OdishaPlus Bureau
For someone with a deep association with the Millennium City- the heritage structures of the erstwhile Capital of Odisha – always comes with a magnetic pull. Forever in the person’s heart, rings the inquisitive bell to explore the age-old heritage marvels of the land, again and again as the city, even today, stands testimony to the tales of historical legacy of the State.
Thanks to the organizers of this beautiful heritage encounter “Barabati Beckons- Cuttack Heritage Walks’’ (CHW) has come with a bang on each occasion as it is held on last Sunday of every month. The city has so far seen six editions of CHW and the one concluding on October 27 focused on Christ Collegiate School, earlier known as Mission School.
Christ Collegiate School is a beautiful colonial building of bricks and stone with lime mortar and roof supported by wooden bricks and brick pillars. The majestically designed doors and windows attract the visitor’s gaze even today from the road nearby. The front center of the building has a terrace and a portico which has protected side wings and pillared verandas.
The CHW initiative started in April this year and the members are ever-increasing walk after walk. Though there were six walks under the CHW umbrella, there were two other special heritage walks on the theme of silver filigree. The special walks were a hit as they unveiled several beautiful tales on the history of Puja in the city and how the filigree tradition was intermingled with it.
Right under the emperors of the soil during the Ganga Dynasty to Suryavanshi Gajapati rulers, Bhois and the great Mukundadev, the last Hindu ruler of Odisha, Barabati Fort had seen changes in the seats of power corridor as the fort was the center of Odisha’s political and military power center and the Afghans, Moghuls, Marathas, and British rulers also did come in ruling the state.
The heritage walk thus tries to take the participants through the avenues of the past and present Cuttack with its treasure-trove of historical buildings, colonial buildings, Islamic architecture and footprints of the great maritime traditions. It’s really a great event to see through the golden past of Cuttack in the present setup of modern life which has become the order of the day with urban development elements encroaching upon the historic vestiges all across the traditional city is known for its lanes, by-lanes, and bazaars.
Heritage lovers of the Millennium City Dipak Samantarai, Hitesh Seth, Jivananda Misra, Deepak Kumar Nayak, Bikash Das, and Satyabrat Ratho were the ones who started the initiative and now many enthusiasts from the Twin Cities are joining the event in large numbers.
While the usual path of the heritage walk holds good for the ruins of the historic Barabati Fort, Gada Chandi, Sahi Quila Mosque, Judicial Museum, Anand Bhawan it also takes up specific sites as special inclusions like yesterday on Christ Collegiate School/Mission School. Usually, the walk starts at 6.30 am from near JN Indoor Stadium and takes the path and ends at about 8.30 am. However, with special walks taking more time, the path also changes a bit.
During the Durga Puja season this year the two special walks involving silver filigree started around 8.30 am and went up to 1 pm or even beyond as they extensively covered the pandals, their history and how and when they took the silver and later golden ornamentation for the Goddess as the festival is unique to each pandal and its locality.
As Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan Das was the brain behind the promotion and propagation of the filigree tradition, the special walks started from the entrance of Madhusudan Museum near SB Women’s College near Chandi Mandir Square. The Special Walk on silver filigree covered puja pandals of Seikh Bazaar, Alisha Bazaar, Kazi Bazaar, Binode Bihari, Chandini Chowk, Choudhury Bazar, Ganga Mandir, and Khatbin Sahi.
The heritage book publishing lane of the famous Binode Bihari area, one of the earliest places where the Durga Puja tradition started in Cuttack was also an attraction for many walkers as the book publishers and their offices and establishments still carry the grand aroma of the ink and printing materials in this era of Smart Phones and Social Media Culture.
“Barabati Beckons- Cuttack Heritage Walks’’ not only portrays the collage of the heritage structure, traditions, and rituals of the Millennium City, but also, the walkers often have the opportunity to involve their taste buds with the food traditions of the city identified with the “Dahibara Aloodum’’ and other traditional mouthwatering dishes.
Last, but not the least, the evergreen, promoting the true spirit of non-motorised transport (NMT) concept, the age-old cycle rickshaws are still roaming around in the city reminding the songs of the legendary Akshaya Mohanty “Khoka Bhai’’ as he fondly called them “reksha’’ in “Kataki’’ style and you can get a memorable ride on a cycle rickshaw after completing CHW!
So get ready and be part of CHW for an enriching experience on Cuttack’s past and present. And it would be nice to come along the family for the eventful heritage encounter.