Bhubaneswar Heritage Walk: Admiring the heritage of Temple City

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jun 26: 

In the light drizzle, early today morning, a group of 20 people went on a 'heritage walk' admiring 23 temples in Old Town area of Bhubaneswar.

Organised by Debasis Sahoo, an entreprenuer in the capital city, this group began this walk at the Mukteswar temple complex, went about the whole of Old Town and finally ended their walk at Parsurameshwar temple, as the sun played hide-and-seek amidst the clouds.

Pratap, a guide for the last 42 years, accompanied the group and elaborately described the origins, architecture and the time period when the temples were built.

"I returned to Bhubaneswar after 18 years. Being born here, I have always been in awe of the temples in the city. The idea behind conducting this walk is to make the denizens aware of the rich cultural heritage they are living in the middle of and awaken a sense of responsibility to protect and preserve them," said Sahoo.

Starting at Mukteswar temple at sharp 7 am today, they meandered their way through Kedareswar temple complex, Daiteshwar temple, Siva temple, Swarnajaleswar temple, Kotitirtheswar temple, Subarneswar temple, Sampurnajaleswar temple, Bramha temple, Ananta Vasudev temple, Vishnu temple, Tirtheswar temple, Vimaleswar / Gowrisankar temple, Kainchi temple, Lingaraj temple, Chitrakarini temple, Papanasini temple, Makareswar temple, Bharatimath temple, Vaitala / Sisireswar temple, Uttareswar temple, Taleswar temple and finally ended in two-and-a-half hours at the Parsurameshwar temple.

"We are planning to conduct this walk every Sunday, from now on," said Sahoo.