a special place in the hearts of the locals, who make it a point to witness it. On 23rd Feb, when I had gone for Darshan, Harikatha was going on and then arthi was done for the beautiful murthis of Ram, Sita and Lakshman and Anjaneya. There are separate sannidhis for Lord Ganesh, Lord Siva, Parvati, Panchamuki Hanuman, Karthikeya, Nandhi and Lord Krishna with consort Radha.  Lord Siva sannidhi also has Goddess Durga.  Pooja items shop is around the corridor of the temple. 
By the side of Ram Mandir compound, outside, there is a nameless shop serving tiffin all over the day.   Speciality in this shop is the Poori and sabji.   They also serve dosas and Dahi vada. 

On 27th after completion of tour of Puri, returned to Bhubaneshwar in the morning and straight went to the Lingaraj Temple for Darshan.   The Lingaraj temple is having a vimana of 180 ft height and is quite large to have other deities in the complex.  It was built by King Jajati Keshari in the 10th Century and completed by King Lalatendu Keshari in the 11th Century. There is a belief that the Swayambhu Shivalinga in the temple was worshiped even in the 7th century and believed to be of 8 feet in diameter and 8 inches tall. An architectural wonder, the Lingaraj Temple is the top tourist attraction of the city; however, it can only be visited by Hindus. Spread over a huge area, the temple complex also features 150 smaller shrines.  

Shiva spoke very high of Bhubaneshwar to Parvati - or Ekamra Thirtha as it was earlier known  -  She wanted to check that for herself and came here as a cowherd woman.  Two demons kritti and vasas followed her and asked her to marry them.  She asked them to carry her on their shoulders and crushed them.   Shiva here made the Bindu Sarovar to quench her thirst and himself came as Lord Lingaraj.

The Ganesha is in a standing posture and at an elevated platform and a few steps are to be ascended to have darshan.   There are separate sannidhis for Ramalinga, Kedarnath, Somnath, for 12 jyothirlings, Anjaneya, Jagannath, Vrushaba and  Parvati.

Chandan Yatra is a 21-day festival that begins on the auspicious day of Akshaya Tritiya. During this festival, the idols of the deities are taken to the Bindu Sarovar and a procession is performed in the water in beautifully decorated narrow boats called Chapa.  The vigrahas are immersed in the Bindu Sarovar water and sandalwood paste applied.

The annual Car Festival or Rath Yatra of Lord Lingaraj is called as Ashokashtami. It is celebrated with much fervor on the eight day of Chaitra month (March/April) as per the Hindu calendar. During the festival, the idol of Lord Lingaraj is taken to the Rameswar Temple (also called as Mausi Maa Temple) in a decorated chariot. The idol of the deity is brought back to the Lingaraj Temple after four days, following a ritual bath at the Bindu Sarovar.   The Bindu Sarovar is situated to the north of the Lingaraj Temple. This lake is 700 ft wide and 1300 ft long. It becomes the focal point of the Chandan Yatra festival each year. A beautiful garden lies on the western bank of it, known as Ekamra Van.   A platform has been constructed for non- Hindus to see the temple from the outside.

I had darshan at Mukteshwara temple and Kedar Gauri temple which are adjacent and nearby Bindu Sagar.  In fact, the entrance of these temples are just 40metres apart, but the car parking is better before Kedar Gauri temple.  Built in the 10th century, the temple belongs to the Somavamshi Dynasty and is believed to be sculpted by Yayati I, Mukteshwara Temple has Kalinga style of architecture.  Entirely made out of red sandstone, this 35-feet temple is famous especially for its elaborately decorated arched-shaped gateway (locally known as Torana).  Its ‘shikara’ is decorated with carvings of four ‘natrajas’ with ‘kirthimukhas’.  On the outer face of the compound wall are niches containing a variety of divinities. These include Saraswati in sitting posture on a lotus with two female attendants by her side, Ganesa with mouse and Lakulisha, the fifth century founder of the Pashupata sect of tantric Shaivism, who is portrayed sitting cross-legged, with two miniature ascetic figures in the triangular side panels. The fact that these wall niches include Buddhist and Jain images as well as Shaivite ones attests that there had been inroads in the Orissan religious life, as in many parts of India.

Another major attraction of the temple that draws crowds in huge numbers is the Mukteswara Dance Festival, which is organized by Odisha Tourism, in the month of January every year.  The festival was first held in 1984. However, it has been organized continuously since 2004.

                                                                Mukteshwara Temple

Kedar Gowri Temple is to the south of Mukteshwara temple.  The presiding deity worshiped at Kedargowri temple is Lord Shiva known as Kedareshwar and the spire of this temple is of white colour.   The separate sannidhi of Parvati has the spire in red colour.  Apart from the main sannidhis, there are sannidhis for deities Lord Ganesha, four armed Karthikeya, Durga and Hanuman.  One festival celebrated with much fervor at Kedargauri Temple is Sital Sasthi. This festival celebrates the divine marriage of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. It is celebrated every year in the month of May or June. On this day, a procession of Lord Shiva is carried out from the Lingaraj Temple till Kedargauri Temple, where his marriage with Goddess Parvati is conducted with rituals.  The temple premises houses two kunds, namely Khira Kund and Marichi Kund which are said to have sacred powers.  The Khira kund is believed to relieve devotees from the cycle of birth and death and Marichi Kund helps to come out of infertility.

Timings: 6 AM to 7 PM

Bindu Sarovar

Parvati felt very thirsty and to quench her thirst lord Siva struck his trident at this place, out of which a spring came out.  The waterbody is known as Bindu Sarovar.  Presently the lake is 1300 ft in length and 700 ft in width.  As per the legend, Lord Shiva expressed his preference for Bhubaneshwar, over Benares, in front of His consort, Goddess Parvati. She disguised Herself as a cowherd woman and went to look at the city. On the way, she met two demons, Kritti and Vasa, who expressed a wish to marry Her. She asked them to carry Her on their shoulders and when they did so, She crushed them under Her weight. It was at this time that Lord Shiva created the lake to quench Her thirst.

Rajarani temple -  The history of the Rajarani Temple dates back to the 11th century when it was built by lndraratha, a famous Somavamsi dynasty ruler. As per historians, earlier it was called as Indreswara Temple, supposedly named after Indraratha. However, there is another school of thought that indicates that the Indreswara was named after Lord Shiva. Although there is no presiding deity of this temple, there is a strong belief that it has connection to Shaivism.

Later on, the temple came to be known as Rajarani because of its color – yellow and red sandstone – that is locally known as Rajarani.  Presently, this place under the control of the Archeological Survey of India who collect a fee of Rs.20/- per individual.  A beautiful garden has come up and being maintained in this place.

On 27th February evening, I went to twin cave temples of Daulagiri-Khandagiri.  Khandagiri houses the Jain Temple.   Guhas can be seen in both the places.   Though there appears to be a few steps cut in the rock itself, there is a lot of climbing required, though it is only a small hillock.  Aged people will have to take care and for coming down there is a steep incline ramp made with both sides steel pipe structure throughout the incline.  Evening hours would be very pleasant and also one can have panoramic view of the city from this place.  Added is the presence of monkeys and there are people who give bananas to them to make them sit on your shoulders for a small sum and photos taken and given to you.  A monkey sat on floor and posed uninvited and a photo was taken by me.  There is an entrance fee of Rs.25/- and naturally it is under the control of Archeological Survey of India.

Later in the evening, I had been to the small but beautiful ISKON temple at Nayapalli, Bhubaneshwar built by Sri Gaur Govinda Swami, inaugurated in 1991 by Sri Nityananda Prabhu.  Padma Mandira, the lotus temple houses the idols of Sree Radha Gopinatha and Sree Gauranga Mahaprabhu.  There are three other altars in the temple that of Sri Krishna-Balaram, Sri Gaur Nitai, and Sri Jagannath, Sri Balaram and Subhadhra Devi.   The temple also includes Srila (Swami) Prabhupada’s ‘Bhajan Kutir’.   A ‘Brahmachari’ ashram complex has been built inside the premises that can accommodate up to 150 Brahmacharis. 

Bhajan was going on at the time I went to the temple and elaborate arthi darshan was there shortly.

A new building has come up on the Platform No.6 of the Bhubaneshwar Railway Station and the No.1 platform side requires a facelift.

The Secretariat of Bhubaneshwar

Biju Patnaik International Airport

There are a lot of shopping malls all over Rajpath near Karvel Nagar, and also smaller shops all put together in a place called Unit I, very near to Rajpath.  Many hotels are in around this place.  One can have a costlier hotel food or an affordable street food.  Vegetarian only hotels are few.  I was at Bhubaneshwar for two days out of the 6 days trip.   Part III deals with my tour of Konark and Satapada (Chilka Lake).

 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.

 

SOUTH AND NORTH KANARA TOUR FOR A WEEK

This tour with family for a week was planned by road and my second son had to drive all the way and started on 01 04 2022 early morning from Bangalore and returned to Bangalore on 08 04 22 afternoon.  This had all the aspects, namely having darshan at temples, enjoying in Malpe Beach in Udupi and Beach at Murdeshwar and also Gokak falls and further actively involved in learning the historic significance of the sculpting works in Badami, Pattadakall and Aihole.

Dharmathsthala, Horanadu, Naravi, Kateel, Malpe beach of udupi, Krishna and other temples of Udupi, Kollur Mookambika Devi temple, Murdeshwar, Idagunji, Gokarna, Sirsi, Belgavi, Badami and around and also Harihara and Davangere are the places covered in the tour.

01 04 22            

Started early morning and had Dharshan of Sree Manjunatha at Dharmathsala and also took the Annaprasada there and moved to Horanadu and had darshan of Sree Annapoorneswari late evening and stayed at Horanadu.

02 04 22         

Ugadi day. Early morning vacated the hotel and moved to Sringeri to darshan of Sree Sharadambal.  We did not stay there to get the blessing of the Acharya  Swamigal which will be in the afternoon or evening.  Thus started at 09.30 am  after having breakfast there in the nearby hotel and moved to Naravi and was at 11.00 am and had divya darshan of Sree Suryanarayanaswami.   There was not much of a crowd here and thus we left for Kateel from there and was at 12.30 pm.  Large number  of devotees had gathered there and still we had darshan at this temple with half an hour in queue.  Proceeding from there to Malpe Beach  resort we had booked a room and on the way, we had a lunch at MTR1924 near Udupi.   Taking rest until 5 pm, we enjoyed in the Malpe seashore for an hour and half and then proceeded to Sree Balaramar temple which is just 700 metres from the beach.  The Balarama Vigragha was the one taken along with Sree   Krishna by Guru Madhwacharyar.  A small but beautiful temple and around 15 people had gathered for darshan at that time and followers of ISKON were  doing Bhajan at that time.  Proceeded to Udupi and had a late evening darshan   at Sree Anantheswara, Sree Chandramouleeshwara and Sree Krishna.  We were fortunate to see the temple car procession and some family members also drew  the Ther for some distance.   We were in the queue for around 40 minutes to have darshan of Lord Krishna through the Nava dhwara.  Had tiffin in the night  at Mitra samaj near the temple at around 08.45 pm which was the closing time of the hotel and returned to place of stay.

                                                      Sree Suryanarayana temple Naravi

Sree Durgaparameshwari temple Kateel

Udupi Sree Krishna Temple

03 04 22

The complimentary breakfast in the Hotel was taken and proceeded to Sree Mookambika temple at Kollur.   Though we reached at 11.20 hours, we stood in the normal queue and waited for the darshan of the Devi at finally had darshan at 12.50 hrs.  There is a Rs.100/- Queue for Special Darshan.  This helped us to see the procession taken for the afternoon pooja around the temple which was  very near to the Queue, including Goddess in the Ratha and in Palanquin taken  around arranged by some of the devotees. We proceeded to Murdeshwar and had our Lunch at Hotel Kamath at Murdeshwara.  After settling in the Hotel booked there and having rest for an hour, we went to the Murdeshwar temple as also enjoyed the seashore at  Murdeshwar. Children would enjoy this seashore with horse and camel riding, Power boats, skidive and also one can go to the Islands a little away from the shore.  The dinner was also at the Kamats'. 

04 04 22        

Reaching early Murdeshwar previous evening, gave the opportunity the  made us to include Gokarnam too in the morning session of this day.   But we went first to Idagunji and had a wonderful Dharshan of Sree Mahaganapthy there.   The temple opens at 6.30 am and we were there at 7 am.   We had packed earlier some bread the previous day and after Dharshan we had it there and moved to Gokarna and was there at 9.30 am.  First we had Dharshan of the Ganapthy who was instrumental in Lord Mahabaleshwar staying in Gokarnam. Not much of a Queue though devotees had gathered there.  We were allowed to feel the Lingam which was deep in the hole.  As our original programme, we reached Sirsi in the  afternoon and stayed there at Hotel Madhuvana.   We had our lunch there.  Took rest until evening.   In the evening, we proceeded to Sree Marikamba  temple and Sree Mahaganapthy (Dodda Ganapathy) temple and retuned back  in the evening had dinner too at hotel Madhuvana.    

05 04 22         

Left Sirsi at 7 am and reached Shahasralinga in the river Shalamala. The water level was not much, thus we could see more of the lingams and there is no pooja  done here though on Mahasivarathri day people gather to perform pooja to lingams.  Children can also enjoy here on the hanging bridge over the river.  After being there for an hour, we left for Belgavi and on the way, we took Lunch at a hotel on the way, Hotel Indraprastha.   We could have moved from Sirsi to Badami but we went to Belgavi and stayed there for the night.

06 04 22      

After a complimentary Breakfast at the Hotel, proceeded to Badami and reached  in the afternoon.  We found the options for Vegetarians lesser at Badami and had  our Lunch at a Hotel near Bus Station of Badami, which served Veg Food. After  rest for two hours, left to Badami cave temples and to Banshankari temple in the  evening and night stay at Badami.  One should have good physique to ascend the  steps of the Badami cave temple.  The first cave is dedicated to Lord Shiva and  only a few steps are to be climbed for that and the second and third caves have more steps.  One can also see at the eastern end the Lake and Bhoothnath temple from  the second cave area itself.  After dinner, settled in the Hotel.  Thee is entry ticket for Badami caves for those above 12 years.

07 04 22    

After a complimentary breakfast in the hotel, proceeded to the stone structures of  Pattadakall and Aihole.  At Pattadakall, 19 kms from Badami, Virupaksha temple  and other structures stand testimony to the skills of our sculptors of the Chalukya regime.  At Aihole, stone structures all around the place and it is said that around 125 temples are present here.  In the enclosure in the archeological department, there are about 14 temples.   Entry tickets are to be purchased at both Pattadakall and Aihole.   The route preferred for going towards Bangalore, is again coming  back to Badami and thus planning can be suitably done according to the necessity.    We wanted to have a day's stay on way back to Bangalore and thus stayed at  Davangere.   We went to Sree Harihareshwara temple and on the day there was procession arranged with reverence and prayers to River Tungabhadra.  In the night, ordered and took Davangere Benne Dosa.

 08 08 22   

After breakfast, started and reached Bangalore at around 2 pm.

Separate Blog postings are posted of the individual temples or sites and the links are appended here.

1   Sree Manjunatha Temple, Dharmathsthala
        https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2022/04/sree-manjunatha-temple-dharmathsthala.html
2    Sree Annapoorneswari, Horanadu
        https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2022/04/sree-annapoorneswari-temple-horanadu.html
3    Sree Sharadambal temple, Sringeri
        https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2022/04/sree-sharadambal-temple-sringeri-after.html
4    Sree Suryanarayana Temple Naravi
        https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2013/06/shree-suryanarayana-temple-naravi.html
5    Sree Durga Parameswari Temple, Kateel
        https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2022/04/sree-durgaparameswari-temple-kateel-on.html
6    Sree Vadabandeshwar Balaramar Temple near Malpe Beach Udupi
        https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2022/04/vadabhandeshwar-sree-balaramar-temple.html
7    Sree Krishna Temple, Udupi
        https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2022/04/sree-krishna-temple-udupi-on-02-04-22.html
8    Sree Mookambika Devi, Kollur, Karnataka
        https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2022/04/sree-mookambika-devi-kollur-karnataka.html
9    Murdeshwar, Karnataka
        https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2022/04/murdeshwar-karnataka-murdeshwar-temple.html
10    Mahatobar Sree Mahaganapathi Temple, Idagunji, Karnataka
        https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2022/04/mhatobar-sree-mahaganapathi-temple.html
11    Sree Mahabaleshwar, Gokarna, Karnataka
        https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2022/04/sree-mahabaleshwar-gokarana-karnataka.html
12    Sahasralinga, Marikamba and Mahaganapathi temple of Sirsi, Karnataka
        https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2022/04/sahasralinga-marikamba-and.html
13    Badami, Pattadakall and Aihole of Karnataka
        https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2022/04/badami-pattadakall-and-aihole-of.html