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A land with a glorious past
and by nature endowed with sea beaches, rivers lakes, hills and forests.
Orissa possesses exquisite temples, ancient monuments and excellent
handicrafts. It is a land which has a great history. Waves of civilisation
have passed. It has seen great rulers like emperor
Ashoka, the Chedi King Kharavela, emperor Samudragupta and Mahasivagupta Yayati of Samavamsi
dynasty.
| Orissa has a rich folk
tradition Jainism and Buddhism had flourished here. It developed a distinct
classical dance from-the Odissi. Chhau is another folk dance form. Orissa
has the World famous
Sun
Temple
at Konark. Puri’s famous shrine Lord Jagannath’s temple is one of
India
’s four holiest places-“Chaar Dham”.
Bhubaneswar
, the present capital of Orissa is known as the cathedral city of
India
on account of its numerous temples.
A complete study of the “Kalinga
Style” of architecture from its every inception to maturity spread over a
period of about two thousand years is epitomised in the monuments of
Bhubaneswar
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Bhubaneswar
and is one of the four dhamas (holy places of pilgrimage) in
India
-the three others being Badri-Kedarnath in the north, Rameswaram in the
south and Dwaraka in the west. The presiding deities in the temple are
Jagannath Balabhadra and Subhadra. Every year, in June-July (Asadha Sukla
Dwitiya), thousands of devotees from all over
India
and abroad arrive at Puri to participate in the Car-Festival.
Konark is about 65 km from
Bhubaneswar
and 85 km from Puri. It is famuse for the great temple of the Sun-God,
conceived as a giant celestial chariot with twenty- four exquisitely carved
wheels, drawn by seven impetuous horses. The temple is profusely sculptured
with exquisite figures and figurines, fixed by and astonishing energy,
trapped in stone. Hirakud Dam, the fourth largest in the world, on Mahanadi,
328 km from
Bhubaneswar
is another tourist attraction.
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