Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar (Oriya:ଭୁବନେଶ୍ବର, ; also Bhubaneshwar; anglicised Bhu/ba/ne/swara) is the capital and the second largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. The city has a long history of over 2000 years starting with Chedi dynasty (around 2nd century BC) who had Sisupalgarh near present-day Bhubaneswar as their capital. Historically Bhubaneswar has been known by different names such as Toshali, Kalinga Nagari, Nagar Kalinga, Ekamra Kanan, Ekamra Khetra and Mandira Malini Nagari. The largest city of Odisha, Bhubaneswar today is a center of economic and religious importance in the region.

Its proud possession of magnificent sculptures and architectural heritage, coupled with the sanctity as Ekamrakshetra make this one of the great religious centres of Odisha since early medieval days. With its large number of Hindu temples (over 600 in number), which span the entire spectrum of Kalinga architecture, Bhubaneswar is often referred to as a Temple City of India. Together with Puri and Konark and, Bhubaneswar forms the 'Swarna Tribhuja' (the 'Golden Triangle'), one of the most visited destinations in East India.

The modern city of Bhubaneswar was designed by the German architect Otto Königsberger in 1946. It is one of the cleanest and planned city of Modern India, after Chandigarh. The city is surrounded by dense canopy of forests, picturesque Chandaka and the Nandankanan; this along with an abundance of in-city greenery and an efficient civic body (the BMC) makes it one of the cleanest and greenest city of India today.

Bhubaneswar replaced Cuttack as the political capital of the state of Odisha in 1948, a year after India gained its independence from Britain. Bhubaneswar and Cuttack are together known as the "twin cities" of Odisha. The metropolitan area formed by the twin cities has a 2008 population of 1.9 million and The World gazetteer estimates the metro area population as 1,666,429 making it the 22nd largest urban centre in the country. Bhubaneswar comes under the category of tier 2 cities of India. It is an emerging IT hub and one of the fastest developing cities of India in recent years.

History

The history of the Bhubaneswar may be viewed as two phases: ancient Bhubaneswar and modern Bhubaneswar. While the ancient city has a history that goes back more than 2000 years, the modern city came into existence in 1948.

The first mention of Bhubaneswar in Indian history is in the infamous Kalinga War which was held near Dhauli (presently located in south Bhubaneswar) in 3rd Century BC. Later Emperor Kharavela established his capital in Sisupalgarh which is on the outskirts of the city. The Hathigumpha inscriptions at the Udayagiri caves and Khandagiri caves by Kharavela give a good account of that period which is estimated as 1st-2nd century BC. Later innumerable temples built throughout ancient and medieval history in tune with its status as Temple City give a chronicle of the city's history till Indian independence in 1947.

In 1936, Orissa became a separate province in British India with Cuttack as its capital. Notably, Cuttack was Orissa's capital since 12th century. When India got independence in 1947, Orissa became one of the states of the Indian union. But for some reasons, most visibly Cuttack's vulnerability to floods and space constraints, the capital was changed to Bhubaneswar which was built into a modern city. The city planning of Bhubaneswar was given by German Architect Otto. H. Koeingsberges. Bhubaneswar was formally inaugurated in 13 April 1948 as the capital of the Indian state of Orissa.

Modern Bhubaneswar was originally planned by Otto Königsberger to be a well planned city with wide roads and many gardens and parks. Though part of the city has stayed faithful to the plan, it has grown rapidly over the last few decades and has made the planning process unwieldy.

Ekamrahat

The State Museum of Bhubaneswar offers an extensive selection of archaeological artefacts, weapons, local arts and crafts as well as insights into Odisha's natural and tribal history. The Tribal Research Institute Museum with its authentic tribal dwellings, created by the tribal craftsmen offers a bird's eye view of the State's tribal heritage.

Geography and climate

Bhubaneswar
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     12     28 16     24     32 19     24     35 22     22     37 25     56     38 27     196     35 26     325     32 25     330     31 25     288     32 25     208     31 23     37     30 19     28     28 15 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °C █ Precipitation totals in mm Source: IMD
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     0.5     83 60     1     89 65     1     95 72     0.9     99 77     2.2     100 80     7.7     96 79     13     89 77     13     89 77     11     89 77     8.2     89 73     1.5     86 66     1.1     82 60 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F █ Precipitation totals in inches

Bhubaneswar is situated between 21° 15' North Latitude 85° 15' Longitude and at an altitude of 45 meters above sea level. Geographically, Bhubaneswar is situated in the eastern coastal plains of Odisha and south-west of the Mahanadi River. The city is subdivided into a number of townships and housings.

The city has a tropical climate, specifically a tropical wet and dry climate. The average temperatures range between a minimum of around 10 °C in the winter to a maximum of 40 °C to 45 °C in summer. Sudden afternoon thunderstorms are common in April and May. The south-west monsoons appear in June. The average annual rainfall is 154 cm, most of which is recorded between June and October.

Economy

Jaydev Vihar Interchange

Bhubaneswar was meant to house the state's machinery and hence was designed to be a largely residential city with outlying industrial areas. The city's economy had few major players till the 1990s and was dominated by Public Sector Units, retail and small scale manufacturing. Report by Odisha diary correspondent;

With the economic liberalisation policy adopted by the Government of India in the 90s, Bhubaneswar received large investments in the fields of telecommunications, IT and higher education, particularly engineering. The city is home to around 60 engineering colleges (as of 2009) and the number is growing every year. The city is also home to many tutorials and coaching institutes who prepare students for various entrance exams.

Retail and Real Estate have also emerged as big players. Recent times have seen large scale retail chains such as Reliance, Vishal MegaMart, Big Bazaar, Pantaloon,New leaf,Habib's, Spencer's had opened outlets in Bhubaneswar. Large corporations like DLF Universal and Reliance Industries have entered the real estate market in the city. DLF Limited is developing an Infopark spread over an area of 54 acres (220,000 m²) in the city. Expanding its business portfolio, the Kolkata-based Saraf Group, promoters of Forum Mart shopping malls is constructing another Shopping mall named Forum Lifestyle mall a 550,000 sq ft (51,000 m²) lifestyle mall in Bhubaneswar with 1,200 car parks Despite this rapid growth, an ample number of the populace live in slums. Migration from rural areas, especially from the northern districts of Andhra Pradesh, has led to the growth of slums which are a major challenge to the city's growth. The rich minerals resources of Odisha have been the backbone of the economy dominated by Government. (SAIL) and private organizations like Jindal, Vedanta and the TATAS. The slum dwellers work as auto rickshaw drivers or small vendors but this is not true for everyone. A lot of them are unemployed and are being drawn into crime.The main problem of the city is transport as the quality and length of roads have not increased with respect to the rise in number of vehicles.Purchasing power of people of this city is quite high but this city does not get enough highlightment and often neglected by big channels like Discovery,Nat Geo,etc.

Rajpath at night

The Government has fostered growth in this sphere by the development of IT Parks such as Infocity 1 and the new Infocity 2. The Info City was conceived as a five star park, under the Export Promotion Industrial Parks (EPIP) Scheme to create high quality infrastructure facilities for setting up Information Technology related industries. Infosys and Satyam Computer Services Ltd. have been present in Bhubaneswar since 1996-97. Its current head count stands at around 5000. The first part of the TCS centre is ready and has a capacity to accommodate nearly 1,200 professionals but the software major has only 250 employees at present. The Finland telecommunication company, Nethawk ([1]), has its India R&D center at Bhubaneswar. The Canadian giant, Gennum Corporation has its India development centre at Bhubaneswar. The famous auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd. also have a center in Bhubaneswar. The private STP is located at Infocity in Chandaka, Bhubaneswar with a view to provide incubation and infrastructure facilities to new and young entrepreneurs in the MSME sector, The intelligent building of the JSS STP is spread in a sprawling 3-acre (12,000 m²) campus and houses state-of-art technology to fulfil the growing demands of highly competent IT professionals.

Politics

Bhubaneswar is divided into three Vidhan Sabha constituencies Bhubaneswar Central, Bhubaneswar North, and Ekamra-bhubaneswar. The MLAs are Bhubaneswar Central- Bijay Mohanty (BJD), Bhubaneswar North- Bhagirathi Badajena (BJD), and Ekamra-Bhubaneswar - Ashok Chandra Panda (BJD). The MP from Bhubaneswar is Prasanna Kumar Patasani (BJD). Currently Shri Naveen Patnaik is Chief Minister and Shri M.C.Bhandare is the Governor of Odisha.

Transport

Road

The headquarters of the Odisha State Road Transport Corporation(OSRTC) are located in Bhubaneshwar. The Bhubaneswar Bus Station is situated at Barmunda, 8 km from the city centre and OSRTC operates a regular fleet of buses connecting Bhubaneshwar to various cities in Odisha like Cuttack, Sambalpur, Berhampur, Jeypore, Rourkela and also connects it with the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.

Bhubaneswar is connected to the rest of the country by National Highways- NH 5, NH 203.

City Public Transport Bhubaneswar will get its city bus transport system latest by August 2010 like other big cities, BMC planned to run city buses for bhubaneswar and Puri. A fleet of 100 buses for bhubaneswar and 20 buses for puri will start which will serve as a boon for the city's traffic and tourism

Rail

File:Station Board, BBSR.jpg

Bhubaneswar rail station board

The East Coast Railway has its headquarters in Bhubaneswar. Bhubaneswar Railway Station(BBS) is one of the main stations in India. It is located in the city center and is connected to the major cities of the country such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Jamshedpur etc. by daily express and passenger trains. Bhubaneswar is also one of the major Indian cities to get a world-class railway station soon.It has five railway stations within its city limits, namely (from North to South) Patia Halt, Mancheswar, Vani Vihar,Bhubaneswar station( near Master canteen) and Lingaraj Temple Road.

Air

Biju Patnaik Airport also known as Bhubaneswar Airport is currently the only major domestic airport in Odisha. It is situated 3 km south from the city. There are regular flights to many destinations across India from this airport. It has been learnt from the recent visit of the Honourable Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel that the Biju Patnaik, alias Bhubaneswar Airport would soon be upgraded to an international one, with all the benefits of an international airport, heightening the glory of the state and the country.

Demographics

As per the estimate of IIT Kharagpur, which made a comprehensive development plan for the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Urban complex, the metro area of Bhubaneswar has a population of 19,00,000. As per the census, Males constitute 56% of the population and females 44%. In 2001, the city had an average literacy rate of 79%, higher than the national average of 65.4%. 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Although Odias comprise the vast majority, there are large groups of Marwaris, Punjabis, Bengalis and Telugus. A good majority are followers of the Jagannath cult as is the case throughout the state of Odisha.

The main language spoken in the city is Odia, Hindi and to a fair extent English is understood by most people of the city.

Culture

Udaygiri

artwork on Lingaraj temple

Dhauli

Template:Fix bunching Bhubaneswar at one point in time is supposed to have had over a thousand temples. Although a large number of temples have given way for urban infrastructure, Bhubaneswar still abounds in temples of various deities. This has earned it the tag of the Temple City. The most famous ones are Lingaraj Temple, Lakshmanesvara group of temples, Parasuramesvara Temple, Svarnajalesvra Temple, Muktesvara Temple, Rajarani Temple, Vaital Temple, Brhamesvara temple, Meghesvara temple, Vaskaresvara Temple, Ananta Vasudeva Temple, Sari Temple, Kapilesvara Temple, Markandesvara temple, Yamesvara temple, Chitrakarini temple, Sisiresvara Temple. Apart from the ancient temples few other important temples were built in recent times that includes Ram Mandir, Maa Kanakdurga Pitha,ISKON etc. The Lingaraj Temple towers above the cityscape and is visible from far. Careful conservation has helped save many of these symbols of Oriya culture.

There has been a recent awareness towards preserving the ethos of Odia culture in the form of Classical Odissi dance, handicrafts, sand artistry, sculpturing as well as theatre and music. Boundary walls and gardens are increasingly being redone to depict the folk art of the region.

The Ekamra Haat is the popular hand-loom and handicrafts market that was constructed recently to popularise them. Similarly SRJAN, the Odissi dance academy founded by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra the legendary Odissi dancer is located here. The Rabindra Mandap in central Bhubaneswar plays host to a number of cultural engagements and it also has a modern amphitheatre to host theatre and private functions.

At Ratnagiri, Lalitgiri and Udaygiri (on the way to Paradip) Buddhist sites of great historical significance have been excavated. The site at Ratnagiri is the most extensive and the carvings and sculpture are highly regarded for their proficiency and artistic merit.

Khandagiri & Udayagiri (Jain Heritage)

The twin hills of Khandagiri & Udayagiri, 8 km from Bhubaneswar, served as the site of an ancient Jain monastery which was carved into cave like chambers in the face of the hill. These caves, with artistic carvings date back to the 2nd century BC. Of particular note of their artistic carvings are the Rani Gumpha (Queen's Cave)and the Hati Gumpha (Elephant Cave). The Hati Gumpha has carved chronicles of King Kharavela's reign.

Lingaraj Temple

Main article: Lingaraj Temple

The 10th- or 11th-century Lingaraja temple of Bhubaneswar has been described as "the truest fusion of dream and reality." It is dedicated to Shiva. The Lingaraja temple has been rated one of the finest examples of Hindu temples in India by Ferguson, the noted art critic and historian. The surface of the 55 m-high Lingaraja temple is covered with carvings. Tradition among Hindus exist to visit the Lingaraj Temple before visiting the Jagannath temple at Puri.

Lingaraj Temple

Dhauli Giri

Main article: Dhauli

Just 8 km away from Bhubaneswar looking down on the plains that bore witness to the gruesome war waged on Kalinga by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka the Great, stand the rock edicts of Dhauli. It was here that Ashoka, full of remorse after the Kalinga War in 261 BC, renounced his blood-thirsty campaign and turned to Buddhism. Ashoka erected two main edicts in Kalinga, one in Dhauli and the other in Jayagarh. The principles of Ashoka which reflect his compassion were inscribed on all the other edicts in his empire except Kalinga. In the Kalinga edicts he warned the people of Kalinga not to revolt and that he would take appropriate action if they did. This is in sharp contrast to all of his other edicts and proof of his political acumen.

The edicts are remarkably well preserved, despite the fact that they date back to the 3rd century BC. A sculpted elephant, the universal symbol of Lord Buddha, tops the rock edicts. The Shanti Stupa or the peace pagoda, built through the Indo-Japanese collaboration, is located on the opposite hill.

Fairs & Festivals

On the day of Ashokashtami in the month of March, the image of Lingaraja (Lord Shiva) and other deities are taken in a procession from Lingaraja Temple to the Rameshwara Temple. Hundreds of devotees participate in pulling the chariot that carries the deities. The deities remain in the Rameshwara Temple for four days.

At the end of January comes Adivasi Mela, a fair that displays the art, artifacts, tradition, culture, and music of the tribal inhabitants of Odisha.

Durga Puja is also an important festival. Various pandals are constructed throughout the city. The largest pujas are: the Shahid Nagar Durga Puja, the Nayapalli Durga Puja, and the Rasulgarh Durga Puja. Laxmi Puja at Laxmisagar near Jharapada is also very famous.

Cuisine

Bhubaneswar is a gastronomic delight, famous for its seafood and sweets.

pahala rasagolla

Fresh Lobsters and crabs brought in from the Chilika Lake nearby are sold each morning at the local Haats(Markets) along with various kinds of fish, meat, fruits and vegetables of every possible hue. The Haat is a special feature of Bhubaneswar which initially evolved as weekly markets, but now are open throughout the week and can be safely considered the lifeline of Bhubaneswar. Rasagolla, chhenapoda, rasabali, chennajhilli and various other sweets that originated in Odisha as well as spicy fast food such as the local Cuttack-chaat and "dahi bara-aloo dum", various kinds of rolls are sold throughout the city. There are a number of restaurants specialising in north Indian, south Indian, Chinese, Continental and Thai cuisines. Traditional Odia food, such as daalma and pakhal are also being attractively marketed for tourists as well as the working professionals. Yet another culinary delight is the "mahaprasad" from the Jagannath Temple in Puri and the Abadha of Lingaraj temple and Ananta Basudeva Temple in Bhubaneswar. Besides that, a lot of temples have now started giving "prasad" for devotees on daily basis and some of them are Shani Temple at Vani Vihar Square and Kali temple at Baramunda.

Education

Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar(XIMB) is a premier business school in India

Bhubaneswar is home to several educational and research institutions of state and national importance including the Utkal University, Biju Patnaik University of Technology, the affiliating university of most of the engineering and other professional courses in Orissa, Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management, Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, the Institute of Physics, KIIT University, Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar (ILS), An autonomous institute of Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, IIT Bhubaneswar,National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar (NISER), IIT Bhubaneswar, National Institute of Fashion Technology, College of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) as well as over 90 other private colleges geared towards engineering, biotechnology and management.

Health

Industrial and infrastructural development has boosted the healthcare market in Bhubaneswar, attracting corporates to set up base in the temple city.The city's first corporate hospital, Kalinga Hospital, now offers kidney transplantation, LV Prasad Eye Institute has taken the lead in dealing with complicated ophthalmic cases, while high risk cardiac cases are dealt with by Kalinga Hospital, Aditya Care and Apollo Hospital. With Hemalata Cancer Hospital now providing all three branches of oncology treatment, especially linear accelerator with IMRT and CT stimulation, the high cancer burden of the state has been taken care of.

In the current scenario, while existing hospitals are introducing cutting edge technology, scaling up and even planning larger hospitals, corporates are rushing in to grab a pie of the market. Diagnostic giants like Dr Lalpathlabs, Ranbaxy and Piramal Diagnostics have set-ups there. Even stem cell banking, a relatively new concept, is picking up here. Cryobanks International India, which deals in umbilical cord blood stem cell banking, has opened a collection centre in Bhubaneswar. As many as three private medical colleges (Hi-Tech Medical College, Sum Medical College and Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences) have come up in Bhubaneswar in the last few years. On march 2010 apollo hospitals opened its 49th hospital in bhubaneswar near the sainik school. Apollo Hospitals, Bhubaneswar, is a 350-bedded tertiary care hospital with state-of-the-art technology, spread over a campus area of about 7.5 acres (30,000 m²) with a built-up area of approximately 206,158 sq ft (19,152.7 m²), inaugurated on the 5th of March, 2010.

Sports

Bhubaneswar's main sporting stadium is the Kalinga Stadium. It has facilities for athletics, football, hockey, basketball, tennis, table tennis and swimming. The second phase of construction is on with galleries modeled along stadiums in New Zealand. It hosted its first Ranji Trophy match in November. Barabati Stadium, Cuttack-Odisha's only venue for international cricket matches is located around 25 km away. With the completion of 2nd phase of the railway stadium, Bhubaneswar will have a international class full-fledged Cricket Stadium.

External links

• Template:Wikitravel
• Odisha Discussion Forum
• Bhubaneswar Development Authority
• Official Web Site of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation
• India9.com-Bhubaneswar