|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Orissa has been a cauldron for brewing of various faiths in different periods of its chequered history. |
|
|
It has seen the rise of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Though each quite different from the other, they are part of the great Hindu pantheism.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Whoever were the kings of ancient Orissa and whichever religion they belonged to, all of them left an indelible mark by building spectacular temples, shrines and stupas that makes the present Orissa a kaleidoscope of monumental splendour.
It may be a subject of research as to why these kings, unlike the rulers of other parts of the country, did not build forts for their comfort or mausoleums on the death of their beloved ones but preferred construction of religious shrines where each and everybody could throng without any distinction of caste or creed to find solace.
Most of these shrines are located in the ‘Great Golden Triangle’ of Orissa – Bhubaneshwar, Konark and Puri and not-so-famous Pushpagiri Vihars – yet another triangle of ancient Buddhist monuments at Lalitgiri, Ratnagiri and Udaipur, approximately a mere 90 kilometres from Bhubaneshwar.
There are so many temples and shrines in Orissa that an eminent historian and keen observer of Oriyan art and culture, J. Ferguson, remarked; “There are more temples in Orissa than in all the rest of Hindustan put together.” But it is not just merely in numbers but also in their beauty, grandeur and importance to the great Hindu pantheism faith inclusive of Jainism and Buddhism, that Orissa temples take pride of place.
In Orissa the Nagara or the Indo-Aryan style of temple architecture found its full expression between the 10th and 13th centuries AD. The Orissan temples were laid out and constructed according to the precise directions contained in the shastras. Four distinctive structure parts of the temple were developed, viz. the Deul or Sri Mandir (sanctum sanctorum), the Jag Mohan or audience hall, the Nat Mandir or dancing hall and the Bhog Mandir or offering hall.
The Nagara temples were classified according to their outside design as rekha or Bhadra. The “rekha” is the conical beehive-like structure of the spire and the “Bhadra” is the terraced pyramid structure. Most temples in Orissa have a combination of these two designs. The interiors of the Nagara style of temples are starkly plain in contrast to the profusion of decoration outside.
Once a magnetic Saiva center, Bhubaneshwar, the cathedral city of India, was home to some 7000 temples of various shapes and sizes and dedicated to different deities. About 500 survive to this day. Of these, the magnificent temple of Lord Lingaraj, also known as “Bhubaneshwar”, literally, the Lord of the Universe, soaring to a height of about 55 metres, dominates the skyline for miles around. The 10th century Lingaraj temples has been rated “perhaps the finest example of purely Hindu temple in India” by Ferguson. The name of its builder is not clear though it is sometimes attributed to the Somavansi king, Mahabhavagupta Janamejaya. There is a cluster of smaller edifices around the central temple. In addition to the porch or audience hall there is a dance pavilion and a refectory. The Lingaraj temple is the most imposing temple surviving in Orissa – since the largest tower, the one at Konark, has collapsed. Though the main temple in built of pinkish sandstone, there are fine chlorite images of Ganesha, Parvati and Skanda in large niches. Vertical ribs dominate the tower from top to bottom while horizontal dividing lines dominate the pyramidal roof of the porch with its bell-shaped top. Interspersed here and there re stylized seated lions with gaping mouths and uplifted right paws.
Bindusagar, literally meaning “ocean drop” is so named because the tank is said to contain drops of water from every holy river in the country and possesses in consequence, to a superlative degree, the power to wash away sin. Located just north of Lingaraj temple, the center of the tank has a water pavilion – Jal Mandir – where once a year the presiding deity of the Lingaraj temple is brought to be ritually bathed. In front of the central ghat (bank) of this tank, there is a magnificent temple with a porch, a more modern dancing hall and a Bhog Mandir.
Muketshwar – a cluster of temples on the fringe of the city – is known as the gem of Oriyan architecture and is unique in many senses. It has a beautiful stone arch at the entrance and is full of sculptures on its outer walls, the more interesting of which are those depicting the story of the monkey and the crocodile culled from famous folk tales of the Panchatantra which was written by the famous Oriyan pundit, Shri Vishnu Sharma.
Parsurameshwr temple is closeby and is an ideal example of how best an ancient monument should be preserved. It is considered by Fergusson as the oldest temple at Bhubaneswar. A small but lavishly decorated Shiva temple of the 7th century, it has friezes featuring amorous couples, lions, crouching elephants, birds, human figures and floral motifs. But what is most striking are the ornate latticed windows and busts of Shiva. The ground plan is a square, the porch oblong and covered with bas-reliefs representing processions of horses and elephants in the upper linear bands under the cornice with scenes from the life of Rama.
Rajarani temple (so called because of the rajaranea kind of sandstone used) set amidst expansive gardens is famous for its sculptural embellishments as well as for its unusual tower and absence of a deity although originally it was dedicated to Lord Shiva, ‘Indreshwar’, when constructed in the 11th century. Completely exotic in its concept and execution, it is unlike any other temple in Orissa and comes closer to the one at Khajuraho. Here, the feminine form is the subject of glorious celebration and incredibly seductive figures spring to life from every niche.
Yet another important temple is Vaitaldeul. This is an unusual temple with a barrel-vaulted roof and somewhat resembles the gopuras (spires) in the South – a peculiarity it shares with the Teli-ka-Mandir at Gwalior. The Viataldeul has a prominent central projection on the façade on which Nataraja dances in a circular niche. On the top of the tower are three miniature amalakas with small flame shaped shikharas (spires) on top. The porch or ante-room is again double-roofed with clerestory windows for ventilation and at a later stage a pyramidal porch also appears. The principal niches enshrine the more important deities such as Mahishamardini killing the demon and the smaller niches have delicately executed loving couples.
Situated in Hirapur village about 15 kilometres from Bhubaneswar on the road to Puri, is the Yogin temple one of the five yogini temples in the country. There are yogini images beautifully carved from black chlorite.
Puri, the abode of Lord Jagannath, literally meaning the Lord of the Universe, is one of the four holiest places of India and a melting pot of all religious faiths. The temple or Sri Mandir is in the centre of the town and stands upon rising ground known as Nilgiri – the Blue Hill. The main deity of the temple is Lord Jagannath. His brother Sri Balram and sister Subhadra are also with Him. This is different from the usual Hindu worship of the Lord and His consort, representing purusha and prakriti, symbolic of nature and creation. Worsip is not normally seen of brother and sister. This has given rise to many theories to explain the genesis of this temple, one being that originally it was a Buddhist place of worship, or at least Buddhist place of worship, or at least Buddhism is at the root of the conception of this family.
The Jaganath temple built beyween 114-1435 A.D., a glorious period of architectural activity, is the finest specimen of Kalinga temple architecture. Unlike in other temples the three deities are in the shape of rough wooden pillars with shield-like heads, stumpy arms and no legs. While priests cite ancient legends to explain the rudimentary forms, scholars have attempted to account for the peculiarity by attributing the cult of tribal origins.
The temple stands within an enclosure abutting on the main road called the baradanda surrounded by two lines of walls built of laterite. The outer enclosure is provided with four gates on four sides. The one in the east called the simha dwara or lion gate is the most important. It is flanked by two huge figures of lions. The gates in the north, west and south are called hasti dwara, khanji dwara and aswa dwara respectively. The temple, like other temples of period in Orissa, has four mandaps (halls) – bhog (offering), jagmohan (dancing), mukhasala (hall of audience) and badadeula (inner sanctum).
Recently, on unplasteirng some portions of the outer cover of the temple, some very beautiful carvings and exquisite architecture have been recovered. Lord Jagannath draws thousands of pilgrims throughout the year from all parts of the world. But the climax is reached during the rath yatra (chariot festival) held generally in the month of June or July.
About 25 kilometres from Puri is an impressive temple, Sakshi Gopal, with a charming life-size image of the child Krishna or Gopal. A legend relates that once Gopal came down from Vrindavan to give evidence in a dispute between two Brahmins. When he saw this beautiful place, he fell in love with it and stayed on.
Thirty-two kilometres north-east of Puri is Konark celebrated for its Sun Temple which was once right at the edge of the Bay of Bengal. Sir John Marshall, ex-D.G. of Archaeology, ahs recorded that there is no monument of Hinduism that is at once so stupendous and so perfectly proportioned as this temple. The spire was never completed. When Fergusson visited Konark in 1837, a portion of the Great Tower was still standing but gone by 1869. Once the soaring, lofty structure was an important landmark for centuries for mariners navigating the coast. They called it the “Black Pagoda” to distinguish it from the “White Pagoda” – the white-washed temple of Jagannath at Puri.
Precious little is known about the early history of this temple and its past lies shrouded in myth and legend, However, it is generally accepted that the temple was built in the 13th century by the Ganga dynasty ruler Narasimha Deva as a kirti stamba (war memorial) to celebrate his victory over Tughan Khan, the governor of Bengal. But why Narasimha Deva should choose this lonely beach so far from his capital for the temple site is again anybody’s guess and has given rise to a host of colourful legends.
Till the beginning of the century Konark lay an abandoned ruin, impressive only because of its size, until 1904 when the debris and sand around it was removed to reveal this amazing architectural gem. However, time ahs been cruel to Konark. The main deol has collapsed and whatever remains of the temple today is only the nritya mandap (dancing hall) which has been filled up with sand and stone to prevent the roof from caving in. The temple faces east and on the lintel of the doorway is a most imposing “nine planets” slab. The several tiers on the pyramidal roof of the audience hall carry figures of damsels playing a variety of musical instruments rivaling the smaller figures in a multitude of dance poses in the nata mandir (dance hall) a short distance away. Together they almost conjure up a festival of music and dance. The large niches on the three sides of the shrine contain lovely figures of Surya (Sun God) in various forms meticulously glorifying the solar deity. On one of the tiers one encounters a rare solar aspect of Shiva – the Martanda bhairava – dancing in the boat which allows him to cross the ocean of sky.
The temple design is that of a celestial chariot of the Sun God pulled by a team of seven galloping richly caparisoned horses, representing the seven days of the week, strained on twelve wheels representing the months of the year. According to another version, the seven horses are representative of seven colours of the prism or the rainbow and the twelve pairs of the wheels represent the cycle of the sun.
The temple was conceived to be a total picture of the world and therefore the walls have sculptures of exquisite beauty too: scenes of love and war, trade and court transactions, hunting, trade and court transactions, hunting, sages teaching, childbirth, dancers and mythical figures vie with each other for attention on the panels and niches of this immortal work of art. Besides these, the colossal figures of the elephants holding aloft a soldier or the lions guarding the entrance of the temple or the enraged soldier of war are al testimony of the glory of Orissa’s past, frozen for a moment on the shores of time.
Since it represents every aspect of life, a great part of the temple has erotic imageries. Two walls of the chariot have flagrantly erotic themes with larger-than-life figures of amorous couples. Why should a temple be decorated with erotic themes? There are three schools of explanation. One says these voluptuous sculptures were made to save the temple by diverting the electric gaze of viewers while another schools believes that these carvings are to test the pilgrim. The third school explains that moksha (salvation) cannot be achieved by the repression of kama (desire) but only by full expression of it. Whatever the reasons, the aesthetic sense of the artisans makes the sculptures immortal work of art. However, the temple was never used for worship because the tower collapsed immediately after the construction which was considered inauspicious but according to another version the temple was long in use as a place of worship and the collapse was probably comparatively recent.
Side by side with the great Hindu temples stand Buddhist and Jain shrines. In a peaceful and serene environment and barely 8 kilometres from the city of Bhubaneswar, lies the great Buddhist shrine of Dhauli famous for the rock edicts of Ashoks. It was here, at the foothills, by the side of the river Daya – literally meaning kindness – that the valiant people of Kalinga defended their territory and turned the river red with blood. It was here after the Kalinga victory in the year 261 BC that Ashoka, the Mauryan emperor adopted non-violence and took to Buddha’s teachings. A figure in very high relief takes the place of Gajamata the elephant par excellence and thus the symbol of Buddha himself who descended into his mother’s womb in the form of an elephant. Nobility and wisdom are characteristics of the elephant. The sculpture sought to emphasize these qualities in Buddha just as the noble elephants in the Jataka tales ultimately succeeded in becoming the Enlightened one. Written in Brahmi script, the inscription, popularity as Kalingan rock edict of Ashoka has a special feature which not only presents an overall picture of the great devastation caused by the Kalingan was but it also describes various instructions to the Mauryan viceroy placed at Tosali, capital of ancient Kalinga, to rule the people on these guidelines. In this rock edict the made the famous declaration, “All men are my children and just as I desire for my children that they should obtain welfare and happiness both in this world and the next, the same do I desire for all men.”
On the slightly higher stupa (pagoda) stands the Shanti stupa (Peace pagoda) a 20th century structure of great aesthetic appeal. Built in the early seventies with an active Indo-Japanese collaboration under the personal supervision of Mahamanya Fuji, head of the Japanese Buddhist faith, this monument of peace is in the form of a massive dome with lotus stems as its crown. The stupa, from its origin emerges as the central focus of worship. It represents Buddha’s parinivana – his passage from the world of suffering and illusion to the world of bliss and reality. It is a double-storeyed structure erected on a high terrace platform with two entrance ways with flights of steps. On the four sides of the lower part of the stupa there are four chambers adorned with four colossal images of Buddha made from a single block of stone. Scenes form Jatak stories are depicted on the entire wall of the lower part of the stupa. A number of beautiful images of Buddha in his various mudras are depicted around the lower part of the hemispherical stupa. Five chhatris (umbrellas) are placed on its flattened top which represents five important aspects of Buddhism.
On the other side of town, about 8 kilometres away, lies the Jain caves of Khandagiri and Uayagiri. The rock-cut caves built for Jain monks re a rare specimen of Indian cave carvings and art. While King Kharavels’s rock edict in Pali language can be seen in Hathi gumpha (Elephant cave), the origins of the Odissi dance is traced on the walls of Rani gumpha (Queen’s cave). It is supposed to be the first depiction of the dance in our country dating back as far as the 2nd century BC.
The history of Jainism in Orissa goes back to the life time of Mahavira. It is widely believed that Mahavir had once visited the Udayagiri hill in 600 BC. With the power and prominence of the mighty King Kharavela (200 BC), the third ruler of the Chedi dynasty, ancient Kalinga became an important seat of Jainism in entire eastern India. King Kharavela was a staunch Jain and a great patron of culture. Although he was tolerant of all faiths, Jainism was injected with a fresh vigour and made the State religion during his long tenure and it was he who got 117 caves excavated at a great cost on these hills during the 13th year of his reign for the Jain monks to mediate. However, except for some 40 odd caves, most of the others were destroyed by large scale landslides.
According to another belief, the origin of the caves goes even beyond recorded history. As per mythology, Hanuman, while flying over this place with the mountain carrying sanjivinibooti from the Himalayas, accidentally dropped those two hills here. And it is believed the hermits of the Himalayas who inhabited the hills carved out those caves for their dwelling. Except for some 40-odds caves, most of the others were destroyed by large scale landslides.
Just 70 kilometres from Cuttack, nestling on three hills, are the ruins of what must have once been an imposing Buddhist monastery complex called Pushpagiri. In fact is yet another triangle which constitutes Lalitagiri, Ratnagiri and Udayagiri. Amidst the sylvan surroundings of Mahanadi basin, the triangles is supposed to have once constituted the most important seat of Buddhist learnings next only to Taxila and Nalanda.
In accessible and therefore untravelled, the area has tremendous archaeological significance. A trip to Pushpagiri may involve wading through muddy terrain and a couple of boat trips across rivers like Kelua and Genguti, tributaries of the river Mahanadi. The Chyinese traveler, Hieun Tsang visited this area in 639 AD and referred to it as “Pusi-po-kili” in his travelogue which embraced all the above three vihars of Lalitgiri, Ratnagiri and Udayagiri.
The triangle emerged as the nucleus of Buddhist scholastic activities parallel to the rise of the Vajarajana sect and later Kalachakrayana sect of Buddhism and decline of Hinayana Mahayana sect. This development of Buddhism also resulted in a shift of scholastic activities from Taxila and Nalanda to Pushpagiri. Disciplines such as Tantra and Yogic Philosophy were the major attractions for scholars around the world to flock to this triangle. Although Buddha himself never visited this area, Pali texts talk about the merchant brothers, Trapusa and Bhalika from Utkala who are believed to have been his first discipline to visit this place.
It was John Beams, a British officer, who stumbled upon the ruins in 1876. He recorded it in his memoirs submitted to the Bengal Asiatic Society, “The whole place had evidently in ancient times been a Buddhist monastery and a place of pilgrimage.” In recent times, Dr. Behera of the Utkal University started excavation at the site of Lalitagiri in 1977. He notes,” the topographical setting of Lalitagiri was, in some ways, akin to Pushpagiri as described by the Chinese traveler.”
Udayagiri is known for its bell-shaped stupa signifying Vajarajana Buddhism. Ratnagiri is famous for the ruins of a monastery housing a four-armed Avalokiteshara, a figure of ‘Heruka’, a form of meditating Buddha, a figure of ‘Tara’, the female counterpart of Buddha and the images of Buddha in bhoomisparmudra which is considered to be a rare posture. Half a dozen heads of Buddha, two of them in enormous sizes – four to five feet in circumference are strewn here and there. One of them, placed under a banyan tree and about four feet high, is unparalleled in its artistic beauty. The height of the broken head indicates that the statue to which it might have belonged must have been about 15-16 feet high when the statue was that of Buddha seated or 25-26 feet high when it was a standing one. Such statues are probably the biggest Buddha statues even carved. On of the most prized discoveries in recent times has been a tiny gold casket inside a silver casket which in turn was placed within a stone casket in Lalitagiri. The gold casket contained relicised tiny bones believed by experts to be those of Buddha.
Even after 16 years the excavations at Pushpagiri has, in a sense, just begun. There are many years of work ahead and of course much more to be unearthed.
Apart from these two triangles, there are few more places of interest. Khiching located in Mayurbhanj district had been the capital of the Bhanja kings in the 10th-11th centuries AD. It provides an interesting insight into another type of temple architecture of Orissa quite different from the Bhubaneswar, Puri or Konark temples. The presiding deity of the main temple is Kichakeswari. Life-size images of Shiva, Durga, Buddha and other deities can be seen here suggesting an amalgamation of religion and culture.
Haripur, about 16 kilometres from Baripada, was founded by Maharaja Harihar Bhanja in 1400 AD. It has some interesting ruins. The Rasika Raya temple has the distinction of being unique among the brick temples of Orissa.
About 32 kilometres from Sambalpur in the same district is the famed leaning temple of Huma. The temple is situated on the banks of River Mahanadi and is dedicated to Lord Shiva.
Nrusinghanath, situated 164 kilometres form Sambalpur, is famous for its 15th Vidal-Nrusingha temple.
Jaugarh, 35 kilometres from Behrampur, is famous for its Ashokan edicts and other archaeological remains. About 2 kilometres from Jaugarh is Buddhakhol, reminiscent of Buddhist sculpture.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Not One Size Fits all |
| We Offer tailor-made India tour Packages. |
| Ask us to CUSTOMIZE your holiday |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Largest Collection Of |
|
| India Tour Packages |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
