Bhubaneswar Beyond Temples: Where Architecture, Art, and Textiles Speak
Often hailed as the Temple City of India, Bhubaneswar is more than a repository of ancient shrines. It is a living city, where architecture, art, and textile traditions blend seamlessly into the rhythms of daily life. Here, sacred geometry meets modern urban planning, while ritual art and symbolic textiles carry forward the cultural spirit of Odisha. Bhubaneswar doesn't merely preserve the past - it lives it.
1. Architecture: Sacred Geometry to Smart City
1.1 Masterplanning Through Time
Urban planning in Bhubaneswar has always been guided by a deep reverence for the spiritual and natural landscape. The city's ancient core, known as Ekamra Kshetra, surrounds the sacred Bindusagar Lake, forming a landscape filled with temples aligned along cosmic and ritual axes. These were not accidental layouts - they were sacred geographies, where each street and courtyard carried symbolic weight.
In 1948, post-independence India looked to Bhubaneswar as a canvas for new beginnings. German planner Otto Konigsberger was commissioned to design one of India's first modern capitals. His masterplan, while rational in its zoning - dividing the city into administrative, residential, institutional, and recreational sectors - also respected the integrity of Bhubaneswar's sacred sites and ancient urban grain. This makes Bhubaneswar a rare city where ritual and rationality coexist.
Today, as part of India's Smart City Mission, Bhubaneswar is pioneering digital infrastructure, inclusive public spaces, and transit-oriented growth - all while preserving its temple precincts, ponds, and historic street networks.
1.2 Evolution of Architectural Language
Bhubaneswar's architecture reflects layered time. From rock-cut caves at Khandagiri and Udayagiri, used by Jain monks in the 2nd century BCE, to 11th-century temple marvels and mid-20th-century civic buildings, the city presents a continuous design narrative.
Early temples like Parashurameswar (7th century) are compact and richly adorned with figurative carvings. As temple architecture matured, later monuments such as the Lingaraja Temple expanded spatially and spiritually - introducing multiple halls (mandapas), expansive compounds, and taller spires that merged spiritual symbolism with engineering ingenuity.
In modern times, structures like the Odisha State Assembly, Utkal University, and institutions like Kala Bhoomi echo vernacular elements - deep verandahs, laterite and sandstone finishes, and climatic responsiveness - creating a dialogue between past and present.
1.3 Typologies of Temples: The Kalinga Trinity
Bhubaneswar's temples are textbook examples of Kalinga style Nagara architecture, broadly classified into three types:
Rekha Deula: A tall, curvilinear tower over the sanctum (garbhagriha), representing Mount Meru - the cosmic axis. Example: Lingaraja Temple.
Pidha Deula: A stepped pyramid-like roof used over assembly halls (jagamohana). Example: Mukteswara Temple.
Khakhara Deula: A barrel-vaulted structure with Dravidian influence, typically associated with tantric practices. Example: Baitala Deula.
Common across all types is the panchanga bada (five-part vertical elevation), topped with an amlaka (ribbed crown) and kalasa (finial). The facades teem with carvings of gods, animals, dancers, musicians, and symbolic motifs - all narrating spiritual stories through stone.
1.4 A City Etched in Stone, Rooted in Ritual
In Bhubaneswar, architecture is a spiritual act. Whether it's an ancient temple or a civic building, each structure reflects a balance of function, form, and faith. The city is a blueprint of continuity - from sacred alignments to modern masterplans - illustrating how built environments can honor tradition while embracing change.
2. Art: The Pulse of Bhubaneswar's Cultural Spirit
If architecture gives Bhubaneswar its body, then art is its soul. Art in this city is ritualistic, narrative, and deeply entwined with everyday life. It thrives not only in museums and galleries but also in homes, temples, and markets - passed down through generations like family lore.
2.1 Pattachitra: Scrolls of Devotion
Rooted in the 12th century, Pattachitra is a traditional cloth-based painting form that originated around Jagannath temples in Puri and Bhubaneswar. With natural pigments, bold outlines, and divine iconography, these paintings depict tales from the Mahabharata, Ramayana, and especially the Jagannath triad - Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra.
The canvas is handmade using cotton cloth stiffened with tamarind paste. Artists grind stones to make red, yellow, white, and black pigments, and apply them using brushes made from animal hair. Today, Pattachitra also appears on sarees, walls, and even digital prints - bridging ritual and reinvention.
2.2 Palm Leaf Engravings: Tales on Talapatra
Another distinct medium is Talapatra Chitra, where mythological stories are engraved onto palm leaves using a stylus. The leaves are strung together like a book and filled with lamp-black or turmeric to reveal fine, detailed imagery. These sacred manuscripts are not only visual art but also spiritual archives - chronicling tantric diagrams, folk tales, and devotional verses like the Gita Govinda.
2.3 Saura and Tribal Art: Symbols from the Soil
Though urban in its layout, Bhubaneswar draws inspiration from tribal Odisha. The Saura tribe, for example, creates murals using natural dyes and twigs as brushes. These geometric, symbolic paintings represent daily life, rituals, and dreams. Once painted on mud walls, today they are curated on canvas and paper - embraced by both collectors and contemporary designers.
2.4 A City Where Art Breathes Daily
In Bhubaneswar, art isn't confined to galleries - it lives in rituals, walls, festivals, and fashion. Each piece of Pattachitra or palm engraving is not just an object - it is a living link between myth, maker, and moment. Art here is sacred, participatory, and evolving - as alive as the city itself.
3. Textiles: Threads That Weave Myth and Modernity
As one walks through Bhubaneswar's craft bazaars and cultural exhibitions, it becomes clear that Odisha's textile legacy is a visual language of its own. The city not only preserves but showcases and sustains a remarkable range of handwoven traditions that blend sustainability, spirituality, and symbolism.
3.1 Sambalpuri Ikat: Patterns of Precision
Perhaps the most recognized of Odisha's textiles, Sambalpuri Ikat is famed for its tiedye-on-yarn technique. Unlike printed fabric, the design is mapped and dyed before weaving - resulting in hypnotic symmetry and deeply symbolic patterns like wheels (chakras), lotus flowers, and temple spires. Sambalpuri sarees are prized for both their technical mastery and cultural expression, often worn by political leaders, dancers, and devotees during festivals and state ceremonies.
3.2 Bomkai Sarees: The Embroidered Storybook
Named after a village in Ganjam district, Bomkai sarees (also called Sonepuri) are known for their woven borders and embroidered motifs. Using extra weft techniques, weavers insert symbolic figures - birds, fish, creepers - onto wide borders and pallus, making each saree a tactile tapestry of tribal folklore.Their earthy and jewel-toned hues give them versatility, bridging the ceremonial and the contemporary.
3.3 Kotpad Weaves: Earth to Thread
Woven by tribal artisans in southern Odisha, Kotpad fabrics are dyed entirely with natural materials - roots, iron, and herbs. With their deep reds and browns and motifs of tortoises, crabs, and celestial symbols, these weaves tell stories of land, river, and life. Bhubaneswar, through platforms like Kala Bhoomi and Boyanika, plays a crucial role in bringing these sustainable textiles to a wider audience - supporting both tradition and livelihood.
3.4 Berhampuri Silks: Drapes of the Divine
Known for their bold colour contrasts and zigzag temple borders, Berhampuri silks (or Phoda Kumbha sarees) are woven with mulberry silk and worn during religious festivals and weddings. These sarees reflect the grand temple aesthetic in wearable form - merging ritual and elegance.
3.5 Bhubaneswar as a Living Textile Gallery
Bhubaneswar doesn't just sell textiles - it curates experiences. Through emporiums, exhibitions, and state-supported craft clusters, the city empowers artisans, educates consumers, and weaves a modern identity from ancient threads. Here, fashion is folklore, and each garment is a story in motion.
4. A City That Breathes Culture
Bhubaneswar is not a museum - it is a living, breathing cultural ecosystem. Its architecture tells of cosmic planning and ritual logic. Its art forms a language of devotion and everyday life. Its textiles carry stories from the forest, temple, and loom. Together, these elements make Bhubaneswar not just a city - but a cultural experience.
