As promised, I’ve uploaded some pictures from my recent trip to Orissa. The tour covered places including Bhubaneshwar, Puri, Chilka Lake and Konark. Pictures from some of the famous temples including the Jagannath Temple and Lingaraj Temple are missing. This is because I was not allowed to take pictures at those sites. For those of you unfamiliar with the places mentioned above, given below is a short introduction.
Bhubaneswar or the temple city of India is a city located on the eastern coast of India. Once the capital of ancient Kalinga, the city has a long history and is today a bustling centre for commerce and religious activity. Bhubaneswar became the modern capital of the state of Orissa in 1948, a year after India gained its independence from Britain. Bhubaneswar is a planned city which was designed by the German town planner Otto H.Koenigsberger. The city is inhabited by over a million people and maintains a high rate of population growth.
Puri is a city in the east Indian state of Orissa. The city is famous for its Jagannath Temple. The temple was built in the late eleventh century. Puri is one of the oldest cities in the eastern part of the country. It is situated on the coast of Bay of Bengal and is a popular beach resort, positioned in a unique place that both sun set and sun rise can be viewed in the beach.
Chilka Lake is a brackish water (mixture of fresh and salt water) coastal lake in India’s Orissa state, south of the mouth of the Mahanadi River. It is the largest coastal lake in India. The lake was formed due to the silting action of the Mahanadi River, which drains into the northern end of the lake, and the northerly currents in the Bay of Bengal, which have formed a sandbar along the eastern shore leading to the formation of a shallow lagoon. The area of the lake varies from 1165 km² in the monsoon season to 906 km² in the dry season, and is studded with numerous small islands.
Konark is a small town in the state of Orissa, India, on the Bay of Bengal, sixty-five kilometers from Bhubaneshwar. It is the site of the 13th-century Sun Temple (also known as the Black Pagoda), built in Orissa Red Sand Stone (Khandolite) and Black Grainte by King Narasimhadeva I (AD 1236-1264) of the Ganga dynasty. The temple is one of the most well renowned temples in India and is a World Heritage Site. It takes the form of the chariot of Surya (Arka), the sun god, and is heavily decorated with stone carving. The entire complex was designed in the form of a huge Imaginary chariot drawn by seven spirited horses representing seven basic colors of Sun on Twelve pairs of exquisitely decorated wheels. The entrance is guarded by two lions, which are each shown crushing a war elephant. Each elephant in turn lies on top of a human body. The temple symbolizes the majestic stride of the Sun god. At the entrance of the temple is a Nata Mandir. This is where the temple dancers used to perform dances in homage to the Sun god. All around the temple, there are various floral and geometric patterns. There are also human, divine and semi-divine figures in sensuous poses. The poses contains couples in various amorous poses, and are derived from the Kama Sutra. The temple is now partly in ruins, and a collection of its sculptures is housed in the Sun Temple Museum, which is run by the Archaeological Survey of India.
