Visit to Puri, Bhubaneswar and Chilika (Part - 4)

[Continued from Visit to Puri, Bhubaneswar and Chilika (Part - 3)] In afternoon, we went to Ruchira restaurant and had lunch. In the evening we went to Swargadwar market for shopping. There we bought some Punjabis, towels for us and our relatives too. The next day we went to the OTDC booking counter. There we booked seats for the Chilika tour. The tour was on the next day. As we did not want to tire ourselves before the journey, we went back to our hotel.

Alarnath Temple

The day after we woke up early at 06:00 am. Our tour was scheduled to commence at 07:30. So we quickly got ourselves ready and went down. Then we took an auto and headed straight to Pantha Niwas. On reaching we saw that our bus had just came there to pick up the passengers. Then our coach guide for this tour checked our tickets as the previous guide had done in the previous tour. But this time all punctuality of OTDC seemed to be lost. Many passengers had not turned up and so our bus had to wait for them. Some came but others still did not came after 20 mins of waiting. So atlast our bus started its journey. Our first destination was Alarnath Temple. There we had to walk for about 10 minutes to reach the temple from where our bus was parked. On reaching the temple we found that there were many people. So we had to wait in a queue to be able to see Lord Alarnath. But time was running out. So we were getting anxious. Atlast we got darshan of Lord Alarnath. After that we reached the main road almost running. We ate breakfast of Dosa and Idli at a small restaurant beside the road. Then we reached the place where our bus was standing. But though it was time but still most people had not come back. So again waiting. After waiting for about 10 minutes outside the bus, the driver came and boarded the bus and switched on the A/C. So we also boarded the bus. But still one of the passengers did not came back. Atlast our bus started. Our next stop was Dahikhia.

Visit to Puri, Bhubaneswar and Chilika (Part - 3)

[Continued from Visit to Puri, Bhubaneswar and Chilika (Part - 2)] Our coach guide sent a guide for us. We started walking with our new guide who would show the intricate designs and curvings on the walls of the temple, tell us the history of the temple and explain the reason about why this temple is considered unholy. This temple was constructed by King Narasimhadeva I in the 13th century. The name Konark was derived from the two Sanskrit words - Kona meaning angle and Ark meaning Surya because of dedication of the temple to the Sun god Surya. Our guide showed us the wheels, intricate curvings and sculptures of the chariot sun temple. He also showed us how to read the time with the help of a wheel and the sun. It took 12 years, 1200 workers and 12000 gold coins to build this masterpiece of architecture. One interesting fact that I would like to mention is that one will never find any shadow of this temple on any sides around it. Now most parts of the temple has fallen down. The entire temple was designed in the form of Sun Gods, chariot drawn by seven horses on twelve pairs of exquisitely designed wheels at the base. The temple complex consists of four parts - Bhoga Mandap, Nata Mandir, Audience Hall and the Main Sanctum. Out of these only the Audience hall survives in its entirety. The main sanctum where the idol of the sun god was placed has fallen off. And some portions of the Bhoga Mandap and Nata Mandir survives. After seeing the temple complex we went back to our bus.

Konark Temple