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Bhubaneswar is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Orissa, India.Once the capital of ancient Kalinga, the city has a long history and is today a center for commerce and religious activity. However, the modern city of Bhubaneswar was designed by the German architect Otto Königsberger in 1946. It became the modern capital of the state of Orissa in 1948, a year after India gained its independence from Britain. Before Bhubaneswar, Cuttack was the capital of Orissa until 1947. Both Bhubaneswar and Cuttack are known as the “twin cities” of Orissa. With its vast variety of Hindu temples, Bhubaneswar is often referred to as a Temple City of India.

History

The history of the Bhubaneswar-Khurda region goes back 2000 years. Emperor Kharabela established his capital in Sisupalgarh which is on the outskirts of the city. The Hathigumpha inscriptions at the Udayagiri caves and Khandagiri caves are evidence of the region’s antiquity. Modern Bhubaneswar was originally meant to be a well planned city with wide roads and many gardens and parks. The plan was made by Otto Königsberger , a German town planner.^[1] Though part of the city has stayed faithful to the plan,^[2] it has grown rapidly over the last few decades and has made the planning process unwieldy.

Ekamrahat

Having merged its intriguing past so uniquely with its modern aspirations, it forms an integral link in the Golden Triangle that incorporates the city of Puri and Konark. The area is attractive to tourists for its spiritual significance to Hindus. To the east are the famous Sun temple of Konark and the Jagannath Temple of Puri. The Lingaraj Temple of old Bhubaneswar, built in the 11th century, is another temple noted for its ancient history. The Khandagiri and Udaygiri, situated on the outskirts of the city, carry monuments of the Jain monks since the times of the great king Kharavela. Another such monument is the Shantistupa, which was built with Japanese aid, as a symbol of peace at the site where the Kalinga War took place between Emperor Ashoka and Kalinga (the old empire of Orissa).

Konark Horse in Roundabout

Bhubaneswar is known for its architecture and ancient temples The imposing spire of the Lingaraj Temple, the quiet beauty of the Vishwa Shanti Stupa and the pink translucence of the Mahavira Jain Temple in nearby Khandagiri.

The State Museum of Bhubaneswar offers an extensive selection of archaeological artifacts, weapons, local arts and crafts as well as insights into Orissa’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 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 Orissa and south-west of the Mahanadi River. The city is subdivided into a number of townships and housings.

The city, has a tropical 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. However Bhubaneswar is famous for its cool and refreshing evening breeze. Even on the hottest of summer days, evenings tend to be nice and pleasant thanks mainly to this evening breeze. Sudden afternoon thunderstorms are common in April and May. The south-east 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.

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 accounts for almost all of the IT revenue of Orissa and is one of the fastest growing regions in India in this sector. Higher Technical Education is also a big market. The city is home to around 30 engineering colleges (as of 2007) and the number is growing every year. Around 20,000 engineers graduate with the Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) degree every year. The city is also home to many tutorials and coaching institutes who prepare students for various entrance exams. The large density has earned the city the sobriquet of “Kota of the East”.

Retail and Real Estate have also emerged as big players. Glitzy malls with a wide array of branded stores and foodcourts have changed the way the city shops. Moreover a number of supermarkets especially those of Reliance Retail have sprung up in all corners of the city. 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 in the city. Despite this rapid growth, a large number of the populace live in slums and are below the poverty line. 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 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.

Rajpath at night

Bhubaneswar has emerged as one of the fastest growing IT hubs of India. The Government has fostered growth in this sphere by the development of IT Parks,Infocity 1 and the new Infocity 2. The Info City Bhubaneswar 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. Wipro’s software development centre in the city is scheduled to be operational by the end of February this year.The first tower unit 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.This has earned the state capital in eastern India the unique distinction of having the presence of the big four i.e. Infosys, Satyam, TCS and Wipro. NetHawk [1], a Finland based company, has been operating its research and development center in Bhubaneswar since April 2005. MindTree is also allotted 30 acres (120,000 m²) of land to start its business. On 5th Nov 2007 IBM announced its planning to kick start its SME operation in Bhubaneswar.Genpact Limited, the BPO (business process outsourcing) arm of the US-based General Electric has put up the boundary wall for its Global Delivery Centre. Construction work for this centre is expected to begin by March this year.ICICI bank to open its eastern regional hub with a pool of 15,000 employees. HLL Lifecare Limited (Formerly Hindustan Latex Limited)[2] operates from Bhubaneswar. The California-based software solution provider, Ficus Soft [3] has its India headquarters at Bhubaneswar.Local IT company like Interfinet[4]having a FDI from UK based Investor named Interactiveideas Ltd[5]

In semiconductor/silicon, Perfectus Technology Inc [6], Silicatec [7], STG Chips Pvt Ltd [8],Gennum Corporation/Snowbush [9] / [10], Lakshya Solutions [11] are some of the popular companies at Bhubaneswar.

Other major IT companies including Hexaware Technologies, Ramtech Systems and several other companies have also finalised plans for starting operations at Bhubaneswar. In addition there are several hundreds of small scale software and hardware companies offering software development outsourcing services. While some of these small companies are owned by NRIs, many are established by native businessmen.

Education

Bhubaneswar is home to several educational and research institutions of state and national importance including the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar [12], the Institute of Physics [13], Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) [14] , National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) [15], IIIT, a planned world class central university, IT institute by ADAG^[3], IMMT,College of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar [16],[Utkal University]], Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT), KIIT University(KIIT) [17], as well as over 30 other private universities geared towards engineering, biotechnology and management. There are a number of institutions offering degrees related to information technology. Vedanta University is being established as one of the world’s largest comprehensive universities in a location very close to Bhubaneswar city.

Transport

An Airside view of Biju Patnaik Airport

Bhubaneswar has air and rail linkages with most major cities in India. Biju Patnaik airport, managed by Airport Authority of India, is the only major airport in the state; an international airport is planned for 2010. Bhubaneswar is connected to New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore by daily flights. In addition to air transport, Bhubaneswar is well-connected to other major Indian cities by a good networks of highways. The National Highway 5, connecting Kolkata and Chennai passes through the city and is one of India’s premier highways being part of the ‘Golden Quadrilateral’ network.The National Highway 60, connecting Balasore to Kolkata.

It is also the headquarters of the East Coast Railways and is connected extensively with all corners of India. Multiple daily connections are available for Kolkata, Kharagpur,Jamshedpur Vizag, Vijayawada and Chennai. Within Orissa, there are multiple daily connections to cities such as Rourkela,Cuttack,Sambhalpur,balasore,Puri and Berhampur. Daily trains also connect to Delhi and several other cities. There are direct trains to several major Indian cities including Guwahati, Dibrugarh,Jamshedpur Durgapur, Ranchi, Bokaro, Gaya, Patna, Muzaffarpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Mathura, Haridwar, Panipat, Patiala, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Kota, Gwalior, Jhansi, Bhopal, Ujjain, Bilaspur, Raipur, Ahmedabad, Surat, Gandhinagar, Vadodara, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Warangal, Tirupati, Hubli, Goa, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Trichy, Madurai, Pondicherry, Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram andKanyakumari.

Bhubaneswar railway station has been renovated and has many modern amenities.

• Bhubaneswar is going to have Monorail ^[4]

Demographics

Orissa Secretariat

As of India’s 2001 census,^[5] Bhubaneswar has a population of 647,302. Males constitute 56% of the population and females 44%. In 2001, the city had an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than the national average of 65.4%. Ten percent of the population is under 6 years of age.

The main language spoken in the city is Oriya.Other languages spoken in the city are Hindi and English.

Sports

The Kalinga Stadium at the heart of the city forms the focal point of sports activities in Bhubaneswar. It has excellent facilities for athletics, football, hockey, basketball, tennis, table tennis and swimming. The newly constructed Railway Cricket Stadium is supposed to be the biggest in Eastern India with radius of 81 mtrs. The second phase of construction is on with galleries modelled along stadiums in New Zealand. It hosted its first Ranji Trophy match in November.

Cricket is the most popular sport of Bhubaneswar and there is intense rivalry among the various cricket clubs. The famous ones are Pragati Sporting, Shaheed Sporting, Rameshwar Sporting, Paramount Sporting, Kishore Sporting etc. Bhubaneswar being a planned city enjoys huge open spaces which help inculcate interest in sports among the youth. Besides cricket football is also very popular.

There are also a number of indoor stadia prominent being the Shaheed Nagar Indoor Stadium, Unit 1 indoor stadium etc having facilities for badminton and other indoor sports.

Culture

Udaygiri

artwork on Lingaraj temple

Dhauli

Bhubaneswar is home to several monumental temples of regional and national importance. Apart from the famed Lingaraj Temple, there are also the Raja Rani, Mukteswar, Parsurameswar, Vaital Deul and several others. In nearby Hirapur, there is a Yogini temple of much historic and cultural interest.

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 exhibit a high level of 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. Dating back to the 2nd century BC, some of the caves have beautiful carvings. The Rani Gumpha (Queen’s Cave), one of the largest and double-storied, is ornately embellished with beautiful carvings. In the Hati Gumpha (Elephant Cave), King Kharavela has carved out the chronicles of his reign.

Lingaraaj 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. A rare masterpiece, the Lingaraja temple has been rated one of the finest examples of purely Hindu temple in India by Ferguson, the noted art critic and historian^{[citation needed]}. The surface of the 55 m-high Lingaraja temple is covered with carvings. Sculpture and architecture fused elegantly to create a perfect harmony. Devout pilgrims, who wish to go to the Jagannath temple at Puri, must first offer worship at the Lingaraja temple.

Dhauli Giri

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^{[citation needed]}.

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 Orissa.

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.rasagolla ,chhenapoda and various other sweets that originated in Orissa 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 Oriya food, such as dalma 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.

Politics

Current MLA from Bhubaneswar Assembly Constituency is Biswabhushan Harichandan of BJP, who won the seat in State elections of 2004 and also in 2000. Previous MLAs from this seat were Biju Patnaik who won this seat in 1995 and 1990 as JD candidate and also in 1985 as JNP candidate, Rama Krushna Pati of CPI in 1980, Satyapriya Mohanty of JNP in 1977.^[6]

Bhubaneswar is part of Bhubaneswar (Lok Sabha constituency).^[7]

An approach to a greener city

Bhubaneswar enjoys the credit of being one of the cleanest and greenest cities of India. The Government has undertaken various programmes to make Bhubaneswar a role model for other developing cities of the world. Recently the boundary walls on roadsides have been artistically painted with the help of local painters depicting the rich and glorious traditions and culture of Orissa. The government has introduced the concept of special vending zones to prevent hawkers from operating on the main streets . This has drawn high praise from experts who have hailed it as an innovation in urban development. Moreover large scale tree plantation and beautiful landscaping has been undertaken alongside all major roads to give bhubaneswar a much desired facelift. The railway station of Bhubaneswar has been given a much desired facelift.