Bhubaneshar and Puri, Orissa
I departed Kolkata, West Bengal to Bhubaneshar, Orissa by plane on Sunday, August 15th which was India's 64th Independence Day. I saw the following quote by Jawaharlal Nehru in the newspaper, “The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering so long our work will not be over.” India has certainly come a long way since 1947.
Temple in Bhubaneshar
After arriving into Bhubaneshwar, I visited Rajarani temple which was built in the 11th century AD. This is a dead temple which means that it is no longer used for worship. This complex consists of a temple and an audience hall. Some say this was a Shiva temple and some say it was a King and Queen temple. The next temple was Brahmeswar Temple complex built in the 12th century. This is a beautiful living temple full of wonderful carvings. This temple has four small temples in the four corners and one large temple in the middle. It is believed that Brahma came here to worship. Parasurameswar Temple is a 7th century AD living temple. This is the best preserved of all the temples in Bhubaneshar and this is where the incarnation of Vishnu worshiped Shiva. Mukteswar Temple is a 9th century temple full of beautiful carvings. What made this temple different was a beautiful arch at the entrance. This temple has a carved story of the monkey and the crocodile. Mukt means salvation and eswar means God. So this name means God of Salvation. The final temple of the day was the Lingaraj Temple. This is a living 11th century temple. I was not allowed in because I was not a Hindu. But I had a great view. This was a wow! This is one of the best temples in the state of Orissa. It has a main temple, an audience hall, a dancing hall and an offering hall. All the others only had a temple and an audience hall. Linga means lingum or phallus which is the symbol of creation and the lingum represents Lord Shiva who is one of the most important Gods in the Hindu religion. All these temples are carved with figures that represent religion, social, decorative, erotic and daily life. For example, women would copy hairstyles from these temples. Erotic scenes were not meant to be pornographic but to foster procreation. Non Hindus are not allowed into certain Hindu temples because some people say that the cow is the mother of Hindus and those who eat cow are not pure.
Puri
After this, we drove to Puri which is one of the four holy cities where Hindus try to visit before they die. I stayed at the Mayfair Puri hotel which was located on a beautiful beach. I took a long walk on the beach and could not believe that it was so humid that my camera lens fogged up for quite a while. Basically, there were very few people on the beach.
On Monday, August 16th, I saw the temples of Puri. Puri is a colorful very interesting city which was filled with those who walked to Jaganath temple built in the 12th century with holi water. I was not allowed to go inside but we went up stairs to a platform that overlooked the temple and the city. This was truly amazing. It is a complete temple and people pray to three deities: Jagannath, Balavadra (his brother) and Suvadra (his sister). This temple is at the end of the Grand Blvd or locally called Badadanda. I then walked around the street for a while. What a colorful piece of life! Vendors were selling wonderful vegetables. I have to say there is so much variety in vegetables in India than the US. After this, we saw the Holy Narada Tank where some people bathe but the water really is not clean. Most people do not go in. Nearby is the Gundicha Temple which is the auntie temple of Jaganath. Every year a new Jaganath wood statue with his brother and sister arrive by cart and are placed inside the temple. The old ones are buried. Finally, I went to Raghurajpur which is an artisan's village. There are beautiful paintings painted on the outside walls of the painters’ houses. I was bombarded by many people wanting me to enter their houses to see their paintings and etchings on palm. I felt bad that I could not go to everyone's house or buy from everyone. I know these people are poor and it does make me sad that I can not support everyone. I did go into an artisan school and saw teenagers painting. They were quite talented. I did buy 2 small paintings painted by two different boys. I asked the teacher who gets the money. He said he did. I was hoping the two boys did. But maybe this helps pay their education at the school.
On the 17th, we visited a fisherman's village. This was fascinating but what made this so interesting is that these people are not from Orissa. They are from Utter Pradesh and do not speak the local language. Their native tongue is taught in their school . We stopped by the school. The children were beautiful and had such life in their eyes. Walking around the village, we saw fish that had been salted drying on the ground. I walked around observing daily life. I love seeing villages with their life. There is a simplicity we lack in the big cities. But I know I could not survive living this life. My life has been too different from this and could not live this way. We then drove to Satapada (Chilika Lake) which is a salted lake. The water comes from the Bay of Bengal. On the way, we drove by a TOTALLY uninhabited land along the Bay of Bengal with beautiful sand dunes. This is not a common sight in India. We took a boat ride on the lake and saw dolphins. This was so relaxing and peaceful being on the water. We landed on a small island to see a fisherman's straw temporary house. There were four men and one boy who looked like he was ten. They had a very simple hut. What was interesting to me was that all their toothbrushes and other important things were placed in the straw on the side of the hut.
THE 18th was a very special day. I visited Konark or the Sun Temple. This is an UNESCO Heritage Site and WHAT a temple. It was built in the 13th century AD by King Narasimhadeva. It took 1200 people to build this temple in 12 months on 12 acres of land. Twelve is a holy number. So is 3, 7, 11, 101 and 108. Three represents the three eyes of Shiva, 108 are the number of beads worn by Shiva and 101 is a complete number. Konark temple is a marvel of architectural excellence. The Sun Temple is designed in the shape of a chariot with seven galloping horses and 12 pairs of giant wheels 10 ft high. This is representative of carrying the Sun god across the heavens. The temple was completely covered with magnificent chiseled carvings of gods, daily life, erotic art, dancers, animals and a statue of the Sun God on each side. This was a special treat to see and for me one of the highlights of this trip. I then saw the 64 Yogini Temple built in the 8th century AD. This is a broken temple. It is round with 64 carved statues inside. I have to say my tour guide whose name was Shankar taught me a lot about Hinduism. He is a Brahmin who is a vegetarian and does not drink or smoke. He feels that these habits will make one's mind impure. Today is August 19th and I visited Khandagiri and Udayagiri Caves of the 1st century BC. There are 34 rock cut caves and were built by King Kharavel. Udayagiri caves are the most important of the two and were built 2,000 years ago. These were Jain caves where Jain monks lived. Kharavel was a Hindu but believed the monks to be honest people who could give him advice. He trusted them. In exchange, he gave the monks free food, water and a place to live. In the entrance to one cave is a Persian soldier to the left and a Hindu guard on the right. The Persian guide had boots, full dress and a sword. The Hindu guard wore a dhoti and no shoes. In another cave, Pali is written which is a dead language. It is about 2,500 years old. Only scholars spoke Pali. Sanskrit is a much older dead language.
I went to the Tribal Museum which was fascinating. There are 64 tribes in Orissa who live totally different than Indians. Some of these people actually look African. Their customs seem to be somewhat similar to African customs. This museum wet my appetite to visit the tribes in the future. Sometime in the next year, I hope to visit this area before this way of life disappears. Already a Korean company wants to built and hire the local people for some type of industry. Tomorrow, I am flying back to Delhi for three nights and then home on the 24th. Orissa and West Bengal are very special. I know most people do not usually want to cover these areas in a first visit but I highly recommend these places. You will have a totally different experience than from visiting either the north or south of India. I am already getting sad about departing India. This has been a special visit in many ways. I have become very comfortable being in India and think I understand the country and its people better than I did before this trip. I know I still have a lot to learn. I will miss the food. I had great meals and did not once crave American food. I hope Americans can look beyond their fears regarding India. India is such a diverse, wonderful country to visit. You will see that your fears will play a minor role in visiting India.
Namaste!
