A German’s bond with temple city

BHUBANESWAR, March 30: Hermann Kulke's association with Orissa easily transcends his academic interest in the state. For the eminent German ...

BHUBANESWAR, March 30: Hermann Kulke’s association with Orissa easily transcends his academic interest in the state. For the eminent German historian, it is a part of his existence. "My association with the state is a part of my life," says Professor Kulke and it fairly sums up his passion.

Deeply associated with Orissa for nearly three decades, Kulke feels that every single visit here has enriched his life and his fascination for the state and its people flows from its very cultural moorings. "This is a living tradition," feels Kulke. Kulke, who came to Orissa in 1970 along with seven other German research scholars, feels the changes that have taken place in Bhubaneswar are unimaginable. His wife, Ursula, has also the same feeling about the city.

" I was perhaps the only woman driving a car on the city roads in the early 1970’s but I never thought that modernisation would spread its tentacles so soon," she says.

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But, for Kulke, the charm of old Bhubaneswar, popularly known as "Ekamra Kshetra", stillremains intact despite the onslaught of modernisation. However, the growth of skyscrapers adjacent to the Mukteswar Temple is a major source of worry for him.

"I cannot tolerate even the slightest damage to this temple," he says. "The richness of Orissa’s culture lies in its tribal pockets" he says, adding with some regret that, the richness is facing rapid erosion due to rampant felling of trees and the growth of industries in these areas.

The dichotomy between a handful of cities and the underprivileged tribal pockets worries him. "These tribals, who are the roots of mankind, have been uprooted from the mainstream of all development," laments Kulke. While on the one hand he is extremely happy with the proliferation of historical research in the state, on the other he feels that there is a need to go beyond the borders and discover and re-discover the historical relationship of Orissa with Andhra Pradesh particularly in terms of maritime trade and the influence of Ganga "vamsa". Born a Christian, Kulke’sextensive research on the Jagannath Cult and its influence on the construction of Orissan identity has managed to prove his critics wrong.