Bhubaneswar: The Ekamra Walks on the last day of the year Sunday offered some memorable experiences to the participants comprising senior citizens, young walkers and architects, who hopped monuments dotting in and around the old city near the majestic Lingaraj Temple and the holy Bindusagar Lake.
The walkers not only learnt about the temple building style and the building plan of the 10th Century Mukteswar Temple, which is famous for its unique arch, they also had a meaningful discussion on the types of stone used for the construction, the images of different Gods and Goddess and how the different forms of Goddesses evolved through the passage of time.
Guide Satyaswaroop Mishra had the participants engaged with his lucid discussion on the evolution of Goddess-centric shrines. “With the genesis of more forms of Parvati or the Shakti, the society gradually turned towards Goddess worshipping, influencing largely the Hindu belief,” he explained.
Swayam Swastik Das, a fourth year architecture student from the College of Engineering and Technology (CET), said the doors, side doors and other openings of the temple were planned as per the directions of wind circulation during the two major seasons – summer and winter,
Suman Routray, also a fourth year student of architecture from CET, said “The ancient temples were so much based on the basic scientific principles and observations that with the proper use of light and wind circulation, they were able to create a cooling micro climate, which was provided a pleasant experience to the visitors.’’
A regular participant with Ekamra Walks, Hitesh Seth said instead of looking at the temples as monuments for their architectural and structural value, the future generation must be explored to know more about our ancient engineering science.
After visiting major monuments like Mukteswar, Parasurameswar, Swarna Jaleswar, Kotitirtheswar, Bindusagar, Ananta Vasudev, Old Dharamsala, Lingaraj, Chitrakarini, Sari, Mohini and Vaitaal, the participants went to the medicinal plant garden – Ekamra Van, which has a rich collection over 200 herbs. Apart from the Old Town Circuit of the Ekamra Walks, a second weekly heritage walk has also started at the twin hills of Udayagiri and Khandagiri and it is held every Saturday.
More than 3,150 walkers have joined the Ekamra Walks so far in 55 editions.
PNN
