Tanks and Springs

Next to temples, the objects most deserving of notice in Bhubaneswar are its tanks. As regards the origin of the tanks it may be said that every temple must have had a device to take very heavy blocks of stone to a great height. This could be done only on earthen ramps which could be raised as the height of the temple increased. The inside of the temple must also be filled with earth to prevent collapsing before the temple was completed. The stones were placed on wooden rollers and rolled up the ramps. The earth for these was dug, so that a tank could be formed. That is a reason why every big temple or group of temples has a tank in the neighbourhood. The surplus stone brought for building the temple was used for lining the embankments and building steps. After the temple was completed the earth was removed from the ramps as well as from inside the temple and spread outside leaving the temple floor lower than the sorrounding ground. Sometimes there was so much of surplus stone that the only way to dispose it of was to build temples outside as was done at Brahmeswara. The outside temples have no carvings.

Bindusagar

The biggest is the Bindusagar tank. The size of this tank is 1300' (396.2400 metres) x 700' (213.3600 metres) and the depth of the tank is 10' (3.0480 metres). It is embanked with stone forming magnificent flights of steps. In its north-east corner is a channel, under a stone covering, which was apparently designed for letting in outside water. In the centre is an island 100' (33.5280 metres) x 110' (33.5280 metres) protected by stone revetment, with a small temple in its north-east corner. Before the temple there is a terrace with an artificial fountain in the centre. The tank is fed by one or more natural fountains at the bottom. Around the tank there are some bigh and small temples. Pilgrims as well as local residents bathe in it. It is believed to contain drops from all the sacred pools on earth, in heaven, in the lower region, as also of nectar, wine, holy butter and all that is most delectable constantly fall into it. The religious merit of the water is lauded in the highest terms in the Padma Purana, the Brahmanda Purana, the Siva Purana, the Brahma Purana, the Kapila Samhita and the Ekamra Purana. The Ekamra Chandrika gives the details of ceremonies to be observed in this tank, including sraddha and a tarpana.

Saharsa Linga Tank

On the eastern side of the Lingaraja temple there is a tank called Saharsa linga sara or 'tank of a thousand Lingas'. Originally, there were a number of small temples ranged round the tank. Each had in its centre a Linga. At present, there are 77 miniature temples in good condition of which only five have Lingas left uncared for and unworshipped. The area around these temples serves as a kitchen garden for the Lingaraja temple, and the tank supplies the water necessary for all the ordinary purposes of the divinity. the Navagraha images have been carved out on the northern side of the compound wall.

Kotitirtheswara Tank

Behind the temple of Kotitirtheswara there is a tank lined with stones, and having a flight of steps on the west side. It is believed that this is the repository of the waters of ten million sacred pools, and pilgrims bathe in it to wash off their accumulated sins.

Brahma Kunda

To the west of the temple Brahmeswara, close by its terrace, there is a large tank called Brahma Kunda, and its sin-rinsing merits are lauded in high terms by the Ekamra Purana, but being situated far away from the town, few pilgrims visit it.

Mukteswara Kunda

Close behind the temple of Mukteswara there is an oblong tank 100 feet (30.4800 metres) x 25 feet (7.6200 metres), lined with stone revements on three sides, and having a flight of steps on the fourth.

Gauri Kunda

Immediately to the south of the Mukteswara temple, within a distance of about thirty feet (9.1440 metres) the Gauri Kunda is located. It is to the east of Gouri's temple. The pool is 70 feet (21.3360 metres) long, and 28 feet (8.5344 metres) broad, and has a depth of 16 feet (4.8768 metres). Its sides are perpendicular, being lined by stone revements; but on the south side there is a flight of stone steps, 20 feet long (6.0960 metres) long, and altogether 10 feet (3.0840 metres) broad. The bottom is formed of small boulders. Its water is tepid, but not so as to be in any way injurious to fish, for there area a number of small fish playing about in excellent condition. The water is beautifully clear, and every part of the bottom is visible at mid-day when sun-shine falls on it. The conviction is that a devotee who, putting a few seeds of the black seasmum on his head, bathes in it for a year, beginning with the 9th of the wane in any month, obtains whatever he desires.

Dudha Kunda & Kedara Kunda

To the west of the Kedareswar temple there is a well called Dudha Kunda. It has a perennial and natural spring and the water is said to have medicinal properties. The water of this spring is recommended by some for dyspepsia. To the east of Kedareswara temple there is a small pool called Kedara Kunda.

Asoka Jhara

Close by the temple of Rameswara there is a tank of moderate size. It is called Asoka Jhara. Around and about this tank there are some small as well as big temples.

Gosahasreswara Hrada

Close by the temple of Gosahasreswzara there is a tank called the Gosahasra Hrada. According to the Ekamra Purana, it was in this place that Devi first saw a herd of cattle which poured their milk on the Linga, and hence she removed it to the vicinity of Vindusagara, where she encountered the demons Kirti and Vasa.

Papanasini Kunda

Close by the Someswara temple there is a large tank linked with laterite blocks. This tank, on the whole, is in excellent state of preservation. It bears the name of Papanasini, "the destroyer of sin", and to it the proxy of Lord Bhubaneswara is brought every year to celebrate the festival of Prathamastami.

Kapileswara Tank

Near the Kapileswara temple there is a large tank 220 feet (67.0560 metres) x 164 feet (48.9872 metres) with an average depth of 16 feet (4.8768 metres). Its sides are lined with flags of sandstone and it has an excellent Ghat formed of a flight of stone steps. The tank is fed from its bottom by a perennial spring. The water is pure and limpid, and is very much liked by the people.

Bhima Kunda

The Bhima Kunda lies in the Mouza Sundarpada. It is a big tank and the water is used mostly for bathing purpose.

Sukhmeswara Kunda

The Sukhmeswara Kunda lies in the Mouza Kapileswara. It is a small tank. The temple of Sukhmeswara Mahadeva is situated near this tank.

Megheswara Kunda

The Megheswara Kunda is a small one situated on the northern side of the Megheswara temple. The water is used for the worship of Lord Megheswara.

Kausalya Ganga

About 8 km. from Bhubaneswara, on the State Highway No.8 towards Puri, there is a tank named Kausalya Ganga which is famous for pisciculture. In the middle of the tank there is an island-the remains of a palace. The tank is said to have been originally a kos(3.82 km.) long on each side; and though a great part of it is now silted up and under cultivation it is still about one and a half mile long (2.41 km) and five furlongs (1 km) broad.

According to the Madala Panji the tank was dug by Gangeswara Deva of Ganga dynasty.

Mathas

In course of time serveal Mathas, Ashramas and branches of certain reputed Mathas of India were established in Bhubaneswar. The Kapali Matha is one of the oldest Mathas situated to the north-west of the Lingaraja temple. A multilated inscription of the reign of Kapilendra Deva has been found here containing the name of one Ranasurya Mahasenapati. The Matha is now in a dilapidated condition. The Arakhita Das Matha is another old Matha situated near Khandagiri and Udayagiri. This Matha is also now in a dilapidated condition. Among the existing well-known Mathas, a branch of the Ramakrishna Matha and Mission at Bhubaneswar established in 1919 by Swami Brahmananda Maharaj, the first president of the organisation, is well known. The Matha is located in a central place of the City. The first floor of the building was completed in 1923 and was inaugurated by Swami Sivanandaji Maharaja. The organisation is maintaining a charitable dispensary, a Middle English School, an Upper Primary School, a Public Library and a reading room. The Tri-Dandi Goudiya Matha of Achintya Veda-veda sect was established in Bhubaneswar in 1924 in the Mouza Kapileswara.

The images of Radha-Krushna are being worshipped here. The Kathia Matha of Nimbarka sect was established in 1935 in Kapileswar Mouza. The Jagannath Matha, a branch of the Sundar Gauranga Matha at Puri, was established in 1941 in the Old Town. The Sadabhuja Gauranga Matha of Keshab Bharati sect was established in 1949 in Srirama Nagar. Besides, there are a few other Mathas, e.g., Sivatirtha Matha, the Sadabarta Matha and the Bharati Matha located in the Old Town area. After 1949 a few Mathas and Ashramas were established in the New Capital area, notable among them being the Aurobindo Bhavan in Kharavela Nagar and the Baya Baba Matha in Unit-IX. The Aurobindo Bhavan is a branch of the Aurobindo Ashrama of Pondicherry. The Baya Baba Matha was established in August 1972 by the Sri Kalpataru Seva Sangha Society, founded by Namacharya Srimad Sachinandan Das alias Sri Baya Baba.

Bhakti-Yoga is practiced here through Namasankirtan. Round the clock, the chanting of the names of Radha-Krushna is carried on by the devotees at the Akhanda Nama Mandap. Recently this organisation has constructed beautiful temples of Radha-Krushna, Siva and Annapurna inside the Matha premises.

Cremation Grounda & Burial Grounds

There are several cremation grounds in Bhubaneswar. Almost all the revenue units are provided with cremation places. The important cremation grounds are located at Baragarh, Puna Maa Gate, Satya Nagar, and the Old Town. Besides three burial grounds at Satya Nagar; one for the Muslims, one for the Protestants and one for the Roman Catholics.

Meteoroligical Centre

A Meteorological Centre has started functioning with effect from the 9th October, 1974, in Kesari Nagar by the Indian Meteorological Department. A bulletin on weather and temperature is sent daily to the All India Radio, Cuttack, Sambalpur and Jeypore Centres, for broadcasting. The Centre is publishing daily weather reports for Orissa State and issuing reports regarding adverse weather like heavy rainfall, strong winds and storms. It is also issuing reports on weather for the sea ports and the fishermen of the coastal districts.

The Centre is giving information on weather required by the air port authorities at Bhubaneswar. The Centre is under the charge of a Meteorologist.

Chandapur

Chandapur is situated in 85 degree 19'30"E. and 19 degree 56'N. on the National Highway No.5 at a distance of 35 Km. from Khurda. From this place a branch road leads to Ranpur. The only importance of this is the T.B. sanatorium called 'Basanta Manjari Swasthya Nivas'. The sanatorium is named after Basanta Manjari Debi, the late dowager queen of Ranpur ex-State who for some time served as a Deputy Minister in erstwhile Orissa Cabinet.

Chilka Lake

The Chilka is a shallow sheet of water covering in autumn an area of 450 sq.miles on the east coast of Orissa. It shrinks to about 300 sq.miles in summer. It is separated from the Bay of Bengal by a group of islands formed by silt deposits and by a long strip of land, which for miles consists of nothing but a sandy ridge. Hemmed in between the mountains and the sea, the Chilka spreads itself out into a pear-shaped expanse of water, having its wider end towards the north-east and the conical end towards the south. The scenery of the Chilka is varied, and in parts exceedingly picturesque. In the south and west hill ranges bound its shores; and in this part it is dotted with a number of small rocky islands rising from deep water. At Barakul, about 6 km.away from Balugaon railway station, there is a good and comfortable Inspection Bungalow of the Public Works Department overlooking the Chilka lake.

Dhauli

Dhauli is a village situated in 85 degree 51'E and 20 degree 11'N, on the south bank of river Daya. Close to the village are two short ranges of low hills running parallel to each other and only a few hundred feet apart. They are collectively known as Dhauli hills. On the north face of the southern range, the rock, which is called Asvatthama, has been hewn and polished for a space of 4.572 metres (fifteen feet) long by 3.048 metres(ten feet) in height; and here the famous rock edicts of Asoka are inscribed. Several letters have been lost or damaged because of weather action since Lieutenant Markham Kittoe first brought the inscription to the notice of the Europeans in 1838. A shade in stone has been put up over the inscription in order that it may be preserved from further damage.

Immediately above the inscription is a terrace, on the right side of which is the forepart of an elephant 1.2192 metres (four feet) high, hewn out of the solid rock and carved with some skill. If of the same age as the inscription, and there is no reason to think that it is not, this is one of the oldest carvings in India. A small narrow groove runs round the three sides of the terrace, leaving a space of three feet immediately in front of the elephant, and two other grooves may be noticed on either side of the elephant on the floor and along the perpendicular face of the rock. These grooves were probably intended to support a wooden canopy.

Originally, designed as an emblem of Gautama Buddha, the elephant has become an object of popular worship. At the time of Kittoe's visit (1838) it did not receive regular but one in a year the Brahmins of the temple in the vicinity came to throw water on it and to besmear it with red lead in honour of Ganesha. The elephant has evidently given the hillock its name Asvatthama, meaning the famous elephant of the Mahabharata.

"The northern ridge culminates in a temple-crowned peak, and at its western extremety are a number of caves natural and artificial. To the east of this temple, and at a lower level, is a natural fissure full of bats; and one boulder at the top, near the entrance, is a cut a small inscription in three lines". Lower down on the south slope of the hill is an artificially cut cave, close to which are several other caves begun but left unfinished, and a large fissure or hallow in the rock. Lower down, between the western extremities of the two ridges, is a small plainly built temple of laterite dedicated to Siva (Vairangeswar). The temple on the top of the northern ridge referred to above had collapsed, the broken walls standing only a few metres high overgrown with moss and shrubs.

In 1972, this old Siva temple was reconstructed at a cost of Rs.123200/- by the Rural Development Department, Government of Orissa. The ruins of the old temple were completely removed thereby destroying any chance of research indicated by O'malley. It is known as Dhabaleswar (Siva) temple. The present temple consists of a vimana and a Jagamohana. The inner walls of the sanctum and the Jagamohana are decorated with marble stones.

East of the hills is a large tank named Kausalyaganga. The tank is said to have been originally a kos(4.02 km.) long on each side. A great part of it is now silted up and under cultiavation. The Fishery Department of the Government of Orissa have a pisciculture centre here.

Inscription

The most important of the remains at Dhauli, however, are the edicts of Asoka. Discovered by Lieut.Kittoe, who took a careful copy of them, they were first deciphered by James Prinsep in 1838.

The rock is hewn and polished on the northern side for a space of 15' long and 10' wide where the edicts of Asoka have been deeply cut. But here we do not get the full set of 14 edicts of Asoka as in case of other rock edicts of the Emperor in different parts of India. In the Dhauli version, Edicts No.11, 12 and 13 are lacking and two special edicts have been added to it. These special edicts are generally called Separate Rock Edicts I and II. The inscription are written in the Prakit language using Brahmi script. The time when all these edicts were issued or inscribed is not stated in clear terms. According to a Pillar Edict of Asoka he began issuing edicts twelve years after his corononation (269 B.C.). Rock Edict VIII refers to his eleventh regnal year in relation to a certain earlier event in his career. Rock Edicts III and IV were issued in the thirteenth year and Rock Edict V in the fourteenth year of Asoka's reign. All these rock edicts were incised here, all at one time, sometime after the fourteenth regnal year (256 B.C.). The special edicts, as revealed from their "position and script, were added later on; probably the two were incised by different scribes at different times. The edicts were meant for the general public and for the king's officers, and therefore, must have been inscribed close to a big town on or near the public highway. The town was presumably Tosali, for the officers in charge of which the special edicts are addressed. Tosali must atleast have been a large town and the capital of the region, for a Kumara or prince was in charge of it.

The Dhauli hillock continued to be a place of importance as is attested by the fact that in 699 A.D. Bhatta Loyomaka and physician Bhinata, the residents of Viraja (Jajpur) built a monastery here. An inscription in an artificial cave, not far from the Asokan inscription, records the erection of a monastery of which no trace can, however, be found at present. The presence of some old temples here, which still serve as the living shrines, show that the place was always regarded as of importance. These are declared as the protected monuments by the Government of India.

Peace Pagoada alias Shanti Stupa

During the inauguration ceremony of the Shanti Stupa at Rajgir in Bihar a suggestion was made that a Peace Pagoda (Shanti Stupa) should be constructed on Dhauligiri where emperor Asoka after the bloody Kalinga war renounced the cult of violence and took to the path of no-violence preached by Lord Buddha. So Most Ven. Fujii Guruji, Founder-President of Japan Buddha Sangha, decided to take up the matter with the then Chief Minister of Orissa and visited Bhubaneswar on the 8th January, 1970. It was decided that the Shanti Stupa will be constructed under guidance of Gurujii Fuji with financial assistance from his followers and devotees both in Japan and India and that land for the same on Dhauli would be provided by the Government of Orissa and that provision of road, electricity and water should be made by the State Government. The Japanese volunteer headed by Guruji Fujii reached Dhauligiri on the 15th November, 1970. They lived in improvised bamboo sheds. A board of management known as the Kalinga Nippon-Buddha Sangha was constituted with Most Ven. Nicuidatsu Fujii as its patron.

The entire project has been conceived in three phases.

The first phase has been completed which includes the construction of the Peace Pagoda and Saddharma Vihar (Buddhist temple) at an estimated cost of fifteen lakhs of rupees. The second phase has also been completed which consists of a garden, a lake and ancillary establishments costing about five lakhs of rupees. The third phase has not yet been started which includes the establishment of a University.

The ceremony of Bhumi Puja and lying of foundation stone was held on the 25th of January, 1971 at a function presided over by the then Governor of Orissa. Construction of the Saddharma Vihar commenced on the same day and was completed on the 6th August, 1971. The construction work of Shanti Stupa (Peace Pagoda) was started on the 25th August, 1971 under the leadership of Reverend Shanti Shugei and a band of devoted Japanese Bhikshus and Bhikshunis. The design of the Stupa and other projects were prepared by the Japanese architects and engineers who came from Japan for the purpose. This Kalinga Peace Pagoda is said to be the thirty-second in the series of Shanti Stupas constructed by the Guruji Fujii in different countries.