My Tour to Puri
Puri is an attractive tourist destination of India situated in the State of Odisha and is on the Eastern Coast. Puri is famous for its Pilgrimage and Beach Tourism. It is famous for Shri Jagannath Temple which is one of the four Dhamas i.e., char dham (Holiest of the holy places) i.e., Puri, Badrinath, Dwarika and Rameswaram in India and for the longest Golden Beach. This time we stayed for four days in Puri from April 17, 2023 to April 21, 2023. I would like to share my experiences and the information in brief about the places that I visited with my wife during this tour.
1. Jagannath Temple
Jagannath Temple is one of the Dhamas out of four Dhamas i.e., Puri, Badrinath, Dwarika and Rameswaram in India. It is an important Hindu Temple dedicated to Lord Jagannath. The main temple of Lord Jagannath was built by Somavamsa King Indradyumna of Abanti. This temple is famous for its annual Ratha Yatra i.e., Chariot Festival. The idols of Mahaprabhu Shri Jagannath, Devi Subhadra and Mahaprabhu Shri Balabhadra are placed on the Bejeweled Pedestal (Ratna Simhassana). The temple was built on the basis of Oriya architecture. The main temple is having curvilinear shape with a chakra of Lord Vishnu (also called Nila Chakra) on the top. The height of the tower of the temple is 65 metres. The temple is having four gates at the eastern, western, northern and southern sides of the temple premises known as Simhadwara (Lion's Gate), Vyagrhara Dwara (Tiger's Gate), Hasti Dwara (Elephant's Gate) and Ashwa Dwara (Horse's gate). Singha Dwara is the main gate to enter the Jagannath Temple. Shoes, mobile phones, leather goods and cameras are not allowed inside the temple. One has to keep these items in a counter dedicated for depositing shoes and mobiles before entering the temple which can be collected back after darshan.
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2. Raghurajpur Artist Village
This time we have visited Raghurajpur Artist Village during our stay at Puri. This place is at a distance of about 10 kilometers from Puri. This is the heritage craft village known for its Pattachitra art. Pattachitra means paintings on a piece of cloth. The word 'Pattachitra' has evolved from sanskrit words 'patta' means canvas or cloth and 'chitra' means picture. This is an art which dates back to 5 BC in the region. Pattachitra of this village has been recognised by UNESCO. This village was declared as Heritage Village by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage in the year 2000. More or less 100 families are residing in this village and most of the members of each family are engaged in art work and they have been doing this for generations. We have visited the houses of five to six artists. They have displayed their artistic works with full enthusiasm. We have purchased few Pattachitra Paintings from them for decorating drawing room of our house.
The above photograph is the inside of house of one artist family displaying various paintings and other artistic works. There is another photograph of chittapatra paintings displayed by the artist in his house.
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3. Konark Sun Temple
Konark Sun Temple is at a distance of about 35 kilometres from Puri. We went to the temple by car. On the way we found cashew nut plantations. Cashew nuts are grown in this area. Konark Sun Temple was built in 1250 AD during the reign of the Eastern Ganga King Narasimhadeva-I. The Kalinga region was ruled by the rulers of Eastern Ganga Dynasty from 5th century AD to 15th century AD. This temple is a monumental representation of the Sun God Surya's chariot. Its 24 wheels are decorated with symbolic designs and the chariot is led by a team of six horses. The number 24 represents 24 fortnights in a year and also 24 hours of the day. This temple is the culmination of Kalinga Temple architecture. The name Konark is made of two sanskrit words 'Kona' means corner and 'arka' means sun. The town gets its name 'Konark' from its geographical location which makes it look like the sun rises at an angle. The temple complex consists of the main temple complex, Mayadevi Temple and Vaishnava Temple. It is also having other subsidiary structures like the gateway, well, kitchen, enclosure wall, etc. We have also visited the Archaeological Museum, Konark located near the main temple in the northern direction. This museum started in the year 1968 and maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India. The purpose of starting this museum was to house the archaeological excavations and the fallen sculptures from the Sun Temple. The museum is having four galleries displaying 260 various antiquities. It is better to visit museum before visiting Konark Temple so that you can have better idea of the temple beforehand. After exit from the Konark Temple we found many stalls displaying varieties of cashew nuts and poppy seeds (khaskhas in Hindi, postdana in Bengali). These items are reasonably cheap in this market.
Cashew nut plants on the way to Konark Temple. 👉
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4. Blue Flag Beach
Earlier it was Golden beach of Puri which has been renamed as a Blue Flag Beach. This beach has been officially ranked as India(s) cleanest beach. Before entering the beach, you have to pay Rs.20 as entry fee for a period of three hours. It has been officially ranked as India's cleanest beach. This beach is one of Asia's first blue flag certified beaches. Blue Flag certification is given by FEE (The Foundation for Environment Education) situated at Denmark. They started certification of Blue Flag beaches since 1987. Thirty-three stringent criteria of FEE, Denmark are required to be fulfilled to obtain and maintain Blue Flag Certification. This beach is having core infrastructure facilities like public toilets, changing and shower room, watch towers, sitting arrangements, solar lighting system and demarcation of safe swimming zone. This beach is very less crowdy as compared to Puri Beach. You will find long easy chairs with sheds in beach located away from sea. You can use those sitting arrangements free of cost. But if you want to sit in chairs nearer to sea for closely observing sea waves then you have to make payment based on number of hours you are using those chairs.
This time we could not visit Chilika Lake due to hot summer. It is better to visit Chilika Lake during winter season so that you can enjoy the whole day by doing boating and watching migratory birds. Generally migratory birds come to various places in India during winter season. Dhauli Giri Hills is another tourist destination in Odisha which is at a distance of about 12 Km. from Bhubaneswar and about 50 Km. from Puri. You can also visit Nandankanan Zoological Park near Bhubaneswar. Next time I will visit Puri and Bhubaneswar during winter season for carrying out my remaining site seeing which could not be covered during this visit.
