Places to visit in Odisha: December 2014

Thursday 18 December 2014

Dhauli - www.vishvabhraman.com

Dhauli hills (Oriya: ଧଉଳିଗିରି) are located on the banks of the river Daya, 8 km south of Bhubaneswar in Odisha (India). It is a hill with vast open space adjoining it, and has major Edicts of Ashoka engraved on a mass of rock, by the side of the road leading to the summit of the hill. Dhauli hill is presumed to be the area where the Kalinga War was fought.

The Rock Edicts found here include Nos. I-X, XIV and two separate Kalinga Edicts. In Kalinga Edict VI, he expresses his concern for the "welfare of the whole world". The rock-cut elephant above the Edicts is the earliest Buddhist sculpture of Odisha. The stone elephant shows the animal's foreparts only, though it has a fine sense of form and movement.

Ashoka had a special weakness for Dhauli, where the battle was fought. The Daya river is said to have turned red with the blood of the many deceased after the battle, and enabled Ashoka to realize the magnitude of horror associated with war. He saw to it that Dhauli became an important centre of Buddhist activities. He built several chaityas, stupas and pillars there. He got abodes excavated for the recluse, instructions inscribed for officials, expounded the main principles of dandaniti for the public, provided special status to his new kingdom including the stupas at Dhauli.

On the top of the hill, a dazzling white peace pagoda has been built by the Japan Buddha Sangha and the Kalinga Nippon Buddha Sangha in the 1970s.

The nearby region also houses Ashokan edicts and possibly a Stupa at Bhaskareshwar temple at Tankapani road as argued by scholars. The Dhauligiri hills also has an ancient Shiva temple which is the place for mass gathering during Shiva Ratri Celebrations.

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Lingaraj Temple - www.vishvabhraman.com

Lingaraj Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Harihara, a form of Shiva and is one of the oldest temples in Bhubaneswar, the capital of the East Indian state of Odisha (formerly Orissa). The temple is the most prominent landmark of the Bhubaneswar city and one of the major tourist attractions of the state.

The Lingaraja temple is the largest temple in Bhubaneswar. The central tower of the temple is 180 ft (55 m) tall. The temple represents the quintessence of the Kalinga Architecture and culminating the medieval stages of the architectural tradition at Bhubaneswar. The temple is believed to be built by the kings from the Somavamsi dynasty, with later additions from the Ganga rulers. The temple is built in the Deula style that has four components namely, vimana (structure containing the sanctum),jagamohana (assembly hall), natamandira (festival hall) and bhoga-mandapa (hall of offerings), each increasing in the height to its predecessor. The temple complex has 50 other shrines and is enclosed by a large compound wall.

Bhubaneswar is called the Ekamra Kshetra as the deity of Lingaraj was originally under a mango tree (Ekamra) as noted inEkamra Purana, a 13th-century Sanskrit treatise. The temple is active in worship practises, unlike most other temples in Bhubaneswar and Shiva is worshipped as Harihara, a combined form of Vishnu and Shiva. The temple has images of Vishnu, possibly because of the rising prominence of Jagannath cult emnating from the Ganga rulers who built the Jagannath Temple in Puri in the 12th century.

Lingaraja temple is maintained by the Temple Trust Board and the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). The temple has an average of 6,000 visitors per day and receives lakhs of visitors during festivals. Shivaratri festival is the major festival celebrated in the temple and event during 2012 witnessed 200,000 visitors.

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Rajarani Temple - www.vishvabhraman.com

Rajarani Temple is an 11th-century Hindu temple located in Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha (Orissa previously), India. The temple is originally believed to be known as Indreswara and locally known as "love temple" on account of the erotic carvings of women and couples in the temple. Rajatemple is built on pnahcratha style on a raised platform with two structures; a central shrine namely the vimana (sanctum) with the bada (the curvilinear spire) over its roof raising up to a height of 18 m (59 ft) and a viewing hall called jagamohana with a pyramidal roof . The temple was constructed of dull red and turbid yellow sandstone locally called "Rajarani".

Various historians place the original construction date between the 11th and 12th centuries and have placed it roughly belonging to the same period of the Jagannath Temple at Puri. The architecture of other temples in central India is believed to have originated from the temple, with the notable ones being the Khajuraho temples and Totesvara Mahadeo temple in Kadawa. The are various sculptures in the walls around the temple and the vimana depicting scenes of marriage of Shiva, Nataraja, Parvati, tall slender sophisticated nayikas depicted in various roles and moods such as turning her head from an emaciated ascetic, fondling her child, holding a branch of tree, attending to her toilet, looking into mirror, taking off her anklet, caressing her pet bird and playing instrument. Rajarani temple is maintained by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) as a ticketed monument.

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Bhubaneswar - www.vishvabhraman.com

Bhubaneswar also spelt Bhubaneshwar Bhubanēswara; is the capital of the Indian state of Odisha, formerly known as Orissa. The city has a history of over 3,000 years starting with the Mahamegha-bahana Chedi dynasty (around the 2nd century BCE) which had its capital at Sisupalgarh, nearby. Bhubaneswar, derived its name from Tribhubaneswar, which literally means the Lord (Eeswar) of the Three World (Tribhuban), which refers to Shiva. Bhubaneswar has been known by names such as Toshali, Kalinga Nagari, Nagar Kalinga, Ekamra Kanan, Ekamra Kshetra and Mandira Malini Nagari ("City of Temples"). It is the largest city in Odisha and is a centre of economic and religious importance in Eastern India.

With many Hindu temples, which span the entire spectrum of Kalinga architecture, Bhubaneswar is often referred to as a Temple City of India and together with Puri and Konark it forms the Swarna Tribhuja ("Golden Triangle"), one of eastern India's most visited destinations.

Bhubaneswar replaced Cuttack as the capital in 1948, the year after India gained its independence from Britain. The modern city was designed by the German architect Otto Königsberger in 1946. Along with Jamshedpur and Chandigarh, it was one of modern India's first planned cities. Bhubaneswar and Cuttack are often referred to as the twin-cities of Odisha. The metropolitan area formed by the two cities had a population of 1.4 million in 2011. Bhubaneswar is categorised as a Tier-2 city. An emerging Information Technology (IT) and education hub, Bhubaneswar is one of the country's fastest-developing cities.

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Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves - www.vishvabhraman.com

Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves (Oriya: ଉଦୟଗିରି ଓ ଖଣ୍ଡଗିରି ଗୁମ୍ଫା) are partly natural and partly artificial caves of archaeological, historical and religious importance near the city of Bhubaneswar in Odisha, India. The caves are situated on two adjacent hills, Udayagiri and Khandagiri, mentioned as Kumari Parvat in the Hathigumpha inscription. They have a number of finely and ornately carved caves. It is believed that most of these caves were carved out as residential blocks for Jain monks during the reign of King Kharavela. Udayagiri means "Sunrise Hill" and has 18 caves while Khandagiri has 15 caves.

The caves of Udayagiri and Khandagiri, called lena or leṇa in the inscriptions, were dug out mostly during the reign of Kharavela for the abode of Jaina ascetics. The most important of this group is Ranigumpha in Udayagiri which is a double storeyed monastery.

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Nandankanan Zoological Park - www.vishvabhraman.com

Nandankanan Zoological Park is a 400-hectare (990-acre) zoo and botanical garden in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. Established in 1960, it was opened to the public in 1979 and became the first zoo in India to join World Association of Zoos and Aquariums(WAZA) in 2009. It also contains a botanical garden and part of it has been declared a sanctuary. Nandankanan, literally meaningThe Garden of Heavens, is located near the capital city, Bhubaneswar, in the environs of the Chandaka forest, and includes the 134-acre (54 ha) Kanjia lake.

A major upgrade was done in 2000 (after the damage caused by the super-cyclone of 1999 in coastal Odisha). More than 2 million visitors visit Nandankanan every year.

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