Bhuvaneswar, Puri and Konark- A Travel story

This year I did something different at the National Conference of my specialty. After several years, unburdened by official work, I took half a day off to do some tourism. This was my first visit to

Bhubaneswar, for that matter, Odissha. Kumar, Anjan, Sunil and I did a quick visit to Puri and Konark, places I had only heard about.

Pic 1 (above) Picture of the Jaganath Temple (down loaded from Wikipedia as no photographs are allowed)

Pic 2&3 The Sthumba in front of the temple with a section of the devotees outside and the sweet Khaja on Sale.

First, the Jaganath temple at Puri. It is of course famous for the annual rath yatra when the three gigantic deities are paraded through town. It commemorates the visit of the three deities to Gundicha Temple (their aunt’s house).  It would be impossible to visit the town during the event because of the sheer number of devotees. 

 However, it is the only time that non Hindus and foreigners (even if they are Hindus) can see the deities. Since the visit to Mausi only takes place in July, I would have to come another time to see the deities. In any case, at this time of the year things were expected to be quieter and I went nevertheless. This small town gave the English language a rather large, new word in the early 20th century-Juggernaut. I can imagine a colonial Englishman with his sun toppee  squinting up at the gigantic temple car on its annual Rath and exclaiming under his breath “ Juggernaut..” (the Englishman’s (mis)pronunciation for Jaganath) and thereby enriching the English language with another word for ‘enormous’. I must admit that I went to Puri with no hope of seeing the temple. As I said earlier it is one of those exclusive temples that do not permit non-Hindus entry into its premises.  Was it worth the trouble then? Well! Yes and no!
The panda (priest retained by my friends as guide and guardian angel) was kind enough to find me a little shade in a sort of waiting room adjacent to the temple. I would spend the better part of the next two hours watching the immense devotion of hundreds of ordinary people seeking solutions to their everyday problems. As a rather tolerant (and sympathetic agnostic) I was moved by the ordinary person’s quest for peace and salvation. In the 'waiting room' I had a few priests for company and they lounged around in various positions on the floor. This included a big mustachioed giant of a man and a young lad, both of whose legs were amputated. I suspect that they were not priests, but had some other kind of privilege in the temple complex. The young chap kicked of his artificial limbs (Jaipur foot, I believe), leaned it against a corner, plugged in his ear phones connected to a mobile phone and spent the rest of the morning humming a tune! 

Pic 4 The waiting room (note the Jaipur foot in the
 corner)




Sitting on the steps and looking a tad incongruous in my jeans and tee shirt, I decided to watch the milling crowd in front of the temple. It was an excellent vantage point from which to watch the devotees arriving and ‘cleansing’ themselves with a sprinkle of water and a ‘wade’ through running water.  In addition to the devotees, there appeared to be several others with some interest in the temple activities. Beggars and vendors were doing brisk business in the full knowledge that devotion does loosen one's purse strings. There were also persuasive priests selling their services. The system works like this. New visitors retain a recommended panda (temple priest) to protect them against other Pandas (also temple priests). If it sounds a little like a protection racket, Well! It is a little aggressive. ‘Selling’ is a mild word. They just point at themselves and inform you that they will be the ‘panda’ for the day. If one is timid, he will spend the next few hours shelling out money on one pretext or the other!  Kumar and Anjan later told me that the ‘friendly’ panda priest, who came well recommended and at a price, was almost a necessity because one can be pretty badly hassled by the resident  priests who rule the premises. The temple however also has its benevolent side. Free food is prepared and given away to the devotees and also to the poor from a large kitchen. The food is apparently prepared from 56 ingredients. The kitchen is apparently a huge affair with hundreds of cooks and assistants who prepare the food in earthen pots which are destroyed everyday (disposable and biodegradable). Anjan, the inveterate foodie, had a glint in his eyes when he narrated these facts and also the possible recipes that can be made from 56 ingredients.  It was lunch time, remember! I am not sure of the significance of the magic number. Earlier, sitting on the steps, I viewed the heaps of a yellow, fried, sugary snack that is sold all over the premises from small kiosks. This is called khaja and is a popular snack, the recipe for which was personally revealed by Lord Jaganath himself- the story goes! I had already tasted  it the previous day. I remembered the delightful quality of crispy sweetness that it had and  was tempted to buy some. Seeing the flies (who also obviously found the thing delightful), I chose to avoid the dangers lurking beneath its sweet exterior. After about an hour the giant with the fiery mustache lay down for his siesta. The amputee had also dozed off lying on his back. The other priests stepped out into the crowd and I saw one of them imposing himself on some hapless devotee who was making a vain attempt to shake him off. My ‘waiting room’ was now an island of peace in the otherwise intense activity outside. One of the striking aspects of the crowd was the complete absence of foreigners (as in Caucasian visitors) which is a common site at these touristy temples. The reason obviously has to do with the restriction on entry. And there were a fair number of bulls that wandered elegantly, unruffled by the pandemonium around them, dropping off large patties of steaming fresh dung that one had to watch out for- particularly when walking barefoot.

Pic 5. Priests, Bulls and Vendors on the Bada danda


























The Jaganath temple is one of the four centres (Char Dham) of Hinduism, specifically Vaishnavism. Its deities are Jaganath, Ramabhadra and Subhadra. The present temple was built in the 11th century century CE by Ananda Varma Chodaganga Dev which was again modified by Ananga Bhima Deva in the 12^th century CE. Like several temples in India it was ransacked by foreigners including the Afghan emperors. I later found out that the temple not only disallows non Hindus but also foreigners, even if they are Hindus. This recently created a crisis when 3 Balinese who were Hindus ( 90% of Bali are Hindus) were not allowed because they did not look like Hindus or perhaps one needs to be born in India to be a Hindu. Remember, Sonia Gandhi has similar problems! The temple eventually permitted them entry, we are told. The reason is that the temple has traditionally been wary of foreigners, because they have been on the receiving end of foreign vandalism. The Aruna Sthambha, a pillar at the entrance represents the Charioteer of Lord Surya and was transplanted to Puri from the Temple at Konark which we were going to see later. This pillar is open for all to see!

 We drove out of the temple premises after collecting our footwear. One can leave footwear, mobiles and cameras at the numerous kiosks specializing in the 'custody' business. My friend’s cameras and mobiles however were in my safe keeping- no fee paid! The sea of humanity parted to allow the car to pass. We drove down the Bada Danda or great avenue which is also the traditional route of the annual Rath Yatra, when viewing points in the buildings are sold for as much as, take a deep breath,  Rs2000 per head. I must come back again sometime to see the rath yatra- perhaps the only way for a non Hindu to see the deities!
We were on our way to Konark. The drive from Puri to Konark was breathtakingly beautiful. We drove through well laid out roads flanked by pristine beaches, lagoons and mangroves. My friends, Kumar, Anjan and Sunil, who, having attained some state of grace in the rough and tumble of Puri, decided that we needed a little more spiritual reinforcement. I agreed. We stopped at a beach side beer parlour and got ourselves fortified.  Anjan eyed a couple of fried crabs lying in a basket and with great reluctance tore his eyes away, having decided that it would not be a good idea to eat the stuff.   

Pic 5.The famous Konark Wheel and the 'Famous Four'

Pic 6. View of the Konark Structure















We drove on to Konark which is indeed touristy in the real sense. The beach side tourist centre had numerous shops selling souvenirs and other sundries. There were also several guides offering their services. We selected a rather ancient looking gentleman who clearly had a serious respiratory problem. He informed us in breathless anxiety that he spoke English. Well! He did speak English in a telegraphic sort of way and conveyed to us the history of Konark in about three and a half sentences- between wheezes. I regretted not having googled about Konark before coming. The temple itself, built in the 13th century BCE to the Sun God (Surya), is an imposing piece of architecture in sand stone/ rock. I later learnt that it was built by Narasimha Deva of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty. The structure (no more an active temple) is meant to represent a grand, albeit stationary, chariot. The Charioteer, remember was transferred out to the Temple at Puri! The structure faces east to receive the first of the rising sun's rays. The numerous wheels of the emblematic chariot can be seen at regular intervals. The Konark palace (it is not an active temple any more) is a UNESCO heritage site. It is surprising that the intricate carvings have survived the onslaught of the sea winds laden with sand. We saw restoration work in progress. It was a good sign that someone was paying attention to our cultural heritage after all. “No cement!” said the guide, revealingly. Obviously! Portland cement is after all a new building material, I thought. There is so much of harmony and symmetry in the structures.
 Pic 7 Kumar doing a pole dance


  The Konark temple is an elegant architectural wonder whose significance was both spiritual and political.  Our guide’s attempt to explain the details of the architecture in English was quite incomprehensible. He could very well have talked to me in Oriya. As we went around the temple the gentleman suddenly became animated. He found a glorious new vocabulary and enthusiasm which was lacking until that point of time. He looked around and in a conspiring tone drew our attention to intricate details of the carvings. He then burst into what we might call inappropriate language that included words we do not use in civil discussions. Only when we saw the depictions did it become clear that he was giving a running commentary on the remarkable poses etched brilliantly on the rock face. It detailed the numerous possibilities between a man and a woman, a woman and a woman and some raunchy details of a ‘ménage a trois’ and more (if you know what I mean). Our guide, for the first time found vocabulary, which I thought he lacked. In fact, I thought his breathless excitement might kill him. “Very nice time” he finally wheezed as though recalling the salacious times which were never going to come back. Kumar celebrated the viewings by doing an impromptu pole dance on the railings around the structure. Anjan tried but failed! I sort of agreed that this Sun God was a fun God after all! We rushed back just in time to have the three guys dropped off at the airport. It was an amazing drive with the sky lit up in dazzling orange by the setting sun. A fitting tribute to Surya who will rise again with a certainty that we cannot aspire for in our lives!

 Pic 8- Anjan trying to do a pole dance (check out the background)

Pic 9-With our Interpreter of 'dreams'

Pic 10- The setting sun- adieu to Surya. Driving back!












George with Anjan, Kumar and Sanjay. November 24th 2013