It was a pleasant morning in Panchalingeshwar on 14th April 2011. Panchalingeshwar is a Hindu pilgrimage about 30kms from the town of Balasore, Orissa. It is so named after the five Shivalingas that are enshrined inside temple, which is located on the top of a hillock near the Nilagiri hill. A perennial stream, the main attraction of the area, regularly washes the Shivalingas as it flows over them. To reach to the temple one has to lie flat on the rock parallel to the stream in order to touch and worship the lingas as these are inside water stream.
On the way, you will find huge rock boulders in the middle of the forest. It is a known fact that the Nilgiri range is a part of the Deccan plateau, which runs from the Aravallis of Rajasthan to the Cardamom Hills in Kerala and Tamilnadu. The Deccan plateau is made up of igneous rocks. If we carefully observe the rocks of Panchaligeshwar, then we will definitely find that these rocks were formed when the lava cooled down after several series of volcanic eruptions in the area. It is believed that these eruptions have taken place about 65 million years ago. When the lava cooled down, it gave rise to several ranges of mountains. But that was 65 million years ago. Today, one will only find the ruins of those mountains, which once stood majestically like the Himalayas when the Himalayas were not even born.
The rocks of Panchalingeshwar have their own story to tell. If you ever go to Panchalingeshwar temple, give a nice look to the rocks to your right. You will find an erect boulder that is quite large, weighing about 3 tonnes, is standing tall on a small base. You are now standing just next to the rock on your way to the temple. This particular rock has several vertical layers, each having a specific colour. It implies that originally that rock was never there. This means the rock actually fell from the upper portion of the hill, the reason could be an earthquake or weathering that triggered the landslide. There are several such examples.
Look at the rocks this way : these small plateaus are getting reduced everyday; since their formation, weathering was the main enemy. But today, the enemy is man. Idols and statues made from the Nilgiri rocks are famous across the country. So the plateaus are destroyed just to make such idols. A man can acquire a lot of good qualities from these rocks – patience, resistance, courage and high self-confidence and still giving himself for the service of others.
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