Bhubaneswar History, India

Bhubaneswar is the capital of Orissa (which is a state in North Easter part of India). Bhubaneswar is also the largest city of India and is said to be very rich in terms of religious history of India. Bhubaneswar has been called as the city of temples many times by various India magazines due to the numerous temples which are part of the city. As pointed above, Bhubaneswar is very rich in terms of Indian History and it is documented that city of Bhubaneswar existed even 2000 years ago.

A region called Sisupargarh lies in the proximity of Bhubaneswar and it is said that around 2000 years ago, Kharavela, one of the greatest emperor of Kalinga Dynasty, named Sisupargarh as the capital of his area. This is when Bhubaneswar slowly started to develop.

Inscriptions of elephants in cave (popularly known as Hathigumpha inscription) have been found in and around Bhubaneswar especially in the caves of Khandagiri and Udayagiri. Kharavela is said to be responsible for these inscriptions and it is estimated that these inscriptions are as old as 2nd Century. The uniqueness of these inscriptions is that they face the rock edicts of Dhauli and Asoka which is located around 6 miles from the place of inscription.

After Independence, a famous town planner from Germany was hired to plan the city of Bhubaneswar. Otto H. Königsberger came up with an excellent plan which meant wide roads and huge number of parks plus gardens for the locals of the city. Initially, Bhubaneswar did keep pace with the plan but with the jump in the growth of the city, the plan lost its path. Many unwanted houses (which weren’t part of the plan) popped up and since then it has become tough to regulate the growth of the city according to the plan.

Bhubaneswar has been famous for its architecture and the huge number of temples. Some of the most famous temples in and around the city of Bhubaneswar are: the Vishwa Shanti Stupa, the Lingaraj Temple, and the Mahavira Jain Temple etc. These temples have behaved as gold mine for the city of Bhubaneswar and they have been responsible for attracting the major chunk of tourists for the city.

Bhubaneswar has a museum that houses many sculptures from the past history and weapons which were used by those in the historical era.

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