Bhubaneswar: As part of its efforts to familiarise the city-folks and tourists with the heritage sites of the ancient city, the tourism department in association with the Bhubaneswar chapter of INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) will organise heritage walks on January 20 and 21. ``Bhubaneswar is a city of temples and tanks. But how many of us know that once upon a time more than 7,000 temples of various sizes stood around the Bindusagar tank? Even today, about 500 of them still survive the ravages of time that is not known to the people who stay in the same locality. It has been our humble attempt to make people aware of their heritage; so that the community comes up for its conservation,'' said INTACH coordinator Mallika Mitra.

Two trails

There will be two different trails on both the days that will cover most of the important temples and tanks, Mallika said. Important and religious water bodies like Kedargouri kund, Kotitirtheswar kund, Gangeswar - Jamuneswar kund and Devipadahara Kund would be covered, she added.

The trail on January 20 will start from Mukteswar temple complex just beside the highway and will culminate at Gangeswar-Jamuneswar tank after passing through 17 sites. En route it will cover Kedareswar temple, Daiteswar temple, Tirtheswar temple, Siva Temple, Swarnajaleswar temple, Kotitirtheswar temple, Subarneswar temple, Sampurnajaleswar temple, Bramha Temple, Ananta Vasudev, Vishnu temple, Tirtheswar temple, Lingaraj temple, Papanashini, Makareswar, Chitrakarini and Kashiviswanathswar.

On January 21, the trail will commence from Laxmaneswar group of temples. It will then pass through Rameswar temple, Gosegareswar temple, Vaitaladev temple, Bharatimath, Makareswar temple, Papanasini temple, Chitrakarini temple, Kainchi temple to culminate at the Lingaraj temple.

The walk, which is open to all, will be guided by experts from the fields of archaeology, history, tourism and heritage conservation, informed an official of the tourism department. A number of tourists from abroad are being invited to join this annual event , he added..

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