Puri: The Second Annual Celebration of Puri Heritage Walks (PHW) was successfully held recently at the local Sanskruti Bhawan.
On this occasion, eminent historian Kharavela Mohanty gave a detailed account of the gradual development of Pashupata cult and Shaivite worship across the state and how the region has a distinct identity of patronizing the Shaivite culture.
Author of “Puri Boli”, priest at the Srimandir and a prolific writer on the culture of Puri, Siddheswar Mohapatra, quoted a few lines of poetry from renowned scriptures describing the Trinity and spoke about the divine beauty and splendour of the Trinity in Srikshetra as well as the heritage of the Srimandir.
Ajoy Kumar Sethi, Head of the Department of History, SCS College, Puri, attended as a guest and expressed his views on the rich heritage of Puri district, its preservation, and the need to protect and promote it. Earlier, the advisor of PHW, Debi Prasanna Nanda welcomed the guests and briefly highlighted their roles in the fields of heritage preservation and exploration as well as the contributions of various members actively involved in the organisation.
The convenor of PHW Kumar Aurojyoti, presented the annual report. At the beginning of the programme, a one-minute silent prayer was observed as a mark of tribute to the late historian and heritage researcher, late Anil De. As part of the second anniversary celebration of the PHW, the winners of the Odia and English heritage essay and speech competitions, organised at the local SCS College, were felicitated. The Kataka, Dhenkanal, Jagatsinghpur and Khordha Heritage Walks teams were also specially honoured.
Several individuals working in the field of heritage and those deeply interested in heritage preservation were felicitated by PHW. Sudarshan Sahoo, who has collected and documented various traditional bell-metal and brass utensils, Laxmidhar Bisoi, a potter-servitor who prepares the traditional “Adharahandi” for Mahaprabhu Sri Jagannath, and Baidyanath Khuntia, a renowned artisan of sola craft, were honoured with the Aitihya Ratna Award.
On this occasion, the annual publication of PHW, “Aitihya Gabaksha”, was released. A website named odishaheritagewalks.com was also launched to bring together, at a single platform, information about heritage walks being conducted in different districts of Odisha.