Bhubaneshwar

Geography

Bhubaneswar, city (1991 pop. 411,542), capital of Orissa state, E central India, on a distributary of the Mahanadi River. A small town before it became the capital in 1948, it is a modern administrative center and the seat of Utkal Univ. and Orissa Univ. of Agriculture and Technology. There are rolling mills and wire-cable works; the city has an airport. Settlements date back to the reign of Asoka (3d cent. &BC;). The capital of the Kesaris dynasty of Orissa (5th-10th cent.) was here. Bhubaneswar, a religious center, once had c.7,000 shrines around its sacred lake; the remains of c.500 still stand, displaying many styles of Hindu and Buddhist art and architecture. Lingaraja temple is the most famous. The city was devastated by a cyclone in Oct., 1999..

History

The ancient capital of the Kalinga empire, and now the capital of Orissa, Bhubaneswar's history goes back over 2000 years. "Bhubaneshwar" means the "abode of God" or "master of the universe" and it was also, once known as the 'Cathedral of the East', on account of the large number of shrines. At one time, the Bindu Sagar tank was bordered by over 7000 temples. Of these, 500 still survive, all built in the extravagant Oriya style. It is of these temples, that the great poet, Rabindranath Tagore had once said - 'At all places where the eye rests, and also at places where the eye does not rest, the busy chisel of the artist has worked incessantly. The abode of god has been enveloped by a variety of figures depicting the good and the evil, the great as well as the insignificant, the daily occurrences of human life.

Bhubaneshwar Attraction

Udaygiri and Khandagiri : These are the twin hills 7 kms. from Bhubaneshwar. The 135ft high Udaygiri and 118ft high Khandagiri hills have ancient caves. Khandagiri means "broken hill" and Udayagiri means "hill of the sunrise." The caves on the two low hills of Udayagiri and Khandagiri give ample proof of Jain and Buddhist occupation..

Nandankanan : Nandankanan literally means the 'Garden of Pleasure' or 'Garden of Gods'. It is in Chandaka forest, 25-kms from Bhubaneswar and is famed for its white tiger population. It houses a variety of mammals, reptiles and various species of birds. The zoo enjoys an excellent reputation internationally, for successfully breeding black panthers and gharial crocodiles.

ISKCON Temple : The beautifully built ISKCON temple (413-517) is located on National Highway No.5, Nayapali. The Deities in the temple are Krishna Balaram, Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra, and Gaura-Nitai. There is also a new Radha-Krishna temple. Srila Prabhupada laid the cornerstone for this temple in February 1977, and it was finished in 1992. There is a small guesthouse here with rooms that have attached bathrooms. These rooms are not always available, but they are quite nice if you can get one. To stay here you have to follow the ashram rules. There is a fairly basic vegetarian restaurant here.

Parasurameswara Temple : This temple is the oldest Siva temple in Bhubaneswar, built in the late 7th century. There are many intricate carvings on this temple. It is close to the Bhubaneswar to Puri road, on the east side of Bindu-sarovara, northeast of the Lingaraja temple. It is the best preserved and most impressive of Bhubaneswar's early temples. It has interesting carvings of elephant and horse processions and intricately carved windows. In the corner of the countryard is the Sahasra-linga, which is 1000 small lingas joined together.

Bhubaneshwar Climate

Bhubaneshwar is very pleasant throughout the year. It is better to avoid visiting this place in monsoons.

How To Reach Bhubaneshwar

Flight : There are regular Indian Airlines flights to Hyderabad, Nagpur, Calcutta, Delhi, Varanasi, Bombay and Madras. The airport is very close to town. If you have an early morning flight, it is a good idea to have your hotel arrange a taxi the night before and pay a little more to avoid the morning inconvenience of finding a taxi at that time. The Indian Airline office is on Raj Path, by the bus stand.

Train : Bhubaneswar is on the main Calcutta to Madras line so all the main trains stop here. The Howrah-Bangalore mail and Guwahati-Bangalore go to Bangalore. The Coromandel Express is a good train going to Madras. There are direct trains to Delhi, Agra, Remuna, and Varanasi. The Rajdhani Express departs from Delhi one day a week on Friday to Bhubaneswar. The Puri-New Delhi Express is a good train to Delhi. .

Road : The best way to get from Bhubaneswar to Puri is on one of the Canter minibuses that leave from the old bus station in the center of town, the new bus stand, and from the petrol station opposite the Ashok Hotel. They take a little more than an hour to get to Puri. There are also larger buses that go Puri, but they are slower than the minibuses. It is best to get an Express bus to Puri, which make only one stop en route. There is a direct bus to Konark too. If one misses out the direct bus, one can take a Puri buses to Pipli and from there get another bus to Konark.