Dreamscapes Travel & Lifestyle

Winter/Spring 2017

Dreamscapes Travel & Lifestyle Magazine

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class. While dance is no longer performed here as a ritual offering, this spectacular temple now serves as the scenic setting for a dance festival held every December. PURI PILGRIMAGE After a bumpy 35-kilometre ride along the coastal road, we arrived in Puri, one of the four most important Hindu pilgrimage sites in India, and the last stop on the "golden triangle" circuit. This holy city is home to the great Jagannath Temple, built in the 12 th century. The temple is famous for its strict entrance policy: like the Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar, only Hindus are allowed to enter it. Even former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was barred from a visit because she was married to a non-Hindu. We arrived in Puri during a particularly auspicious time. It was the annual rath yatra, when the idols of Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra are taken outside the temple and paraded on massive chariots. This is the only occasion when people of all castes and creeds can catch a glimpse of the gods, with close to a million devotees congregating here from all over India and the world. Adorned in brightly coloured fabrics and mounted on giant two-metre-high wheels painted in festive colours, three giant chariots stood ready in front of the temple. The next day they would be pulled by hand to another temple three kilometres away. It's believed that touching one of the thick, 50-metre-long ropes during the rath yatra washes away sins and brings good fortune. A priest overseeing the decoration of the chariots told us about the elaborate preparations involved for this festive day. Each year, 150 carpenters build the two- storey-high wooden chariots entirely by hand, and a team of 20 sculptors creates the woodcarvings decorating them. Before they set off on their journey, Jagannath and his siblings are fed 20 different dishes specially prepared for them by elaborately costumed temple cooks covered in flower garlands. We asked the priest about the maharis, the temple dancers who used to dance for Jagannath as part of the daily rituals performed at the temple. He told us this tradition no longer exists, and that the last remaining dancer who was once dedicated to the temple lived nearby. However, the tradition of the rath yatra persists. And while millions of pilgrims flock to Odisha's temples each year, for me, only one of many foreigners drawn to Odisha by its dance, this visit was a dance pilgrimage of sorts. I learned how much the dance that evolved and developed here is intrinsically linked to its cultural and religious traditions, and even its temple architecture. Today, the natya mandir of many temples still stands, but the sound of dancers' ankle bells is absent. The dance sculptures gracing the walls are the only remaining testaments of the erstwhile temple dancers. DREAMSCAPES WINTER/SPRING 2017 14 TOP: Visitors admire a giant wheel at the Sun Temple in Konark. Isabel Putinja CENTRE: The Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar is the city's oldest and largest. Odisha Tourism ABOVE: Only Hindus can enter the Jagannath Temple in Puri. Odisha Tourism TRAVEL PLANNER For more information on Odisha and India, visit: India Tourism Office: incredibleindia.org Odisha Tourism: odishatourism.gov.in DS

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