Awesome Odisha -Encore !

On a  recent second visit to Awesome Odisha , gathered  treasures  missed the first time  , and fell  in love with the land all over again , with  cemented conviction. 

The following  is neither a travel guide nor a history lesson , but a cocktail of  random thoughts and impressions that bubbled up  during the trip . 

CHILDREN OF THE SOIL 

From the begining of Time  were these people , called Adivasis locally ,who knew no boundaries,  living with and off  nature ,  needing no Gods other than Ancestor Spirits and Nature Spirits  to protect them, creating  what they needed with things they found around  . Life was hard , no doubt , but there was  much to celebrate  too .

[ A nugget to nibble on here :  the Saoras of Gajapathi District are considered one of the oldest Tribes of Odisha . Sabari , a character in the Ramayana , and Jara , who shoots  the cursed arrow at Krishna's foot in the Mahabharatha , are both said to be of this Tribe. ]

 Surprisingly , all these  ancient folk did not vanish into the hungry belly of  Urbanisation. They  are still  very much around, living almost the same kind of life, but in hamlets and small towns seen on maps.

 

It was a revelation to spot women  on the  lanes by Bhubaneshwar's temples, looking like what we generally see  only in romanticised  film songs  - in colourful  wrap- sarees, no blouse ,  well oiled hair rolled into side buns , ornamented with numerous silver hairpins, red flowers and beads , large studs on ears and nose ,  a neckful of chains , armful of bangles and feet weighed down by heavy anklets . No, not playing Dress-Up for some festival . They were being themselves , as they had always been . 

Odisha has the maximum number of scheduled Tribes , 62  in all , many members of which have mostly or partially adapted to the ways of modern life  like schools, hospitals, co-operative markets etc.

Out of those 62 , only  13 are identified as "Particularly Vulnerable Groups" who, all along , have been living secluded deep inside forests and in hills , and whose way of life is now under threat due to the depletion of natural resources they depend on and encroachment of  "Main Stream Cultures" on their hereditary space. 

Odisha State's Tribal Research Bureau ( currently named : Scheduled Castes and Tribes Research and Training Institute),  the oldest such institution in the whole country ,  collaborates with  both national Agencies and world organisations like World Bank , UNESCO and UNICEF to study, document,  evaluate and address problems faced by these Tribes and help them assimilate into the modern world without giving up their cultural identities. 

While it was not possible to visit an actual village to understand tribal life first hand , a visit to the excellent State Tribal Museum in Bhubaneshwar was a great  learning experience .

It must be the best Tribal Museum in the country ! Not only the curation , but the use of tech for an  immersive audio visual experience is truly laudable . 

Right at the entrance lobby is a huge panel with pictures of  all the 62 tribes with QR codes, Click to access all info about them . The same is available on their website too . 

The central courtyard with recreated shrines of different tribes makes one feel that , ultimately , a rock or a painted wooden pole is all the prop one may need to feel a Spiritual Connection with The Earth and The Sky ....Doesn't it make you think - what are we but just a tiny part of the Natural Process ,  out of which came that forest , this soil , your sheep and my ancestors ? Life can be as simple as just experiencing it,  as it is ......

On with the Museum ....

The 6 Galleries in airconditioned halls, educate the visitor about the tribes' / Adivasis' personal adornments, arts and crafts , household artefacts, agricultural implements, hunting and fishing supplies , weapons , musical instruments etc. All galleries are well captioned and provided with an interactive screen , where you can see the exhibited objects  in actual use. The outdoor segment consists of recreated dwellings of seven tribes. 

After a long and full round up , one is left flabbergasted by the ingenuity of their crafts  , the richness of their imagination, the aesthetic sense invested in making even a simple thing like  a broom or a comb......dare we call them  "backward" or "primitive" ! Just one Kataria ( bangle ) of the KutiaKandhas or one Malatada ( waist band) of the Gandias can put to shame the  designers of Tiffany's or Krishniah Chetty . And the  elegant weaves ! The earthy paintings ! The clever bird-traps ! 

Apparently , the Bureau also conducts an annual  Mela of Tribal Culture. A surefire incentive for a third visit ! 

RISE OF INTELLECTUAL  RELIGIOSITY 

As we pass the highway , we see the churning  River Daya , which apparently ran red with the blood that was shed during Ashoka's war on Kalinga . 

Every school child knows  how  the repentant Emperor became a Buddhist after that carnage. But history is peculiarly silent on which  particular  Kalingan King  faced  Ashoka in that  bloody war . Folk Tales give varied names. 

33 Edicts of Ashoka , datable to 3 BCE have been found scattered all across India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan . In Odisha ( Kalinga) , where the war  happened , his inscriptions are found in two place , in Dhauli (the famous spot) and in Jaugada . In these , he avoids more volatile wordings like  "Battle",  "Conquest " , "Bloodshed" or "Vanquising" and,  instead,  uses  soppy  imagery  like protecting the  "citizens like a fond father" and upholding Dharma ! Obviously , he dint want to  foment a  vengeful revolt in the conquered land . 

So, Ashoka brings  Buddhism here . But structural remains of  Buddhist monasteries  found are only of later dates. 

JAIN MONUMENTS 

By the above time , the Jains were already established in Odisha , apparently from as early on as 7th and 6th BCE . The Udayagiri and Khandagiri set of Jain caves , among the earliest Jain Rock Cut caves in India , were created during the peak of their influence here, datable to 2 BCE . 

The famous  Jain King Kharavela , in his inscription at Hathi Gumpha, ( First century BCE)  makes proud mention of the fact that he retrieved the "Kalinga Jina"  abased  by some Nanda king and of building  residential quarters for groups of Jain monks -  all  those handsome rock cuts strewn about the hills , just outside Bhubaneshwar . 

This King, Kharavela,  seems to have been an orderly person . He has enumerated , bullet point fashion , his achievements during his 15 years of rule , regnal-year-wise .  Enumerated are building of  roads and tanks , winning wars with Shatakaranis and Yavanas , donations to places of worship , serving  the cause of literacy etc .Not forgetting  the happy news of his Queen becoming a Mother ,  ! 

He speaks of breaking the  dangerous confederacy of  "Dramira" ( Tamil land)  Kings , when known  Tamil history has no contemporary  reference to any confederacy of the ever skirmishing  Chola-Chera-Pandya Trio !  

But why did Kharavela have all this info  inscribed on the  sloping ceiling of  a cavern , when the innumerable boulders of the hill offered enough vertical notice-board space?  Forget your difficulty of viewing it , it  must have been an excruciating task to engrave it there in the first place ! 

Udayagiri and Khandagiri pair of  Jain Rock-cuts,  very much a "To Do" item  in travel brochures , is surrounded by dozens of  noisy, crowded Nimbu Pani and Chilli Bajji kiosks . Mercifully vehicles are stopped a short way away from the melee . When there are dozens of illuminated signboards announcing their ware, both in script and graphic art , where's the need for the vendors to yell the same at the top of their voices , out-yelling each other ? Beats me . 

Had Adrak Chai at a kiosk that wasn't plugging it . 

In addition to marveling at the lovely rock cut caves  (or whatever remains of them) , visitors to these Giris can also get entertained by the army of  Gray Langurs  leaping all over the rocks , gobbling unhealthy snacks thrown at them . And  - who would guess !-  the simians seem to be in  good demand for snapping selfies with ! 

Rani Gumpha

The sculpture panels of  the double storeyed  Rani Gumpha , though heavily eroded , bear the stamp of graceful art . What the vigorous activities illustrated here signify is open to each one's interpretation . Some scholar saw Kalidasa's Shakuntalam in it  we hear , another insisted it was all  Ramayana  episodes . You are most welcome to see  Aesop's Fables in them  , no harm . 

One of the panels definitely looked like a group of women scaring away three charging elephants with  "weapons" like a pestle and heavy anklets ! Their fading expressions , fierce and  determined . Women of substance indeed ! They could have used their ear ornaments too - such large and heavy looking roundels they seem ! 

Warriors or guardsmen , carved as full length  portraits  in the ground floor ,  seem decidedly foreign ("Yavanas") .

Other sundry caves , with well cut pillars , show elephants , foliage , birds , nymphs etc. 

BUDDHIST  REMAINS 

 The oldest  Buddhist remains  are at Lalithgiri which is one of the three sites that form The Diamond Triangle , the other two being Udayagiri  (a different one) and Ratnagiri , in Jajpur-Cuttack region. Caskets containing relics of the Buddha are believed to have been unearthed at Lalithgiri . The name Diamond Triangle apparently  refers to the Vajrayana creed practiced here . While Lalithgiri remains are dated to 1 CE , the other two , larger , with more structural remnants , were thriving under Bhaumakara reign from  7CE to 14CE.

Udayagiri , in phases I and II , called Madhavapura Mahavihara  in antiquity, is the larger site. The point of focus is a Mahastupa ,  which houses four  meditating Buddhas in the four cardinal niches . All in good condition . 

The  "Rock Cut"well   is an  interesting structure. There is still water in it , but muddy and littered . 

Very scenic place , with panoramic vistas all around . Well chosen spot for monasteries, most  conducive for Meditation .

The exposed bases  of many stupas  form a surreal field of circles on the hilly slope . Upon a flattened mound stands a  lonely , beautiful  Avalokiteshvara . Similarly , among excavated bases on another side stands a Tara.  The loose sculptures are definitely not in their original places , the ASI has done some nice garden landscaping , using found remnants. 

A small  later-period Shivalaya is also seen here overlooking a slope , blindingly bright in white wash , against the deep russet hues of the Buddhist brickwork , The fresh greens of the grass and trees add to an  overall picture-book effect , truly dreamy . 

By far , the most beautiful site, in terms of sculptural wealth is the third site , Ratnagiri . Supposed to have rivalled Nalanda once . The busy , indefatigable Huien Tsang  is supposed to have visited this place too.  Amazing quantities of votive stupas scattered  all over the place , even after dozens of them have been penned in an enclosure near the entrance  .  

Each votive is different , bearing a different image in its panel . From different points of Time.

So many dreams , wishes and prayers of so many people ...something very touching and elegiac in those  tumbled heaps of  blackened, mossy  relics. 

 A colossal head of Buddha , devoid of trunk , is placed at the very entrance of  the Vihara . A blue-uniformed guard, dwarfed by its immensity, sits fiddling his mobile in its shadow.  Defies imagination , what size the whole sculpture would have been once . 

The doorway, made of blue-green chlorite  stone , is eye-catching , ornamental ;  a Gajalakshmi graces  a lintel ;  apsaras and other celestials hover around frequently ; river goddess Yamuna flanks the doorway ;  a few  meditating Buddhas and a Hariti  in niches,  locked up behind safe grills . 

Towards one side of the open courtyard , stands a gateway like structure with seven large niches ,its sides sporting  relief panels of  fine limbed couples and intricate scroll work . Amidst the scrollwork , here and there , little Gana-like cherubs looking for mischief. 

There are two monasteries , both housing The Buddha , in M-1, seated and flanked by Chamara bearing Vajrapani and Padmapani  , and  in M2, standing , with two small figures carved on the same slab . 

Pushpagiri Mahavihara , on Langudi Hills , was very much in the Tour Plan , but a nasty  bout of rain  played spoil sport. Site Museums were closed for weekly holiday  .....There is always a "next time" !

THE  FREE-SPIRITED  MOTHERS 

While Bouddhas and Jainas were busy propagating their sensitive philosophies , the ancient , beginingless creed of Mother Worship was continuing safely , uninterrupted everywhere . Among the Tribal deities were the  Nature Mothers  - Birkan, Dharni Penu, Duarmundi Thakrani , Hundi etc - , who needed constant appeasement , lest they inflict  disasters on the community. They were both loved and feared . And they did not fit into the currently popular mould of  the ever loving, all -forgiving paragons of maternal love. They were  capricioius, unpredictable ,  Benevolent  and/or  Malevolent . 

With  the  philosophic sophistication  of agamas  gaining traction, some Mothers easily shapeshifted  into Matrikas  , still retaining their independent spirit . They blended well into the Shivite creeds of Tantra and Mantra . When  people got prosperous and more knowledgeable about forces of Nature , they tamed a few Mothers to become  the sweet , generous  wives of the major Trinity that everyone could be comfortable with . Their  volatility  was put in reserve , for use only during dire emergencies - like when some pesky asura with a cleverly wrangled boon couldn't be finished off by  the all powerful Trinity . They would need a Kali or a Chamunda then ,  to do that dirty work .....

The non-domesticated  Ancient Mothers  applied for Change Of Name and became Yoginis  and continued being themselves . What an utterly charming band of  64 Mothers they are , at Hirapur , in their doll-house like hypaethral shrine by the sparkling stream ! Exquisite and powerful at once , just 40cms tall , exuding indomitability in their very postures , they are adorable - though , unfortunately , every single one of them is mutilated , a sad memory of past Invasions . But the faces still hold that beatific smile !..... Hands itch  to caress  their shiny cheeks !

The Chausat Yogini Temple of Hirapur was built by the Bhaumakara Queen Hiradevi in 864 CE. The tiny circular shrine , only 25ft in diameter , was the first Yogini Temple built in India 

 Of the 64 Yoginis , only 56 icons survive . An altar of Shiva , at center , is now missing , but the surrounding  four Bhairavas remain .  The entrance is flanked by two dwarapalas , while the lateral walls leading in have skeletal Betals . 

In the niches on the outer wall are 9 Katyayanis, pleasant looking ladies stamping on severed heads. 

The presiding icon now is Kali or Mahamaya on the inner wall right opposite the entrance , fully covered up with vastra. and garlands .  

The worship rituals here might have tended towards  the  Dark Arts  once , but now its perfectly mainstream . 

In the quaint, rustic setting ,  squealing kids splash joyfully about in the  shimmering  Mahamaya tank.

 [Heard in passing : Why are all Yogini temples open to the sky ? Because , if you try to contain it , The Power will implode . The shrine needs to be open so that  the enshrined Yoginis can fly when they wish to. 

I saw a  Yellow Pansy butterfly flit above the discarded garlands. ]

TANTRIK SHIVITE  PRESCENCE 

Though  mention of Odisha , in general , evokes visions of the  genteel Vaishnava creed of  Jagannatha , the  sweet  Ashtapadis of Jayadeva, the Chaitanya Movement and the Radha-Krishna cult,  it is  Shivalayas that abound here -  scores of them , big, small, active or decrepit  . And a thriving Tantrik Shaiva tradition too was in place .

Two particularly interesting Shiva temples , in this context :

1. Parashurameshwara Temple : One of the oldest temples in Bhubaneshwar,  it shows its antiquity quite clearly . Dated to 7th or 8th CE .; attributed to the Shailodbhavas,  It was the first temple to have the architectural element called Jagamohana ( Hall of Worshippers) preceding the Vimana. This hall has perforated windows , with figures of dancers , reminding one of the Jalavatayanas of the beloved Nolambas back home . 

This  shrine is also where the Saptamatrikas make their first appearance in Bhubaneshwar . And one of the earliest Mahishamardinis , a  small,  business-like figure inside a gavaksha , twisting down the buffalo's head in an obtuse angle before driving a spear into his chest . 

The walls , pilasters , pediments all have profuse , intricate carvings : montage of  lovely floral vines, nymphs and fearsome vetals . 

All  sculptures have a swarthy , robust  look and wear extra-large earrings and convoluted hairdos .

A large panel of a peacock riding Karthikeya is a scene stealer . 

The presence of many  ithyphallic icons ( Yogic Shiva , Lakulisa ) , the Shasralinga , skeletal  vampire figures , all evidence the fact that the shrine has Tantrik roots . The interior is plain and cavern like , with thick pillars .

One can go round and round the structure on loop , discovering  new  exciting details  in every round.

2.  Baitala Deula and Shishireshwara : Two shrines in close proximity , within the same compound .at a  considerably  lower level than the road , 

 The main Temple's name  does not come from "Betal", though it has a  heavy tantrik  personality . But from Boita for Boat , or a gourd , a  pointer to the  vaulted roof  ("Khakhara")  of the shikara.

Dated Late 8CE. And commissioned by a Queen . Some attraction those queens had for  Spells and Shamans . 

The presiding deity of the Baitala Deul is Kapalini aka  Chamunda aka Charchika , that is Kali . Her iconography is supposed to be eerie , but nothing can be seen as she is fully enshrouded by red vastra . Eight Matrikas are said  to be flanking her , but since we were not allowed much beyond the entrance ,had no way of catching any glimpse of them . 

The sculptures on the exterior walls , all in relief , have a certain delicacy , unlike  in the preceeding temple . The  large , lithe Mahishamardini  is the prima donna . ....And a few Kapata Kanyas ( motif of "maidens standing by doors") peering down curiously  at  the gawking visitors ! The figures of couples , maidens etc have the same supple and comely quality as seen in the Badami Chalukyan sculptures.

 Frames with  pairs of lion riders are appealing , with those sharply chiseled beaded garlands and well defined curling manes.  

 In a heavy-set pillared mantapa facing the entrance is a stone stump  bearing very eroded images of Bhairava, Ganesha , Shiva and ( maybe ) Virabhadra . Apparently,  it is  a post  for tethering  sacrificial animals . Gulp ! 

The Shishireshwara , sadly , is so encroached upon by urban buildings that only one side of it is visible fully . How was this sacrilege allowed !?  One has to  squeeze through a narrow , mossy lateral passage to get a quick glance of the  sanctum . The place is unbearably  smelly and littered with trash . 

But the  walls of Shishireshwara are magnificent , with the central panel of the mantapa  showing Lakulisa in a somewhat Buddhist style  .The temple is  the older of the two , built in late 700 CE . 

[ Notes from People Watching : a vast majority of saree clad locals wear only the local ikkat weaves .

Shiny nylons and polyesters with tinsel borders  seem to be reserved for the Goddesses ! 

Temple priests and local  male pilgrims too sport only ikkat lungis or the ikat bordered off- white dothis.

Making the Temple scene so vibrant and colourful . ]

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For a  prettified , glossed up  Cultural Experience, Kala Bhoomi is a great place . Can find all things you may want to know about the culture of the State , housed in  recreated "traditional" settings , nicely packaged  within a vast landscaped  compound . With an expensive Museum Shop  and a good Dhaba thrown in -Yes, did lunch there , right off the stove. 

Get to see artisans working on Pattachitra , pottery  and the like .  The Textile section  is impressive . But,  by far the best section was the one dedicated to the Traditions of  Puri's Jagannatha Temple . Wow ! who knew ! Like, the three deities get unwell after a bath, it seems,  and have to take to bed , so their painted likenesses are installed as proxy , till they recover ! Beautiful paintings .....And the season specific Beshas ( costuming) ! 

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Another visit , someother time . Sure.