ORISSA is a land of pristine beauty. The geographical variation between the topography of its coastal areas and the hinterland provides an extremely rich base for a distinct culture which, while retaining its folk identity, has played an important part of mainstream culture in the country. The tribal gods and goddesses still retain an enigmatic charm, their combination with the Vaishnavite and Saivite amalgam resulting in the Jagannatha consciousness. The life of the people is marked by rituals and festivities with elaborate community participation, characteristic of a living faith that epitomizes the culture of eastern India.
Historically, its importance extends to mythical times which historians have eulogized. The heritage which we experience today exhibits this richness. Not only is the entire region dotted with relics from its magnificent past, the unified culture still overpowers all the other influences. Evidence of the continuing traditions is best epitomised by the architectural heritage, a standing testimony to the glorious culture and its attached symbolism. These examples help us unravel the bygone era with its rich, invaluable heritage and its continuing evolution.
The temple architecture of Orissa came to be known as the Kalinga type because of its distinctive formal character. The larger region known as tri-kalinga included Bankura in Bengal, Amarkantaka in central India and Vizagapatam in Andhra. Despite its distinctive character the Kalinga style resembled the mainstream North Indian idiom known as nagara and many architectural historians consider it as a variation of the mainstream Hindu temple architecture.
‘Where the Hindu temple provides a hall for worshippers, it is always built as a separate body, different in shape and attached to the front of the entrance by a narrow passage. It may even have two or more halls in front of the shrine but, though connected, they always remain distinct and are given different names. The text of Silpa Prakasa by Ramchandra Kaulacara (translated by Alice Boner and Sadasiva Rath Sarma, Leiden, 1966, pp. xxvi) describing a temple with mukhasala, calls the main temple the bridegroom, and the hall for the worshippers the bride. Divinity is here seen in the aspect of a heavenly bridegroom, towards which the soul of the worshipper is drawn in a lifelong love and devotion This is a symbolism known in every form of bhakti worship in India, pre-eminently so in the worship of Krsna.’
‘The oldest temples in India are built without mukhasala. At the time, in which the Silpa Prakasa was written (approximately around the 12th century, ibid., pp. xx), it appears that the main temple and mukhasala were planned and built together. Following up the conception of a universe in effigy along the entire body of the temple, the various structural parts and their functions gain a deeper significance.’ (Silpa Prakasha by Ramchandra Kaulacara. ibid., pp. xxviii).
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Konarak (Konark, Kona+ark) geographically denotes an important location, chosen following considerable canonical prescriptions as a site for building a temple dedicated to the Sun God. The Sun as a giver of life, symbolizing fire, providing energy, a monitor for the diurnal cycle controlling time on earth, is universally worshipped in all cultures. The particular spot symbolizes its location on the eastern coast along the Bay of Bengal, close to a beach spot that is known as Chandrabhaga. ‘Legends, as embodied in the Kapila-Samhita, the Madala-Panji (chronicle of the Jagannatha temple at Puri) and the Prachimahatmya, date the sanctity of Konarak back to mythical times’ (Debala Mitra, Konarak, ASI, 1992).
Konarak is a small village in Puri district some three kilometres off the Bay of Bengal. The name Konarak is the popular form of Konarka, and is derived from its presiding deity Konarka, which means the Arka (‘Sun’) of Kona (‘Corner’), the latter presumably being in relation to Tri-kona on the bank of the Kushbhadra, nearly nine kilometres southwest of the Konarak temple in the corner direction of the temple. The main temple was called the Black Pagoda by early European mariners, in contrast to the White Pagoda of Puri (white washed temple of Jagannatha at Puri), both important landmarks on their coastal voyage.
That the fame of this temple as a wonderful monument had spread far beyond the limits of Orissa in the sixteenth century is amply borne out not only by the great Vaishnava saint Chaitanya’s (AD 1486-1533) visit to the place but also by the following description which appeared in the A’in-i-Akbari of Abu’l-Fazl, the famous chronicler of Akbar (AD 1556-1605). ‘Near Jagannatha is a temple dedicated to the Sun. Even those whose judgment is critical and who are difficult to please, stand astonished at its sight. The height of the wall is 150 cubits and is 19 cubits thick. It has three portals… In front is an octagonal column of black stone, 50 yards high… It is said that over 730 years ago, Raja Narsingh Deo completed this stupendous fabric and left this mighty memorial to posterity. Twenty eight temples stand in its vicinity; six before the entrance and twenty two without the enclosure, each of which has its separate legend’ (Debala Mitra, Konarak, ibid., 1992).
The temple was conceived as an enormous scheme of design and construction in a symbolic form which in its expanse consisted of the main shrine (Sri Deul) and the adjoiningjagmohana (Pida Deul) with a natamandapa situated at a distance. There were subsidiary shrines around the main temple, the fragments of which exist today. ‘The main temple complex consists of a sanctuary, its attached porch and an isolated pillared edifice… Erected on an impressive platform, the sanctuary and the porch are two components of a single unified architectural scheme, designed as the celestial chariot of the Sun God to course across the sky in a chariot of seven horses. The height of the porch from the base of the upana to the top of the extant portion of the khapuri is 39 m. The original height of the sanctuary (from the base of the upana), to judge from the measurements of its surviving parts and its proportions in relation to the porch, must have been more than 61 m’ (Debala Mitra, ibid.).
The plan of the jagamohana (porch) also measures 39 m. The surviving structure of the main temple jagamohana exemplifies the building arts and the associative symbolism attached to this magnificent Orissa heritage of a bygone era. The jagamohana is modeled in the form of a chariot of the Sun God, with 12 pairs of huge exquisitely carved wheels in stone attached to the plinth of the structure and the horses attached to the flights of the steps on the eastern stairway. ‘The twelve pairs of wheels, which possibly symbolize twelve months of this earthly chariot, are carved against the three sides of the platform and two sides of the front (east) staircase, the latter having further by its sides, but in the van, seven (three on the northern flank and four on the southern) admirably sculptured galloping horses, fully caparisoned and spurred to run the colossal car’ (Debala Mitra, ibid.).
The surfaces of the structure at various levels are replete with sculptural figures with symbolic connections with themes drawn from mythology as well as from the day to day life of the people. Each layer signifies events and acts taken from texts and contexts of cultural significance. ‘No doubt, the artisans "built like Titans and finished like jewellers". Despite its rich exuberance, the sculpture far from dominating the architecture actually serves to emphasize the supreme majesty of the temple’ (Debala Mitra, ibid.). Thus the structure embodying the overall milieu of a bygone era could be read and interpreted to perceive various aspects of life and culture of that period. The building, adorned with the sculptural arts and its associative symbolic meaning fused into its architecture, stands as a physical manifestation of culture in Orissa’s history.
Jagannatha Temple at Puri: Heinrich von Stietencron pointed out in the early seventies, that ‘nothing definite can be said about the early history of Puri until proper excavations under the main temple reveal the hidden past of this place.’ Strictly speaking, Jagannatha temples are identifiable only by their cult images made of wood and representing Jagannatha, Subhadra and Balabhadra, often with the addition of the Sudarsana-Cakra to complete the fourfold form (caturshamurti) of the god’ (H.V. Stietencron, 1978: 62). Stietencron has convincingly suggested that the god enshrined in the early temple was a four-armed vasudeva, also called nilamadhava, who incidentally was not the state god of the dynasty. The state god of the Somavamsi was Siva, enshrined in the great Lingaraja temple in Bhubaneswar, one of the highest buildings in India at the time of its construction.
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The financial drain caused by the construction of this and other magnificent temples seems to have reduced the military power of the Somavamsi dynasty, causing a rapid decline of their fortunes. By the early 12th century, the temple in Puri must have already fallen into decay, and the statue covered with sand. At that time King Anantavarman Codagangadeva conquered a vast empire and shifted his capital from the South (Kalinga) to a place north of Bhubaneswar in Utkala (an ancient term for northern Orissa). After 1135 AD he started to build the present Purusottama temple in Puri which was completed at the beginning of the 13th century, at the end of the reign of AnangabhÍma II. Within two generations, the Ganga dynasty managed to construct a temple complex that turned out to be larger and grander than of the rival preceding dynasty in Bhubaneswar.
‘Little is known about the development of the temple. The entire temple was first covered with lime plaster by King Narasimhadeva from Khurda in 1636/37. Later, an application of lime and, in recent times, also cement created a thick layer that was in part removed by the Archaeological Survey of India only in the late seventies. The inner enclosure of the temple is said to have been walled by king Purusottamadeva by the end of the 15th century. Named Kurmapitha, lit. "The pedestal of the tortoise", this paved inner area is considerably higher than the outer enclosure, the double wall of which deviates from the inner walls in its direction. The outer enclosure houses the cemetery (Koili Baikuntha) of the wooden images and the bathing platform as well as the kitchen for the preparation of offerings (bhog) and countless stalls for storage and sale of offerings. Three step-wells are also located in the outer enclosure.’
‘It remains unclear what inspired the Ganga kings to construct such enclosures. Do these represent means to defend the temple against Muslim invaders as the serrated battlements of the outer wall suggest, or was Jagannatha meant to be kept in a symbolic palace or fort to continue traditions known from South India? The outer enclosure wall is punctuated by gates guarded by lions (in the east), horses (in the south) and tigers (in the west). The guardians of the northern gate, elephants, have been shifted to the gate of the inner enclosure.’
‘Pilgrims guided by priests (pandas) normally enter through the lion’s gate in the east. After having worshipped the Lord of the Universe from Kasi in a small shrine behind the gate, the pilgrim ascends the Blue Mountain (niladri), which supports the inner enclosure with the temple of Jagannatha. Three small subsidiary shrines are visited first before the panda leads the pilgrim into the jagamohana, the hall adjoining the main sanctuary from where the wooden gods, Jagannatha, Subhadra, Balabhadra and Sudarsana are "seen". The temple is left by the same southern entrance and subsequently circumambulated while visiting 25 of the many more subsidiary shrines. After having seen the bathing platform (snanamandapa) and after having obtained offerings from one of the many stalls in an area called Ananda Bazaar, the pilgrim will leave through the gate he or she had entered.’
‘The temple itself is an elaborate structure of immense size and expanse. Its four parts, the deul (as tower or mountain), jagamohan (assembly hall), natamandapa (pillared festive hall, serving as a platform for dances) and bhogamandapa (hall of offerings) are supported by a large platform which now also houses a number of subsidiary structures that serve as offices for the Temple Trust and as stalls to sell light offerings (dipa). Attached to the deul are subsidiary shrines with accessory deities (parsvadevata) – three of the ten incarnations of Visnu. All this makes it difficult to perceive the architectural structuring at the foot of the deul. Its plan is square within the sanctum while the face of the wall is subdivided into five divisions or segments called paga – a design characteristic for Orissa temples of the later period.’
‘These five major segments are further subdivided into eleven segments – the two corners (Kanika-paga), the sub-faces (anuratha-paga) and the central face (raha-paga). The lower platform is likewise divided into five major divisions each of which is subdivided into nine segments. The shrines for the accessory deities cover three of the four central segments. The intricate subdivisions or proliferations of the tower lend an extremely serrated profile to the walls. This is supported by the subdivision of the vertical planes through the layering of stones in order to break up the mass of the temple. Without such subdivisions the massive building would certainly have an unstructured and imposing impact. The shrines of the accessory deities follow the scheme of the main tower in their subdivision but display a more simple surface treatment’ (Niels Gutschow and Rabindra Vasavada. Temples of Jagannatha in Ranpur and Puri. Beitrage zur Allgemeinen und Verglei-chended Archaologie, Band 21, 2001, Verlag Phillip Von Zabren).
The art and architecture in many ways defines the cultural history of Orissa, going back to the days of Kalinga. Emperor Ashoka’s conquest of Orissa, 261 BC, possibly signifies the starting point of the art and architecture of Orissa, partly because there is no evidence of relics surviving from the pre-Ashoka period. Thus the span of its history of architecture extends from Ashoka till the sixteenth century AD in a continuous phase of architectural development.
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Until 1568 AD Orissa remained a Hindu kingdom before falling to Muslim rulers. Although Muslim rule in India started from the late 12th century, Orissa continued her Hindu building traditions until the late 16th century without experiencing any external influences. During this period of history, a number of Hindu kingdoms vied with each other in building temples in their religious centres, resulting in an enormous heritage of temple architecture all over Orissa, perhaps the highest concentration of temple architecture anywhere in India.
Orissa thus and Konarak and Puri in particular are among the most important places in India which reflect the diversity of Indian ethos, the phase of belief in folk deities and its adherence and influence on mainstream Hinduism practiced through Saivite and Vishnavite worship as combined Harihar worship, culminating into the Jagannatha faith. More than capturing the unique cultural journey of the region, the temple complexes of Orissa add a hitherto less appreciated dimension of fusion of folk and mainstream traditions of faith in Indian culture.