PilgrimTrips - India Pilgrimage

In ancient times ships used to start from the ports of Orissa, crossing the Bay of Bengal to voyage across the Indian Ocean for the distant lands of Burma and Java. This maritime land was called Kalinga and utkal and its name is indelibly linked to that of the Mauryan king Ashoka. It was his war to conquer kalinga that made Asoka face a moral transformation as he watched the carnage he had caused on the battlefield. A penitent Ashoka gave up wars of aggression and became a Buddhinst and Kalinga too embraced the new religion. On a rock in Dhulla ner Bhubaneswar, Asoka engraved the story of his conversion. Later, with the rule of King Kharavela, one of the greatest Oriya kings, Jainism became the leading religion of the region.

With the rule of the kesari Kings Brahmanism returned to Orissa and it was during the rule of the Kesari and Ganga dynasties that the famous temples were built at Bhubaneswar, Puri and Konarak. Orissa evolved a distinct style of religiousarchitecture that carried echoses of its Buddhist and Jain past. Built between the 8th and 12the century, temples like the Lingaraja, Jagannath and the Surya Deul at Konarak are among the greatest architectural creations in the country. In medieval times Orissa saw a time of great confusion with the rule of Afghans followed by the conquest of theMughals and the invasion of the Marathas till the 19th century when it became a part of the British Raj.

The state of Orissa curves along the Bay of Bengal with its long shoreline of golden beaches and turbulent seas. The tropical climate makes this a land of palm trees, mango grove, jute and paddy fields. There is a large tribal population in the forests of sal, teak and sandalwood and some of their forest deities have become brahmanised and have been included in the Hindu Pantheon. Here on the seaside, by the groves of bamboo and casuarinas trees they built temples with high curving towers and walls vibrant with sculpture.

Orissa evolved its own school of temple architecture with its local terminology. The style follows the Nagara school of the north but with some beautiful variations. The sanctum with the tower is called the deul or rekha deul. The tower also has a distinctive shape, rising in straight lines from the square sanctum and then curving gently inwards to the apex. At the summit is the wide fluted disk of the amalaka topped by the finial called the kalasa. The shikharas of the orissa temples are among the tallest in the country. The exterior of the temples were profusely decorated with carvings while the interiors, unlike Khajuraho, left severely plain. With the passage of time embellishments became richer and by the time of the last temple of the period at konarak, nearly ostentatious.

The mandapa or main assembly hall attached to the sanctum is called the jagamohana. The other mandapas often added in large temples are the bhoga mandir, the hall of offerings and the natya mandir, the hall of dance. These two were at times attached to the main structure and at other times built at a distance. The mandapas of the earlier temples have flat roofs but later they were given a many tiered pyramidal roof, the tiers referred to as pidas. Also, the large temples have an enclosing wall and other structures like subsidiary shrines and kitchens that were placed within the courtyard. The important temples like the Jagannath temple at Puri and Bhubaneswar’s Lingaraj have many enclosing walls and a multitude of structures, creating a complete world within their sprawling courtyards.

Bhubaneswar

The name of the city is derived from Tribhubaneswar, a name of Shiva. As the city is dotted with hundreds of temples it is calledthe Cathedral city of India. Most of the important temples are clustered around the lake called theBindusarovar which is said to have received the waters of every holy lake and river in the country. Legend holds that once seven thousand shrines encircled the lake. Now about five hundred remain.

According to the Puranas the land where the lake now stands was once a garden called Ekamrakanan and the goddess Parvati loved to wander here. One day she was accosted by two demons called Kritti and Bas who wanted to marry her. Parvati agreed, on condition that they should first lift her on their shoulders. As they tried to raise her she became so heavy that the demons were crushed and killed by her weight. After this adventure Parvati felt very tired and thirsty and gallant Shiva came to her rescue. He gathered the waters of all the holy rivers and lakes of the land and with them the Bindusarovar was created. Pilgrims always bathe in the lake before going for either puja in the temples.

While the town of Puri is the kingdom of Vishnu as Lord Jagannath, Bhubaneswar is ruled by Shiva. It claims that Shiva chose to come and reside here because he was no longer happy in Varanasi which was being defiled by non-believers. So Shiva began to look for another home and during his search a sage showed him a dense grove of mango trees which was ideal for his meditations. However this grove already belonged to Vishnu and Shiva had to beg for his permission to stay there. Vishnu agreed on condition that Shiva never return to varanasi and Shiva liked the place so much that he agreed. So Vishnu, the sophisticated god went to live in the metropolitan Varanasi while the ascetic. Shiva turned himself into a lingam and settled down in the mango grove. This grove is the present day city of Bhubaneswar and the lingam is the one at the great Lingaraja temple. The foundations of the city are said to have been laid by the Kesari King Yayati, who is also credited which building the Lingaraja temple, though historians date the temple to the 10th century. The lingam in the sanctum is called a swayambhu. Originally the temple deity was called Tribhubaneshwar, the Lord of the Three Worlds of heaven, earth and the netherworld. Now the lingam is called Hari-Hari, that is half Shiva and half Vishnu. This change occurred during the rule of the Ganga kings who were Vaishnavites. They also modified the rituals of the temple.

Even today the Lingaraja temple is a living sanctum and the deity continues to receive the worship of its devotees. Non-Hindus are not allowed to enter the temple but can view the courtyard from a platform that stands outside its walls. This was built during British times so that the Viceroy, Lord Curzon could get a closer look at the temple. The Lingaraja is the largest temple in Orissa with a mammoth, 45 metre high deul tower which is topped by a gigantic circular amalaks. This stone disk is supported by a series of lions that were the symbol of the Kesari Kings. The courtyard is filled with smaller shrines, many of which are miniatures of the main temple. Among them the most beautiful is a shrine of parvati built by the Ganga kings in the 12th century. The main temple is called the Shri Mandir and the structure possesses all the architectural elements of the Oriya temple layout.

A flight of stairs leads into the hall of the bhog mandir, after which the pilgrim walks through the natya mandir where the devadasis danced. These women, called maharis in Oriya, were the handmaidens of the god and were married to the deity and they danced many times every day during the main puja ceremonies. In the last century their dance fell into disrepute but today their art has been revived as the classical dance of Odissi. After the natya mandir one enters tha main assembly hall of the jagamohan and after that is the sanctum of the deul. Here the huge granite lingam of Shiva is worshipped in a dark, lamp lit, austere and unadorned garbha griha. The tapering tower rises above this sanctum and it is hollow from inside, with two chambers built above the deul and a flight of stairs built into the wall going up the structure.

The outer walls of the Lingaraja have all the ritualistic deities placed in their appointed corners. In the alcoves are the eight dikpalas, guardians of the eight quarters of the globe. Traditionally the dikpalas are Kuber, Indra, Agni, Yama, Niritti, Varuna, Vayu and Ishana. Besides them are chlorite figures of Ganesh, Kartikeya and Parvati, placed in deep niches and decorated with vases and foliage and geometrical motifs. The tiers of the jagamohan roof are interspersed with figures of lions and friezes or military cavalcades.

The small Vaital Deul is an older temple, dated to the 8th century and is an interesting blend of Nagara and Buddhost architectural motifs. There is the unusual rectangular deul with a plain oblong roof that resembles the vaulted roofs of Buddhist chaitya halls. Even the doorways have the traditional Buddhist arch with a meditating figure placed in it in a very Buddha-like posture and there are miniature horseshoe shaped windows placed along the walls. The walls have carvings of apsaras and nayikas in indolent postures, putting on make up or arranging a scarf around their shoulders. Among the deitites there is a well chiseled figure of Surya riding his seven-horse chariot.

The Vaital Deul is dedicated to the Goddess Chamunda, a fierce and terrible aspect of Kali-Durga and as the name suggests it was probably a centre of tantric cults in the region. The icon is of an emaciated woman with sunken eyes, wearing a garland of skulls, seated on a corpse with an owl and a jackal beside her. The icon is eight armed and carries a bow, shield, trident, thunderbolt and arrow. These details of the icon are usually hidden from view behind the elaborate drapery. Unlike other Oriya temples the walls of the garbha griha are carved with scenes of tantric rites and among them is a carving of Shiva as the angry and destructive Bhairava.

The 11th century Raja Rani temple was probably never completed as it has no deity in the sanctum and the name, meaning ‘king and queen’ does not indicate the god who would have been worshipped here. Some feel the name is derived from rajrania, the local name for the reddish sandstone used in the construction of the temple. Others say that the temple was built by Raja Udyata Kesari on the wishes of his queen who wanted a temple in the memory of her mother. It was probably built in the 12th century.

The walls have some exquisite sculptures of nayika figures in sensuous poses and the moulding of the figures shows great sophistication and skill. Also, there are the traditional parade of deities, worshippers, animals, flowers and vines. The tower is worth studying as it has many smaller pinnacles that resemble the motif of many peaks of a mountain range that was also used in Khajuraho. The smaller spires cluster around the main tower with their upward movement broken by panels of carvings. The main structure had been completed but the decoration with carvings was left unfinished and the garbha griha probably never received a deity. In the unfinished antarala the outer walls still show the initial designs of many figures that had been drawn and roughly blocked out for carving but were never completed. History does not tell us why the graceful Raja Rani was left in this unfinished state, why the sculptors left their work half done or why its silent, empty garbha griha remains forever unsanctified.

It is impossible for a visitor to see all the temples in Bhubaneswar. Among those worth visiting are Parashurameshwar and Mukteshwar. The tiny Mukteshwar temple has an exquite arched gateway in a Buddhist torana style and carvings of the Saptamatrikas, the seven aspects of the Mother Goddess. The Parashurameshwar, built with reddish stone, is one of the oldest temples in the city, dating back to the 7th century. Its small size and slightly primitive design and carvings prove its antiquity. The tower is short and squat and the Jagamohan has a simple flat roof. It has panels showing the stories from the Mahabharata and Ramayana and delicate fretwork windows. The puzzling thing is that the temple is dedicated to Shiva but Parashuram was one of the incarnations of Vishnu and so the name refers to Vishnu and not Shiva.

Puri

This seaside town is one of the most important places of pilgrimage in India. It is one of the char dhams placed at the cardinal directions of the country, the others being Badrinath in the north, Dwarka in the west and Rameshwaram in the south. Puri is Shrikshetra, one of the greatest pilgrimages and no true pilgrimage is complete without doing puja at the Jagannath temple here. This temple with its unusual icons also has the most complicated myths and rituals amongst all the important temples in India.

Jagannath means Lord of the World and it is a name of Vishnu and Puri is called Shri Purushottam Dham or Martya vaikuntha, the home of Vishnu on earth. Puri is also called Nilachal, Nalagiri and Shankha Kshetra. Every leading sage and reformer has visited Puri, including Guru Nanak, Ramanuja and Chaitanya. The great Jagannath temple stands at one end of a broad avenue that has the Gundicha temple at the other end. This avenue is the site of the famous rath Yatra when the idols of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are taken from the temple in an elaborate procession of three chariots. The deities stay at the Gundicha temple for a week and return in a procession called the Ulta Rath.

The icons in the Jagannath temple are highly unusual. Jagannath, the main deity has with him his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra. In the Mahabharata Lord Krishna had a brother Balarama- Balabhadra and a sister Subhadra who married Arjuna. So Jagannath, the Lord of the World is Krishna, the avatar of Vishnu. However, here Krsihna is worshipped with his siblings instead of with Radha. Moreover Krishna has never been depicted the way he has been in Puri. The icons are made of wood and these are reqularly changed. The figures are blocks of wood primitively carved with short arms, no legs, flat faces with large circular eyes and wide smiling lips. Jagannath is painted black, Balabhadra is white and Subhadra is saffron coloured. Over the years there has been much speculation about the origin of the Jagannath temple and its extraordinary icons that resemble no other depiction of Krishna anywhere. The site is an ancient one and some historians place the Buddhist site of Dantapuri here. It is said that the tooth of the Buddha was worshipped here before being taken to Sri Lanka. Others, going by the icons, feel that originally the idol was a tribal deity that was included in the pantheon by turning it into an avatar of Vishnu. This is something the pantheistic Hindu faith does quite often as exemplified in the claim that the Buddha also is a Vishnu avatar.

The kingdoms of the region have always had a large tribal population and blocks of wood are worshipped by them. Also, members of the Shabar tribe are intimately connected with the rituals of the temple, something not seen at any other temple. The Brahmins have kept their hold on the puja rituals but the Shabars are responsible for searching for the trees from which the idols are made. They still carve the icons and take part in the Rath Yatra. In a region with a large population of tribals, the worship of a powerful tribal god must have been important to a king. When such a god was brought into a Hindu temple it was obvious that the king and the priests had to compromise with the tribals and allow them a role in the rituals. Myths often arise from historical fact and the myth of jagannath indicated the tribal origin of the cult of the Lord of the World. It is said that King Indradyumna ruled over the land of purushottam Kshetra at Puri and once he had a dream in which Vishnu asked him to build a temple dedicated to him. The god said that his icon would be found in a cave in the Nilachal hill. The image was called Nilmadhava, the blue Krishna.

Indradyumna had no idea where he could find the image and sent his men out to search for this mysterious Nilachal hill. One of them, a Brahmin youth named vidyapati found the cave where the Shabar tribals had an icon called Nilmadhava. It was worshipped by the tribal chief Viswavasu and only he knew the location of the cave. Vidyapati married the daughter of the tribal chief and persuaded his wife to convince her father to show him the cave. Then Vidyapati stole the idol and brought it to King Indradyumna.

Viswavasu was devastated and seeing his grief the god chose to return to the cave but before he did so, he reassured Indradyumna that he would return. However, he stipulated that Indradyumna had to bild a temple worthy of him. Once the temple was ready Indradyumna once again prayed to Krishan and he was told to pick up a log floating in the sea. It so happened that the log was so heavy that no one could pick it up and faithful Viswavasu had to be summoned. He picked up the log as if it were a feather and carried it into the new temple.

This was called brahmadaru and now an image had to be carved out of it but none of the carves could make even a small cut on it with their chisels. Then Vishwakarama, the architect of the gods appeared before Indradyumna in the guise of an ole man and offered to carve the idol. However, he had one condition. He was going to take 21 days to varve the idol and no one was allowed to watch him work. The old man locked himself in a room with the Brahmadaru and outside everyone could hear the sound of his hammering and chiseling. Then one day there was silence and indradyumna’s wife. Queen Gundicha became apprehensive that the old man had died. An anxious king ignored the advice of his minister and opened the door. He found an empty room as the old man had vanished leaving behind the three incomplete images. That is why Jgannath and Balabhadra have no legs and tiny Subhadra smiling between them has no limbs at all.

A penitent royal couple established the unfinished images in the new temple and thus Krishna came to reside in Puri. After a gap of 12 to 19 years the images are made again in a ceremony called Naba Kalebar. The Shabar priests go to a forest of neem trees and look for some specific signs which mark the right trees. Then the wood is brought back to the temple for carving. An elaborate procession wends its way through willages where people come out to worship the Brahmadaru. It is the Shabars again who carve the new images and then hand them over to the Brahmin priests for consecration. The old images are buried at a sacred spot by the these tribal priests.

In the month of June-July the three images are taken out in procession in the most famous chariot festival in the world. The Jagannath Rath Yatra has even given the woed ‘Juggernaut’ to the English language. The Yatra reenacts Krishna’s journey from Gokul to Mathura. The three decorated chariots with brightly coloured canopies are brought before the temple and the images are placed in them.

Even the chariots have names. Jagannath’s vehicle is called Nandighosh, It is the largest, with 18 wheels and has a yellow and red striped canopy. Balabhadra’s chariot with 16 wheels and a red and green top is called Taladhwaja and Subhadra has the 14-wheeled Padmadhwaja with a red and black canopy. Each chariot has two rows of carved wooden horses in front and they are dragged along the main avenue by thousands of devotees puilling at the ropes. Theday long procession ends after 3 kilometres at the Gundicha temple named after King Indradyumna’s queen. Here the idols are worshipped for a week and then Jagannath and his family return to their own temple.

Architecturally the Jagannath temple was modeled on the Lingaraja temple of Bhubaneshwar, though it is much larger. Historians date the temple to the rule of the Ganga dynasty of the 12th century. It was begun by the Ganga king Chedabhima Deva and completed by his son Anangabhima Deva. The layout follows the Lingaraja with a deul, Jagamohan, natya mandir and bhog mandir placed within a walled courtyard. The last two are much later additions, probably built in the 14th century during the reign of the Gajapati dynasty.

In the courtyard there are many subsidiary shrines and an immense kitchen. The shikhara is topped by the wheel of Vishnu called Nilachakra. It is made of an alloy of eight metals called ashta dhatu and the flag over the wheel is the pataka. The temple is whitewashed and because of this the European sailors voyaging up the Bay of Bengal who used it as a landmark, called it the ;White pagoda’. Only Hindus are allowed inside the enclosure but, as at Lingaraja, it can be viewed dfrom a platform outside the wall.

The temple itself is not architecturally unique and the quality of the sculpture is quite ordinary. It is the sanctity of the site as a dham and tirtha that draws pilgrims to it. Also, over the years it had been repaired a number of times and the use of cement has obliterated many of the original carvings. The jagamohan is unusual in that it has 16 pillars and the outer walls have the usual complement of religious and secular carvings.

A chlorite pillar called the Aruna Sthambha stands at the main gate of the simhadwar, the lion’s gate. On top of the pillar is the figure of Aruna, the god of dawn who drives the seven horse chariot of Surya. This pillar once stood before the sun temple at Konarak and was later shifted here. Another pillar, the Garuda Sthambha stands inside the natya mandir and faces the garbha griha. Lord Chaitanya is said to have stood here nd said his prayers to the deity. In the garbha griha, besides the three main deities there is the sudarshana chakra, the discus of Krishna, images of Lakshmi.

Saraswati and Nilmadhava. The ceremonies of the temple have fascinated visitors for centuries. The idols have 21 sets of clothes that are changed according to the phases of the moon. The deities are offered food seven times a day from the temple kitchen. This food, the mahaprasad, has 56 courses and is prepared in the largest kitchen in the world. The mahaprasad is sold to pilgrims outside the temple in the market called Ananda Bazaar.

Konarak The Gayatri mantra is the supreme mantra of the Vedas. Even today Hindus across the world begin their day with this Iyrical invocation to the sun. And it is these eternal words of praise that inspired the creators of the Surya Deul, the Sun temple at Konarak.
Om bhur bhuvasya
Tat savitur varenium
Bhargo devasya dhimahi
Dhiyo yo no, prachodayat
O splendid sun, we offer this praise to thee. Enlighten this craving mind. Be our protector. May the radiance of the divine ruler guide our destiny. Wise men salute you with oblations and praise. It was such a magnificent dream. Every day surya rides out on his seven horse chariot to circle the globe bringing light and life with his beneficent rays. The charioteer is Aruna, the God of Dawn. So at Konarak, as the first rays of dawn lightened the horizon in the east the celestial chariot of Surya would rise from the foam tipped waves of the Bay of Bengal to ride across the land. It was to be a chariot in stone with twenty-four giant wheels fro the hours of the day and drawn by seven prancing horses symbolising the days of the week.

The Surya Deul at Konarak was visualized as a giant ratha of Surya riding out from the sea. Today the sea has receded and the temple is surrounded by sadn. The deul has collapsed, leaving only the jagged remains of the walls of the garbha griha. The natya mandir has lost its roof, its ornate pillars reaching up to the sky in vain. Over the centuries the ruined and forgotten temple had been buried in sand and much of it was excavated only in the early part of the twentieth century.

Even in ruins the Surya Deul is a magnificent creation. For centuries sailors voyaging along the shoreline of the Bay of Bengal towards the ports of Calcutta and Chittagong had two landmarks in Orissa. One, the Jagannath temple at Puri which they called the ‘White pagoda’ and the hulking ruined silhouette of the Surya Deul at Konarak which they called the ‘Black Pagoda.’ Konarak is said to be an ancient place of sun worship. The myths say that Krishna’s son Samba earned the anger of his father because he had looke with desire at one of Krishna’s queens. An angry Krishna had cursed Samba with leprosy and the poor young man had wandered the land seeking a cure. Then he came to Konarak where he prayed to Surya for twelve years and was cured. In gratitude Samba built the first sun temple here. The Surya Deul was built by King Narasimha. I of the Ganga dynasty who reigned in the 13th century. As a copper plate grant of his son narasimha II states with great pride, "King Narasimha built at kona-Kona, a place of great renown, a temple for the sun to live in with the other gods." The temple drew visitors for centuries. Abul fazl, Akbar’s royal biographer writes in the Ain-I-Akbari, "Its cost was defrayed by twelve years revenue of the province. Even those whose Judgement is critical and who are different to please stand astonished at its sight".twenty eight temples stand in its vivinity". Each of which has its separate legend." People speculate about the reasons for building a temple at such an isolated place but ancient Konarak was an important port mentioned by Ptolemy. It was also a traditional centre of sun worship. One legend holds that Narasimha’s father King Anangabhimadeva had vowed to rebuild the Purushottam temple at Puri which had fallen into ruins. When he failed to fulfill his row Narasimha built this temple to save his father from sin. Another legend goes that it was an act of gratitude as Narasimha was healed of disease and the sun was considered to be the great healer. Abul Fazl cells the temple a "mighty memorial to posterity" which seems to indicate that it was built to commemorate a victorious war.

The Plan of the temple follows tradition with the main deul, the jagamohan and a natya mandir. Only here, instead of a continous line of mandapas, the natya mandir is separated from the jagamohan by a flight of stairs. A chlorite pillar, the Aruna Sthambha used to stand here but was later shifted to the jagannath temple at Puri. The pillar has the figure of Surya’s charioteer Aruna on top. It is the sanctum and the assembley hall that stand as a unit on the same platform and this was designed as a chariot. By the sides of the platform are carved twenty-four gigantic wheels and seven ruchly caparisoned horses strain at their reins by the flight of stairs leading up to the jagamohan. It is these intricately carved wheels that have become a visual symbol of the Sun temple at Konarak. Each wheel has sixteen spokes radiating from the axle and are covered with carvings of patterns and figures set in the centre. Every sculpture has been placed to blend with thearchitectural plan of the temple.

The sides of the platform, the outer walls of the jagamohan and the natya mandir teem with sculpture and even after centuries of sea air has roughened their details they are powerful creations. There are richly decorative floral and geometric patterns and friezes of dancers, musicians, kings, soldiers, animals and romantic couples. Niches show the king making offerings to the god and listening to his guru, practicing archery and taking part infestivals. Reliefs showing the king appear even at the base of the pedestal on which the main icon must have stood in the now ruined garbha griha.

It is these carvings and the free standing sculptures that make Konarak such a unique temple. There are the magnificent chlorite figures ofSurya in various poses, called the Parsva Devata, that are set in the niches of the sanctum wall. Also very impressive aer the large, free standing sculptures of animals that prove that the Indian sculptor was just as good at carving figures in the round as decorating the walls of temples. The most powerful are the springing war horses being held in check by their grooms, rampant elephants and mythical lions. In contrast to their vitality are the alasa kanyas, the indolent maidens striking sensuous poses and the erotic couples, the maithuna figures carved with an absence of prudery that recalls the maithuna sculptures at Khajurajo.

Little remains of the main sanctuary, the deul except for the ruined platform and the bottom portion of the tower. The tower must have been planned like the other Oriya temples with a tall staight middle section curving inwards, topped by the fluted disk of the amalaka and the pot finial of the kalasa. The huge base ofhte tower shows that it would have been the tallest in the region. The garbha griha no longer has a deity but one cam imagine what it may have looked like from the three parsa devatas placed in niches around the farbha griha. These show a benign Surya, weating his boots and rich jewellery, riding on his chariot and in one he is riding a horse. These grey-blue images gleam against the russet stone of the temple and the carvings are so refined as to make it appear that Surya is wearing gossamer thin garments. Even the delicate embroidery on his clothes is clearly visible. These imges are precisely placed to catch the direct rays of the sun t different times of the day.

The Jagamohan remains the best preserved of the buildings. It is square with a pyramidal pida roof. The walls are recessed thus creating a larger surface area for the sculptures, interspersed by beautifully proportioned doorways. The interior has been blocked up with sand and rubble to stop the subsidence of the walls. The natya mandir stands before the jagamohan, separated by a flight of stairs. The pillared hall has no roof but the walls have an array of dancers and free standing figures of female musicians inpretty poses carrying drums and playing cymbala and flutes, a panorama that seems to sway to the joyous rhythms of life and love. There are other buildings within the waled enclosure including a temple to the south-west that isa sanctuary to Maha Gayatri Devi, one of the wives of Surya. Also, the sanctum and porch and carvings of the nine planets of a Vaishnava temple were excavated in the 1950. Most of the temples mentioned by Abul fazl seem to have vanished in the sands.