Ancient Temples and Cultural Heritage of Odisha, India: Issues and Challenges

Introduction

Life has important station in the temple for religious people of India. India is the place of birth for four religions, viz. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism respectively. Odisha (or Orissa) is the state of eastern India. The land is known for ancient temples, caves, cultures and heritage. Maximum numbers of people of Odisha people especially from coastal Odisha are religious in nature and they give priority to their ethnic culture. People of Odisha, often visit religious places for performing rituals and praying to God for attaining moksha. Tirtha Kshetra or religious place are the sacred place with full of active power where moksha or final release may be obtained as per the religious belief. The capital of Odisha, Bhubaneswar is recognizedas a temple city for having numbers of ancient temples;Puri Dhamis well known as one of the Chardham of India. Konark Sun temple is an international Heritage site. Throughout the world, every year huge numbers of people visit these sites and experience the unique ancient Kalingan style Temple Architecture. Not only Hindu temple, Odisha also has numbers of ancient Buddhist and Jain temples or their ruins. Attracting Tourists in these destinations influence the socio-economic factor of the local community.

The holy state of Odisha occupies a unique position in the tourist map of India. It has rich tourism potential to attract a large number of inbound tourists, both foreign and domestic. This chapter highlights on the ancient temples and cultural heritage of Odisha. Ethnic Temple structures came to Odisha after the Gupta period. The Hindu dynasties Somavamsi, Bhaumakaras, Gangas had inspired the Odishan architects to create their own style of temple architecture representations without any influence. The period of that unique style of Orissan architecture was from 6th century A.D. to 16th century A.D (Chand, 2005). In Odishan temple sculpture, erotic arts appear from earliest form of temple architecture. Except the Mukteswara temple, erotic arts appear in almost all other temples of Orissa even in the temples of poorest in the decoration (Donaldson, 1975). Indian Silpashastras have categorized Indian Temples into three as per their styles and architecture. These are: the Nagara style of Architecture, the Dravida style of Architecture, and the Vesara style of Architecture (Saraswati, 1989). But the unique features of Odishan temples have also mentioned in the inscription on the Mukhamandapa of Amartesvara temple at Holal dated 1235 A.D. Kalingan type as one of the four categories of the temples in India along with Nagara, Vesara and Dravida (Das, 1994). In Indian context, the Odishan temples that is known as Kalingan style of temple architecture received a special attention by scholars to focus on architecture of temples of Odisha and also analyzed the purpose behind the decorative images of temple of Odisha (Panda, 2016). The word ‘temple’ is originated from the Latin word ‘Templum’ which means a square or a rectangular place for the purpose of worship. From the ancient time, this word represents to a place forworshipingGod.It is used to denote various religious associations except Christianity and Islam. Temples are the meeting points of culture, arts and religions. Arts and cultures are closely associated with religious festival. For performing ritual festivals, people need a place of worship. Therefore temple in Hindu religion has immense important for performing ritual practices and flourishing ethnic culture. The architectural structure is mainly based on the myth. Hindu mythological stories and characters had influence on sculptures of those ancient temples.