THUPTEN MINDROLLING MONASTERY Mini Tibet of Odisha

Aug
2020
26
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While we were approaching the last year of our graduation, all of us had decided to complete a ritual that every techie grad wants to complete before his/her graduation days gets over. We also had our summer getaway to one of the India’s most popular beach destination among youth GOA, but due to budget constraints and numerous numbers of failed attempts to make our parents agree upon this we finally landed upon Pondicherry. Hotels were booked, Train seats reserved, bikes booked, whole trip finalised but who knew mother earth has a surprise for us. It was a super cyclone hitting Odisha coastal town Puri on may 3rd 2019. Fani wreaked a lot of havoc all around coastal Odisha and our plans were cancelled due to the postpone of semester exams.


After exams we had our busy schedule with internships, training and placements but somehow managed to escape from the routine life for two days. We wanted a small ride of around 300km and a 2 days getaway spot mainly a spot with less tourist so that we can relax and nullify all the stress we had developed during our busy schedule back at our home.

 

We finally came to a plan, Southern Odisha plan where we will be covering some parts of Ganjam and Gajapati.The first spot on our list was Mangalajodi bird sanctuary. As it was pre monsoon time we thought it to be not a good idea for going for bird watching. Usually migratory birds leave Mangalajodi by April and some of the might stay for one more month. We arrived at Mangalajodi and had our arrangements done by our local guide. They allow four person in one boat and these boats are manually paddled. The reason behind this in one the area is a swamp region with lots of underwater vegetations and the second is not to disturb the migratory birds over there. The whole bird watching journey is around 3hrs, we were so much engrossed in bird sightings that forgot to take some pictures.



The 2nd spot on our list was Nirmaljhar just few kms away from the National highway on the route towards Khallikote.


Nirmaljhar is a perennial water stream which is also collected in the shape of pond .Beside the pond there is a temple of Lord Vishnu .The water from here flows from Badaghati Mountain in the Eastern Ghats.


After Nirmaljhar we had our breakfast near Chhatrapur and went ahead for our next destination Taptapani.


Taptapani is a hot sulphur water spring in the district of Gajapati. The hot water from the natural spring is believed to have medicinal properties and this water can cure any kind of skin disease as said by the locals. The water is collected beside the spring in the form of pool where one can take bath and after we took a bath over there we found all our body felt relaxed as if we had a body massage. Near to the spring lies a deer park that have around 200 spotted deer’s and 30 nilgais. The ambience over here is what attracts tourist over here for various recreational activities.



We moved on ahead and our stay for the night was booked at MTCS BUNGALOW maintained by the Tibetan community.


The bungalow is situated around 10kms away from the main monastery and it had picturesque backdrop and a small monastery nearby it.




As we were staying at the monasteries bungalow they served us with pure vegetarian meals for the lunch. The lunch included Arua bhata, Dali, Navratna korma, Baigana trakari, Mix veg, Dahi baigana and vegetable chips.


Followed by a quick nap after the lunch we went on to explore the nearby waterfall named “Khasada Waterfall”.


As the name suggests the waterfall is a distinct one that are usually found in Odisha. Its of hardly 20 feet high and the water rather collecting at a spot flows along the hill which is completely flat. This makes difficult for us to walk properly on the rock. Once you slip off over here there is no stopping as you will not get enough grip to hold on to the surface.


Beside the waterfall there is a temple of Lord Rama, Sita, Laxman and Hanuman. You can go to the temple situated above a hill and a bird’s eye view of the whole area.


 

The route we took back from the waterfall towards the monastery was full of scenic beauty. One can easily spot the beautiful Easter Ghats region and the topmost place Mahendragiri from a distance. There was maize plantation all over the terrain but we were unlucky that the harvesting season has ended and the fields wore a deserted look and someone might mistake them as the barren lands.


It was almost dark in the evening and we were unaware about the fact that the mo5nastery closes after 5 pm in the evening. So we decided to return to our hotels and planned to visit it early in the morning.


The only thing in that place was we spent almost 2days over there and there was no electricity over there .So one must be prepared with all sort of power backup but the best part was we were provided with DG power backups.


The next day morning we got up early and went on to explore the monastery and its nearby architectural marvels. While on our way to main monastery we found a small place with a lot of prayer bells across a main shrine. Every morning monks as well as Tibetan refugees would come over to this place to offer their prayers and rotate the prayer bells.




The architecture of Tibetan monasteries contains basically two part-One being the main temple known as Gompas and the Stupas known as Chortens. You will find a lot of stupas build over there over the mortal remains of monk or nuns. These places have beautiful depiction of the Tibetan architecture and Tibetan language.




These Stupas are accompanied with different type of prayer bell or wheels that are rotated in clockwise direction while going around them. Truly one of kind new experience for all people of different caste, creed and sex. We also followed the same procedure and after one complete revolution around the Stupa I personally found some kind of mental peace as well as devotion towards Gautama Buddha.



There were also a lot of prayer flags tied to a bamboo pole that looked pretty from a distance and the different colours of the flags over there was adding a beauty tone to the atmosphere.



People also offered some kind of wine as well as different flowers to their lord in order to show their love and devotion towards them.





There are basically two type of stupas over that place. One being the dome shape and the other being the shape of square.



After spending around 2 hours over there we moved on to the main monastery-Padmasambhava Mahavihara or Thupten Mindrolling Monastery. This monastery is considered as the largest Buddhist monastery in Eastern India.


You can find out the lifestyle and living of their monks once you get inside this monastery. You need to pay an amount of around 20 rupees for an entry ticket which is completely used in the maintenance of the monastery as well as its premises. Children starting from a very minor age start to take lessons over here. Photography is strictly prohibited inside the main prayer hall that has a statue of Gautama Buddha of around fifty feet height made up of brass.


It is built in the Atanpuri style of architecture of Nalanda by architects from Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. The use of white and red colour are very much catchy in looks as well as they carry some kind of mythological significance. There is also a souvenir shop inside the monastery premises where you can buy some kind of Tibetan handlooms and artefacts.



Some kind of relevance what i found over there was like Hindus, monks over there used to light up a series of diyas after each prayer session. This was something so much beautiful that we got mesmerised with a glare on it.



Heart didn’t wanted to leave the place but due to shortage of time and more places to discover we went on to bid a good bye to the place and went ahead for the next spot on our list,Gandahati Waterfall.


This waterfall is such a beautiful place, not so deep to take a bath and a perfect view to have while doing fasts or picnic nearby. There are a number of pindis over there to have feast and the place is so well maintained that tourist from Andhra Pradesh as well as Odisha visit this place.


So it was time to wind up our 2 days trip, we decided to return Bhubaneswar on a different route i.e. Parlakhemundi route. My father suggested me to try the famous biryani near the palace street on Parlakhemundi and without giving an ounce of doubt we went on to taste the best Andhra style chicken biryani at Parlakhemundi and returned to Bhubaneswar after a hectic drive of 10 hours.



Overall it was a short trip yet was a peaceful one and that is what our heart and mind wanted. Very few from Odisha know about such a beautiful place but it will be shock to all that most of the foreign tourists know about it. Most of the riders dream for a Ladakh ride in their whole lifetime. I need to say just one line for them that”Jirang might not be Ladakh but its beauty is never less than that of Ladakh”.







26 Aug 2020
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By Animesh Mahapatra

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