Odishaa !! Part 2 – Folk tales !!

We did a 5 day road trip of Orissa : Bhuvaneshwar – Puri – Konark – Gopalpur – Bhuvaneshwar. And Pipli and Raghurajpur & Chilka lake squeezed in between.

And throughout the trip we were entertained by many many  ‘Local Wikipedia’ who enthusiastically narrated folk tales, mythological stories, parables, facts and religious significance and more.

Each temple had a history, mythology behind it. And some had unique parables attached to them as well (like the Sakhi Gopal mandir).

And these Local Wikis (Locwiks) came in various forms and from different backgrounds.

First our driver Pradeep – a storehouse of facts and stories. And his knowledge of the by lanes of Bhuvaneshwar & Puri and every little village and street near the big temples cannot be matched by any Google map !!

The ASI certified guide at Konarak, Rameswar Mondal. A living & supreme authority on Konark (facts and hearsay and BS). We enjoyed the 60 min tour under his command. ASI = Archaeological Society of India. BS = Bull S%#!

Then the various staff at the resorts we stayed – managers, receptionists,  restaurant persons and chefs and waiters and the beach front kiosk Chef who served spicy tangy  Jhol muri (Bhel Puri seasoned with a dash of mustard oil - Bengali Style) and kadak (strong) ginger/masala chai.

Ans we just had to ask, ‘How was the temple made/ or how did this happen, what is the local version??’ and some wonderful stories would follow.

And then the saffron robed sadhu with thick bead and glowing eyes who lived at the Chausathi Joginini  temple compound, that was once a famous tantrik ground in the olden days. This temple displays 64 forms of Devi including portrayal of Krishna and Ganesha. and she sports different hairstyles in each image and  rides a vahana (mount)  And this fearsome sadhu  effortlessly spoke in good English and recited the names and vahanas   of all the 64 (Chausat in Hindi) Devis carved into the circular stone wall. And he named (in English)  horses, elephants, giraffes and animals like mongoose & iguana !! And there are dead body vahanas and skeleton vahanas too! WoW !!

And he also offered to do some heavy duty sounding pujas on our behalf the next day, which we managed to politely turned down without upsetting him.

And each evening we came back to our room and googled on the stories we heard. Quite a few were documented in various sites.  But none of them had that wonderful spicy & masala flavor  of these Locwik versions.

And here are a few that we  enjoyed  hearing !!

Sakhigopal : a small village lies on our way from Bhuvaneshwar to Puri.

There is a big temple of lord Krishna and Radha.  A huge statue of Krishna standing in his classical cross legged stance carved in Black Granite. And Radha on his left looking at him.

And here is the story behind this temple.

SakhiGopal:  Sakhi = Sakshi = Witness.   Gopal = Lord Krishna.

SakhiGopal = Sakshi Gopal = Krisha the witness.

Once a rich man (mahajan in Oriya) from Puri set out to Dwarka to have darshan of Lord Krishna.  He took his young servant along with him for company. On way the Mahajan cut his leg badly. His young servant nursed his wound and helped him, sometimes even carrying him  through out the way up to Dwarka. The Mahajan was so pleased with the dedication of his young servant that while they were praying in front of Lord Krishna, he announced that he would show gratitude by marrying off his daughter to his young servant.

And as one would expect he soon chose to forget his promise when they returned back to Puri.

When the young servant reminded his master of his promise to the lord and demanded his daughter in marriage, he got angry and challenged the servant to bring any proof of such a commitment that he had ever made.

So the servant went back to Dwaraka and requested lord Krishna to come with him as his witness.  Kishna agreed to go with him to Puri. He would walk behind the servant under the condition that he must not look back under any circumstances. And to satisfy the young servants apprehensions he took off a small bell from the temple door and tied it to his ankles. The tinkling of the bell will assure him that the lord was following close behind. 

As they passed this village they crosses a dry river sand bed. And the soft sand dampened the tinkle of the bell on Krishna’s ankles.  And it  was only a few minutes longer when the anxious servant looked back. Immediately Lord Krishna vanished leaving behind a brass Kalash (vessel) as a proof of his presence here.

The servant then went to Puri and brought his master to see the kalash and that it was prod enough that Lord Krishna had come this far to bear witness.

The master realized his folly and then married his daughter to the young servant and he also constructed a temple for Lord Krishna and called it Sakshi Gopal . 

Note : The potbellied chaiwalla's masala chai was just awesome and  we went in for a refill.  He breeds his own A2 cows.

Konark !! And why are there erotic carvings on the Konark temple’s exterior walls.

3       3reasons as per our guide - Rameswar Mondal.

First :  Sex education. Sex is not a taboo.  And this is well documented.

The other 2 reasons we could not find anywhere.

Second : Apparently at that time most people were adopting Buddhism and were becoming monks en mass. And this may lead to a drastic decline in population.

The King became worried and hence he advised the architects to etch and carve out erotic postures from kamsutra onto the walls.  When people came here and saw these sculptures , they would get excited, go home and make babies!!

Third The Konark temple took more than 14 years to complete. And the sculptors and artisans were getting restless and tired of  staying such a long time away from their families.  Also there was not much entertainment in this barren coastal area.

So in order to build up the morale and bring some excitement into their work the head priest ordered erotic sculptures to be made and decorated on the temple walls. This move created a lot of enthusiasm in the work force and increased the morale of the work force!. 

Hats Off to that High Priest !!  His logic was sound and simple !
Nobody can get dull, dejected or depressed while they are carving out a couple of exciting body parts or making a foreplay-on-the-rocks !!!

And then Mondal pointed to the huge statue of a lion sitting on top of an elephant. and the elephant is

crushing a human being. And he asks us what does it signify ? He then replies....

Lion signifies strength.  that is power !

Elephant means wealth ! so if you have power you can get wealthy. (of course I know, look at all our elected leaders)

and when a man gets power and money, he gets destroyed ! (not sure if that happens in India now)

Moral  A man is crushed by his own power and money. and i remembered the old saying ..
Power Corrupts.
Absolute Power corrupts absolutely !!

Taratarini Temple: High up on a small hill is a very ancient and beautifully carved temple.

Who are Tara and Tarini ?? Did you know that they are two of the seven sisters of lord Ganesha.

Parvarti went to bathe leaving Ganesha at the door to guard the house. When Shiva returned and wanted to enter the house, Ganesha refused to let him in. A huge fight ensued in which Shiva chopped off Ganesha’s head.

When Parvati came to know she became angry and enraged. In her fury, she delivered 7 daughters and ordered them to go out  into the  world and destroy everything there.

Lord Brahma and Vishnu came down to pacify her, but she would not cool down unless her son Ganesha cam back to life.

And he rest of the story we all know about the elephant sleeping with his head facing north etc.

Well Tara & Tarini were two of these daughters and the two deities in this temple look aggressive and depict the rudra (furious) form of Devi. 

Jagannath Puri Temple :  
The three deities here are unique idols : Jogannatho, Balabhadro & Subhadro. (Krishna, Balarama & Subhadra). All the three idols nave no legs, Subhadra idol has no hands and both Krishna & Balarama hands are half made.

One story version:  The then King of Puri was an ardent bhakt of Sri Krishna and used to see visions of Sri Krishna in his dreams.  And he became determine to see Krishna while awake.

So he sent four of his trusted minister in four direction to find the true form of Krishna so that he can worship. Three minister returned with no luck.

The fourth minster wandered into a thick forest and got lost but managed to reach a small hut of a tribal and his daughter. He stayed there and fell in love with the girl and got married . And over time he realized that the tribal would mysteriously vanish early morning and return late. Upon further investigation he came to know that the tribal went to a secret place where he offered prayers to the local deity , a form of lord Krishna.  

The minister coaxed the tribal into taking him along one day. On that day the tribal tied the minister’s eyes with a black cloth  so that he will not know where he is been taken. But his smart wife passed on a small pouch containing sesame seeds and a small hole in the bottom. As the minister walked the seeds dropped on to the ground. 

A few days later there was rain, the seeds sprouted and small yellow flowers bloomed . The minister was able to trace back to the temple and pray to this deity and request the lord to come with him to his King’s land.

The local deity agreed but said he would choose any form to come to the kingdom and the king would surely recognize him.

The minister returned back to the King and narrated his tale.

A few weeks later there was a huge storm in Puri and three huge neem logs were washed ashore. The King immediately knew that these three logs were the hidden  forms of his three deities – Krishna, Balarama & Subhadra.

However no artisan could manage to carve an image of the idol . The logs were so hard that even iron chisels could not make a notch on them.

One day an old frail man cam up to the king and asked permission to carve idols from the logs.  And his condition was that he be locked up in a room without food or water and given 21 day to complete his work.

With much reluctance the king agreed but insisted that each day one of his ministers would come to the room and place his ears to the door to check if he was OK and hear his tools working.

For 12 days a minister would walk up to the door , place his ears and hear the chipping of wood and the sound of chisel and hammer.

Then on the 13 an 14 day there was no sound. The king got anxious and his queen became extremely concerned about the health of the thin, old and frail person and imagined that the worst had happened. She insisted that the door be opened immediately.

So on the 15^th day when the door was opened they found the three partially finished idols but the thin frail artisan had disappeared!

And the king realized that the frail old man had been none other than Vishwakarma the celestial architect.

And he took these half finished idols and built a huge temple complex to worship in them.

Even now the three deities are made of Neem wood and they are replaced every 14 years!

Dhauli Hill : A disappointment. Except for the 3 edicts of Asoka that are carved in stone there is absolutely no indication of the famous Kalinga battle being fought anywhere here !

Ans surprisingly there are no local stories of Asoka or the Kalinga war. And in spite of Asoka adopting Buddhism and promoting it, we did not come across even a single large Buddhist monastery in our entire trip!  And the only one we saw atop the Dhauli hill was sad looking and poorly maintained. Appeared to have been abandoned .

And after a wonderful time in Orissa,  breathing the clean & fresh ocean air, driving thru empty highways, negotiating some small traffic jams in Bhuvaneshwar, we returned back to Bangalore..

And we got back to reality. 

A 2 hour drive, a 30 min wait for our dosas at  a restaurant and finally back home.

And the next day we woke up with that familiar body ache and a few early morning sneezes that we had totally forgotten for 5 full days !!

Krish..

Odishaa!! Part - 1

A few folks in Sobha Palladian noticed that we were missing last week.

They did not see Jayanthi dusting the windows nor see me hanging out our clothes  to dry.

Nor did they notice us sipping chai in our garden and waving  to people passing to and from the main gate.

Breaking News !!  We had been to Odisha !!

And, If I were to go around and ask a few folks (who are not from the east), ‘Tell me a few things about Orisssa’ here is what I might hear.

Orissa = Jaganath Puri.        Orissa = Bhuvaneshwar. Konark

Orissa = Cyclone hits            Orissa = Biju Pattnaik

And a few more knowledgeable ones may add Rourkela Steel Plant, Sand art by Sudarsan Pattnaik., HAL factory in Koraput and ISRO rocket launch station on Chandipur-at-sea!!

And a few may also recall Olive Ridley Sea turtles, Kalinga battle and Naveen Pattnaik. 
And I will add Nandini Satpathy (a firebrand in Orissa politics and ex. CM) to this list.  A wonderful  and charming speaker of yester-years!! ( wiki : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandini_Satpathy )

And next, if I ask them what will be their next holiday destination, I am not sure if even one of them will call out Orissa. Yes, it will rank very very low in the list of aspirational holiday destinations like Europe / Southeast Asia/Far East / Dubai / OZ / Kashmir/ Shimla / OOTY / Jaipur / and so on.

Thankfully the religious and pious Hindu families will have Puri as a must see location. It is one of the holy Char Dhams for Hindus - the other three being Rameshwaram, Dwaraka & Badrinath. You visit all these 4 holy places and you are assured of a confirmed berth upstairs!!

And we went on a 5 day road trip to Orrissa – because we were clueless of how that place looked like. And none from our family had gone to that state before.

We flew down to Bhubhaneshwar and drove from there to Puri  (2 days)/ Konark / Gopalpur  (2 days) and back to Bhubhaneshwar (1 day). We could not make it to Cuttack.

And it was just amazing! One of the best experience and the most enjoyable holiday we ever had !!  Rich heritage &  culture, huge imposing temples, wonderful pristine beaches.
And above all very friendly and hospitable people !!  
Would love to go there again !!

And how many of you would know about places like Pipli and Rangarajpur and heard about the annual Bali Jatra festival during the week of Karthik Poornima??

Here is  our journey thru these places and event highlights thru my camera lens.

(pl view on a large PC or Tablet screen to experience  the real ambiance and action)

1.       PIPLI :  a small village that specializes in local art – handicraft, embroidery, applique, wood and brass artifacts. ( The income of this town is essentially dependent on the business of its handicrafts of which the applique works are the main source. wiki : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipili )

We pass thru a small stretch of road, a kilometer in length max.

And both sides of this road is lined with shops stacked with a variety of art and applique work.

A riot of colors and a dazzling display of the skills of these local artists.

Notice the Jagannath idol motif in many places!!

2.      

Raghurajpur :   Raghurajpur is a heritage crafts village, known for its master Pattachitra painters, an art form which dates back to 5 BC in the region and Gotipua dance troupes, the precursor to the Indian classical dance form of Odissi

In 2000, after a two-year research and documentation project by INTACH, starting 1998, the village was chosen to be developed as state's first heritage village and developed as a Crafts village( wiki : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raghurajpur )

We get out of the car and enter a wide lane some 200 meters long.  Both sides are packed with small dinghy houses (120 of them), many with less than 10 ft frontage. A group of young men eagerly invite us to their homes. They are very proud of their art and want to demonstrate and showcase them  to us.

A middle aged woman insists that we come inside her house . And we go in.

A very small room barely 8 feet wide crammed with shelves and walls draped with paintings. Everywhere we see artifacts, toys, shelves stacked with bright objects, trinkets hanging form wires ob top.

And Sanju (the mom) and Chandan(the son) enthusiastically showcase all that they hav done. Paintings, sketches, Palm leaf engraving, wood engravings, Areca nut paintings. And they just go and on piiling the small space between us with paintings after paintings.

We are overwhelmed by their sheer enthusiasm and their earnestness to impress.

As we come out we are ambushed by Om Prakash who literally drags us to his house. A dilapidated shack with dog eared certificates, state awards & national awards  of his father lining the walls. and we see some very exquisite artwork done with Kajal (black Eye liner).

Kullu catches up with us and goes on a sob story. His house is located on the right hand side of this lane. And most visitors start with the left side and finish off all their shopping before they come to the right side. So we have to visit his home, he insists.

His house is the most pathetic looking of all the three. We perch on a narrow bench as he starts unwrapping painting after paintings explaining each painting  how it was done, the colors used and  some mythological significance of each.

And by the time we managed to extricate ourselves and reach our car we were totally exhausted. And our pockets too. We spent all our ready cash meant for emergencies!!

3.  Karthik Poornima & Bali Jatra.  12 Nov’19 was Karthik Poornima and marks the starting of the new year for folks here (not verified) . Sailors and merchants set sail for Bali and Java, Sumatra for trading  on this day.

And the sisters (and other family members) of these sailors and merchants pray to god for their successful journey and their safe return. They float boats made from banana stem bark with diyas in them.

We were woken up at 4 am with the sound of crackers and we watch the beach slowly getting crowded with people – both local and those coming from nearby towns and villagers.

Check out the action !!!

4. The Jagannath Temple Road : It is estimated that over 10 Lakh devotees came to Puri this time during the period concluding with Karthik Poornima day. From early morning 12 AM to  midnight endless streams of devotees thronged the temple. So having a darshan on this day was out of question, but nothing stopped us from experiencing this crowd and the super charged  atmosphere.

 Thees is a one mile stretch of road leading up to the famous Puri Jagannath Mandir. And it is thronging with visitors, devotees, street vendors and tons of eatables and merchandise.

And we spent a long time just being in the midst of such activity  and absorbed the ambiance, the devotion of the people and we soaked in the festive spirit here !!

 Horay - Raamo;   Ramo - Ramo;   Horay - Ramo;   Horay, - Horay !
Horay - Krishno;   Krishno - Krishno;   Horay - Krishno;   Horay - Horay !!

And this is the real spirit of India.

The young and old, men and women, boys and girls, the poor and the rich, the healthy and the sick, the wise men and the illiterate, the sadhus and the sinners.

All waiting in a Q in their bare feet, in the scorching sun, to take blessings from Lord Jagannath !!

And they are all equal in the eyes of the Lord!!

Krish..

Odishaa - Part 2 : Folk Tales from Orissa  to follow later.