In a country that's crazy about cricket, few are aware that hockey is our national sport! So, it's a matter of national pride that Odisha's capital, Bhubaneswar, is the host city to the 14th edition of the Hockey World Cup. Declared the winner of the Smart City Challenge in 2014, the city is already morphing into a tech haven. The pedestrian-friendly streets of Bhubaneswar are powered by Mobike, a bike-sharing app that allows you to cycle across the small city through a network of cyclist routes, insulated with foam for a soft landing.
In tandem with hockey matches, Bhubaneswar Tourism has organized the Dot Fest, a citywide festival that will allow tourists to explore the city through a series of heritage walks, temple tours and art trails curated by Ekamra Walks and the Bhubaneswar Art Trail (BAT). All roads leading to the Kalinga stadium have been decked with Pipli lanterns, wall art murals and fairy lights.
Gateway to Kalinga Architecture
Even if you're not a morning person, listening to a flautist and tabla player make music at seven in the morning at the 10th century Mukteshvara Temple, dedicated to Shiva, will revive you in ways even a piping hot cup of tea can't! While pilgrims ardently flock towards the grander Lingaraja temple; the Mukteshvara Temple is far more important to architecture enthusiasts. The temple complex is a testimony to the trials-and-errors in the kingdom's temple building phase and is called the ‘gateway to Kalinga architecture'.
“The royalty had just commissioned a temple university and the artisans weren't necessarily skilled. That becomes evident with the quality of sculptures that can be somewhat crude here but become increasingly detailed in the younger temples across Orissa. The artisans started practicing with the smaller domes that you can see around and when they were confident, constructed the main hall,” says Sophia Simon, the curator at Ekamra Walks.
Bhubaneswar, Town of 7,000 Temples
Take a walk through the Ekamra Kshetra, the inner city that has many smaller, undocumented temples. Bhubaneswar has around 7,000 ancient temples, of which 3,000 are still in use. “If you see a flag above a temple, it means it is still used as a place of worship, if you spot smoke above a temple, it means they serve a temple meal, “Sophia grins, as we sit on the floor at a hall adjacent the Ananta Vasudeva temple and wipe off a sumptuous vegetarian meal served on banana leaves, slow-cooked in terracotta pots by an ancestral family of temple cooks.
The tour de force on the temple trail is definitely the Lingaraja temple that has become the face of the city. The temple grounds are only open to Hindus, but you can have an instagrammable moment on top of a machaan that was erected for Viceroy Curzon during the British Raj and get a bird's eye view of the laterite build.
Art of Ekamra Kshetra
Intriguing art installations alternate temples along the way as the Bhubaneswar Art Trail utilizes the old alleyways of Ekamra as an open-air art gallery. ‘Navigation is Offline,' is the tagline for the current edition of BAT, highlighting an over reliance on navigational technology and asking the viewer to stop (at least for a while) looking at the world through a smartphone lens. Beginning at Guajhara, the curated walk showcases 26 art installations by Sudarshan Shetty, Teja Gavankar, Suchismita Mohanty, Gigi Scaria, Cecile Beau, and so on.
Jain Monks and Forgotten Kings
Influenced by the precepts of Jainism, King Kharavela carved dormitories in the caves of the Udayagiri-Khandgiri twin hills as an abode for Jain monks, on the outskirts of the old city. The amphitheatre-style arrangement of rooms offered respite to the nomadic monks in the monsoons but was used as an open-air concert hall by the royalty during more pleasant parts of the year.
Crafting Heritage
Kala Bhoomi, or the city's craft museum has eight galleries featuring tribal crafts, Dhokra or bell metal work, Pattachitra paintings, ornaments, Ganjifa or palm-leaf paintings, terracotta and applique work, and more. The building is a replica of old Odia-styled household with a traditional courtyard, executed by architect Deepak Panda. If you're looking for local crafts or souvenirs, head to the museum's store, or to Boyanika for Ikat, Kotpad, Tassar, or Bomkai handwoven fabrics or an authentic Sambalpuree saree. Buy a Pipli lantern or some Pattachitra paintings at Ekamra Haat, the pop-up bazaar at the Dot Fest.
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