Bhubaneswar is one of the beautiful cities I have ever seen. The magnificent temples and monuments in and around the city make it more beautiful. Compare to Tamilnadu and Karnataka, Orissa’s architectural design is entire different. I have visited some of the places in and around Bhubaneswar and would like to share it.
First I visited Udaygiri and Kandhagiri caves located on the hills, around 8 Km from Bhubaneswar. The Udaygiri and Kandhagiri caves separated apart by a road has 18 and 15 caves respectively. These caves were carved out of laterite, long back in 2nd BC as a residential place for the Buddhist and Jain monks. These caves on the hill top can be reached through steps and steep paths. These caves have fantastic carved sculptures, like elephants, women and other pictures. we can enter the caves and experience the comfort these monks had thousands of years back. Its column of cells in the rocks with pillars for shelters.
Dhauli This is the place where King Ashok followed Ahimsa in the form of Buddhism after witnessing the suffering of the people in the Kalinga War. Dhauli is situated in a small hillock on the banks of river Daya about six km from Bhubaneswar. This is a important place in the history of India where people realized the importance of Ahimsa some 2250 years back. Theres a archeological inscription depicting the history for the visitors.There is Buddha status in different positions, status of lion facing the daya plain and Shanthi stupa constructed by a Japanese Buddist.We can have a good view of fertile daya river plain from the Dhauli hill.
I had written a dairy post few months back on this mysterious temple. Hirapur is a small deserted and isolated village located near Bhubaneswar. This temple is dedicated for the worship of 64 yoginis(female who acquired spiritual insight) built in a circular manner which opens to sky. In the circular wall round the enclosed space there the images of 64 yoginis in various forms. They have different faces like of lion, boar, snakes, elephants with different ornaments and hair styles. The worshippers of the Yoginis formed the yogini cult a form of tantric practices in Orissa and Madhya Pradesh during 9th – 13th century.But this Yogini cult failed in course of time. Attri Attri is a well known place for its hot sulphur springs, located at a distance of 42km from Bhubaneswar. The hot spring just oozes of the rocks, nature at its best here in Attri. The spring is very hot and continuously flowing through out. Few tank has been constructed for proper flow. There is a bathing complex for the visitors to take bath in hot spring which have curative powers.This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva