I travelled to this lesser known area near about three years back. The attached map shown below is the route from Cuttack to Maniabandha via Banki. Alternatively you can also go to Maniabandha via Athagarh from Cuttack.
Route map
The village Maniabandha is named with combination of two words i.e. ‘Mani+Buddha’ and ‘Mani+Bandha’ which later transform as Maniabandha. This small village took my attention not because of famous IKAT handlooms but due to Buddhism. There are as many as temples of Buddha exists. Locals tell me that lots of temples are also there burried in the Earth.
Temple no.1
Temple no.2
Temple no.3
Temple no.4
Temple no.5
Temple no.6
Temple no.7
Temple no.8
Temple no.9
Temple no. 10
Temple no.11 (Buddha Vihar)
Temple no.12 (Naga Gumpha or Naga Cave)
Temple no.13
View from Naga Gumpha or Naga Cave
Entrance of Naga Gumpha or Naga Cave
The celebration of Buddha Jayanti festival in the village with pump and ceremony in presence of tourists/saint of foreign countries like- Japan, Sri Lanka,Tibet, Indonesia, Korea etc who are very often seen in the village, is regarded as the most important festival. The procession of Lord Buddha on an artificial decorated white elephant with the exact replica of Santistupa of Dhaulli and Ashokan pillar is so heart touching that a human is compelled to praise the artist voluntarily and missing a chance to see it is of course is the greatest unhappiness is one’s life.
An Ashokan Pillar in the Village
Hieun Tsang, famous Chinese traveller made popular this village in world history by mentioning its name and its expertise to produce beautiful handlooms during his visit. Due to this effect, nearby places are also having traces of Buddhism like Bindhani maa, Bhattarika and most importantly Banesvarnasi.
In this blog, I specifically omit the famous handloom of Manibandha as it is well known, but certainly, the relation of this small village (having 8000 population) with Buddhism holds a special status in my heart.
Thanks….
Khambeswari temple, Aska. PC: Debashish Dash https://twitter.com/TheDashDD Goddess Khambhesvari is originally an tribal Goddess worshipped by the tribes of hinterland Odisha. In course of time She was like many other tribal deities given a place in the Hindu pantheon and subsequently she was transformed from a nomadic cult to Shakti cult. Khambhesvari, the Goddess of the Post or Pillar is one of the famous formless autochthonous deities widely worshipped in the hill tracts of Bargarh, Sambalpur, Angul, Dhenkanal, Bolangir, Subarnapur, Boudh, Kalahandi and the Ganjam districts of Odisha. She is worshipped as a manifestation of Shakti in the form of wooden posts or pillars and also through stones. Legends: Khambeswari temple--Aska An interesting legend about the temple in Aska says that once Goddess Khambhesvari appeared in a dream before Khambamuni who lived in the forest and desired that she should be worshipped by the latter. As per the stipulation of Khambamun...
Note: All photographs and the content belongs to Christel Pilz…. Sun Temple Konarka — repair under the British 1903 AD How to save this wonder of Art and devotion of the Artisans? Excerpt from the Times of India article: MAGNIFICENT MYSTERY, by Sandeep Mishra | Jan 15, 2015, “It was between 1900 and 1903, on the order of then lieutenant governor of Bengal J A Baurdilon, that a major excavation was undertaken around the Jagamohan; its interior partitioned with a 15-ft wide stone wall and stuffed with sand. More than a century later, the huge volume of sand is now said to be posing a threat to the Khondalite structure, resulting in cracks and seepage of water. Big stone blocks have also reportedly fallen off, triggering fears that the temple could someday cease to exist. What then needs to be done? On offer are a range of opinions varying from the scientific to the unscientific, the real to the imagined and the reasonable to the absurd. Some favour getting rid of the ...
I travelled a lot. Even don't know how many kms I travelled and how many monuments and archaeological sites I covered. From Baleswar to Brahmapur, from Puri to Angul, from Prachi Valley to Daya Valley and Mahanadi valley, I covered most of them. During my journey, I used to get information from local natives of that particular area and I was surprised by seeing some minor but important cults. Among them Ekapada cult really impressed me. So let us have a look on this Ekapada cult. During my research on this specific cult I got to know about various names like Ekapada, Aja-ekapada etc. Also this form is popular in several countries. Sometimes, they are associated with good fortune and sometimes they are representation of evil. The below figure I got from a research article published by Prachi Virag Sontakke. Also in the same research paper, I got another fig which shows the development of this cult, which is as follows: This is really fascinating to me that ...
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