Puri, July 14, 2013: Mathas (mutts) that lie in utter state of neglect ruins could contribute significantly to promotion of heritage status of pilgrim town of Puri, says Comprehensive Development Plan prepared for development of Puri and Konark.

The CDP prepared by Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad has mooted an idea of promoting tourism by making provision of ‘Heritage Walk’ in Puri by interconnecting temples, mutts and tank.

“Puri is a city full of religious places and centres or it can be stated that Puri is known for its sacred centres like temples, mathas, tanks and akhadas. So this leads to an idea of having a Heritage Walk,” the CDP suggests.

According to CDP, the heritage walk should cover 12 temples, 11 mutts and one tank. In fact planners have proposed to start the divine heritage walk starts at Emara Matha which is one of the very old buildings of Puri.

Best point

“It is a living monastery with deities of Radha and Krishna. There is a library inside which is currently in use. The square adjacent to Emara Matha is a very lively and crowded place and best point to begin the walk. It is the first gathering place which later gets transformed into small and big lanes consisting of sacred centres,” points out the CDP.

In fact, a study was carried out on Mutts of Puri that identified several major issues. “Majority of Mathas are poorly maintained and not having adequate infrastructure which needs to be upgraded and redeveloped to revive heritage value.There is very little information about many structures available for tourists due to lack of promotional activities,” it says.

CDP also points out that ill-defined activities in the heritage sites are reducing the cultural values in the sites and many of the open spaces inside the Akhadas and Mathas are now a day used by anti-socials during normal season which must be taken care of for safe tourist site development.

There were initially 300 mathas in the past and number of which is presently close to 70. A large numbers of mathas are present in the vicinity of the temple and a few in the peripheries. Many of them have been recently reconstructed.

Source: The Hindu, DT. July 14, 2013.