We have spent about 3 days in Vizag for a friend’s wedding
post which ,we planned a two day trip to Orissa.
Day 1: Puri
Most of the trains have stop at Khurda junction(One stop
before Bhubneshwar). So, if you plan to have a relaxing day it’s better to
visit Puri one full day. You sure would appreciate the serene beach, orange
hues in the sky during sunset as you observe ebbs and neaps of the sea or
playful tiny waves touching your feet as you relax on the golden beach lit up
by the silver moon. From Khurda junction, there are a lot of trains to Puri at
frequent intervals.We reached khurda at around 10:30 am. We took a train to
puri and checked into our hotel (Puri Beach Resort Near light house) which we
prebooked in goibibo. We got it at a very good deal.
The hotel doesn’t seem
very refined and elegant. However, the beach view is breath taking and also it
is like a private beach, there is no crowd at all. After checking in we had our lunch and took a
nap. The food at this restaurant was also really good and sandeep da was very kind and helpful.
We visited the famous puri jagannath temple in the evening. As
soon as we reached the south gate, a pujari came and started offering us help
to assist in visiting the temple. We politely said we don’t need his help.But
surprisingly we met him multiple times in temple as well. During darshan at
every small temple we realised people are shelling out huge sums of money. Once
you go and pray, take aarti or he blesses you, you ought to pay money. One of
our friends(If I may quote Ashwin ;) ) lost money like this when he visited and
advised us to be wary about the same so we just saw the deity and prayed from a
bit far from pujaris(pandas as they call) or aarthi thaalis.
The architecture of the temple is a marvel. We were lucky to
witness people climbing up the giant structure to change the flag. It was like
an event where hundreds of people were cheering them and waiting for them to
reach top. We were a bit taken aback to see the temple surroundings in a really
bad state. Since it is a world famous tourist destination it was quite
surprising to see such conditions around temple.
Trust me; It is all the more interesting to visit temples
after knowing history and some interesting facts. Observing those facts when
you visit will really help you appreciate our ancestors and our rich heritage.
Puri Jagannath Temple
For information on history, deities refer http://www.jagannathtemplepuri.com/
Though the temples architecture itself makes us fall in love
with it at first sight, however there are some interesting facts about puri
jagannath temple which you might want to know before visiting and observe when
you visit.
Incredible facts about temple: https://www.iskconbangalore.org/blog/nine-incredible-facts-about-puri-jagannath-temple/
After visiting temple, we just spent time by having a
leisure dinner and gazing at the silent sea. We couldn’t see the sunset as it
was cloudy that day otherwise it is a beautiful sight in puri one shouldn’t
miss.That is one of the reasons why this resort was a best place to stay. It
was like a private beach J
We met Vikram, in charge of arranging tours for visitors on
behalf of Puri Beach Resort and after talking to him, We have planned our trip
for the next day .We paid him around 2000 plus toll charges.
Changrabaga beach --->
Konark -->Dhaula-->Lingaraj Temple-->Nandankanan.
Chandrabhaga History
: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrabhaga
We did not stop by chandrabhaga beach as we were running
short of time. We went to konark temple directly.If there are no time constraints do visit chandrabhaga beach for sunrise or sunset.
Day 2-Konark Temple:
When we visited temple, there is some renovation work going
on so we couldn’t really get a clear view of the temple. There were a lot of
places were the actual construction has been ruined and they were replacing it
with blocks of similar shape but the carvings were not recreated. They need
careful preservation else, our future generations might not be able to see the
beauty of those majestic carvings.
Incredible facts about temple: http://www.southreport.com/interesting-facts-sun-temple-konark/
Most interesting facts to know definitely are about sun
dial, Lion statues and about the idol.
A brilliant Video to check accurate time using Wheels at
Konark : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9RF9lLBIMs
Gist from Video : There are 24 wheels carved on walls of
Konark temple. 2 of them act as sundials and 22 of them as Moon dials to tell
time exactly in minutes. There are 8 major and minor spokes. The time
difference between each major spoke is 3 hours. Minor spoke splits the time
into 1.5 hrs between two major spokes. There are 30 beads which represent1.5 hours.
When shadow falls each bead represents 3 minutes( Clearly left, right ,centre
of the bead can be identified which will help us pin down time to minutes).You
would definitely appreciate checking this before visiting the temple.
That's me in Konark :)
I will jott down the details about Dhaula, Lingaraj Temple
and Nandankanan in my next post. Please do post your suggestions.
