The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Odisha Chapter, launched a project entitled ‘listing and Documenting the Monuments of the Jagganath Sadak in West Bengal’ in Kolkata on Saturday.
The project was launched by West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi at the Raj Bhavan.
INTACH had earlier undertaken and completed the project in the Odisha stretch and a report was prepared which was released at Bhubaneswar in July 2014. The report had listed 200 monuments of the old road, starting from Jaleswar to Puri. The Government of Odisha had envisaged keen interest to get the report published.
The Jagganath Sadak was the old pilgrim road from Kolkata to Puri. It was built in 1700 and was the lifeline for all pilgrims who came to the lord’s abode at Puri. It was from 1825 known as the Orissa Trunk Road, but for the devotees who descended on this path and made the slow way to Puri, it has always been the Jagannath Sadak. The road wound its way touching Midnapore, Chanderkona, Tamluk, Belda, Dantan, Baleswar, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Pipili. The travellers covered the distances by bullock carts, hackneys, palanquins, horses and elephants, but most of them trudged on foot. There were many amenities for the pilgrims and travellers. There were Choultries, Dharamshalas, wells, tanks, culverts, bridges, temples, rest sheds, ghats etc. Many remnants of these are still visible on the isolated stretches.
With the advent of the railways in 1892, the Jagannath Sadak fell into disuse and over the next few years was lost forever. The railways shortened the travel time from three weeks to eighteen hours. As it was a coastal road, many stretches of the road just vanished with time, it was encroached upon by villages and some lengths now form the NH-5 and the railway.
A four man delegation comprising of INTACH’s Odisha State convenor AB Tripathy, adviser Ananta Mohapatro, West Bengal Chapter convener GM Kapur and the coordinator of the project Anil Dhir presented a volume of the Odisha stretch report to Governor Tripathi.
Dhir said that there is wanton destruction of heritage monuments, structures, wells, ponds etc of the old road. He said that the relevance of the road in the formation of Odisha and the spread of Jagganath culture has been overlooked in history. This was the road which was taken by the marauding Mughals, Afghans, Marathas and later, the British to conquer Odisha. This was the road on which Chaitanya, Guru Nanak and Kabir travelled when they visited Puri. The road played a very important role in the formation of the State of Odisha and the cultural links developed with Bengal. The listing will help in creating awareness of the history of the Jagannath Sadak and help in conserving and preserving whatever is left of this great road.
Out of the 516 km of the old road, 200 km was in West Bengal. While most of the remnants of the Jagannath Sadak have been wantonly destroyed, there are still nearly 100 remnants in West Bengal, informed Dhir, adding that the project will be completed within two months and after completion, it will be published in a two volume book.