The heritage walkers this time on Sunday who included the Dutch Ambassador, his wife, son and daughter-in-law among others, discovered new stories behind each temple as they touched Parsurameswar, Swarnajaleswar, Kotitirtheswar, Bindusagar, Old Dharmasalas, lingaraj Temple, Suka-Sari temple complex, Mohini, Vaitaal, Ekamra Van and in the end saw the Odissi recital at the Art Vision of Padmashree Ileana Citaristi.
On the way, the participants also interacted with the members of Urban Sketchers, as they were busy sketching the locations near the lingaraj Temple and the historic Devipadahara tank. There were 15 artists, of which six were at the lingaraj Temple and nine at the Devipadahara tank. The tank with 100 small temples on its bank is one of the most beautiful water bodies in the city. It is under the conservation list of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
The walkers also saw the dismantling of the Rukuna Rath, the chariot of lord lingaraj, as it takes the deity to the Mausima Temple during Ashokastami. The visitors also interacted with local vegetable sellers and florists, whose lives are associated with the socio-cultural ways of the Old Town area in the city.
The family members of the Dutch Ambassador to India also keenly observed the conservation work at Suka-Sari Temple as no cement is needed to join the stones and instead lime and the gum from stone apple plant is used to make a special paste to join the stones. More than two years ago, the temple complex was excavated by the ASI excavation branch in Bhubaneswar.
The visitors also went to the Rs parikrama’, made of laterite stone to give the Bindusagar lake a classic look. Near the Mohini temple, they had a brief discussion with the guide on the importance of the holy lake, the different Rs ghats’ and their use and how to make the lake clean and sustainable.
The travellers, later went to the Vaitaal temple, which has a top like an inverted boat and it is unique one in the city, which has another 360 ancient structures. later, they went to the Ekamra Van, the medicinal plant garden, along the western coast of the Bindusagar lake, which has more than 220 kinds of various herbal plants, shrubs and creepers. It has the plants arranged in three different segments representing plants used for males, females and paediatric use and in other way for Shiva, for Parvati and their son Ganesh.
After a hectic walk the guests were given a surprise performance of a music as Bishal Panda played the guitar and Shriddhi Dash sang a beautiful song to match the mood.
Citaristi’s students staged three different dances representing the three sub-sets of Odissi. However, the dance-drama under Abhinaya with a beautiful song Rs Rs Kahin gale mulari phoonka, jubati rasiya kamini ranka…’’ was interesting and engaging.