Do you believe in ‘Two Stones with One Arrow’ that literally in tourism means making the most of it or seeing as many beautiful places as quickly as possible? The visit to Sirpur monuments and Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary can just make that happen. While Sirpur is a location for ancient Buddhist and Jain pilgrimage site, Barnawapara is a pristine rarely visited wildlife sanctuary that is home myriad variety of flora and fauna. Located within 25 kms from each other in Mahasamund district of Chhattisgarj, tourist who want to get glimpse of history and wildlife must visit these 2 locations.
Ideally Sirpur can be visited by tourist in the morning and Barnawaparain the late afternoon and evening. The trip to these two enchanting locations will give both history buffs and nature lovers enough reason to feel the trip is worth it.
Both these sites arew located just a couple of hours drive from Raipur, Chhattisgarh the capital of the state. Raipur and the planned city of Naya Raipur are in itself a place worth visiting with numerous locations that attract lot of tourist.
Starting early after a hearty breakfast travel to Sirpur takes couple of hours. Its’ a town in Mahasamund district in state of Chhattisgarh 35 km from Mahasamund city and 78 km away from Raipur on the banks of river Mahanadi. Sirpur was capital of Panduvanshi dynasty in ancient times. Also referred to as Shripur, Sripura or Sripur its’ a major archaeological site. The site dug has revealed temple ruins of Rama and Lakshmana of the Ramayana fame, as well as those related to Shaivism, Shaktism, Buddhism and Jainism.
In total the excavations since 1950, particularly after 2003, have yielded 22 Shiva temples, 5 Vishnu temples, 10 Buddha Viharas, 3 Jain Viharas, a 6th/7th century market and snana-kund (bath house). This makes Sirpur, a pilgrimage site for the followers of Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism. Well connected by road and rail with air link provided by Raipur airport. The Chinese pilgrim and traveller Huen T’sang mentions visiting Sirpur in 639 CE in his memoirs wrote there were some 10,000 Mahayana Buddhist bhikshus (monks) who lived here in some 100 monasteries, and there were over 100 temples.
Tourist can visit as many ruins they want based on time at hand, also worth visiting is the ASI museum on the Lakshmana temple premises that preserves the artwork and pieces of archaeological ruins found during excavations.
After revisiting the history head out to Barnawapara but after hearty lunch. Few people know about this beautiful track of lush green forest land outside Chhattisgarh. Spread over 245 sq. kms it is home huge variety of flora and fauna. There is no restriction for taking private vehicles inside the sanctuary. Tourist once inside the sanctuary can stay at Muba’s Machaan eco-cottages that can accommodate upto 4 people. Located 25 kms from Sirpur archaeological site it is a perfect gateaway from hustle and bustle of the city and allows nature lovers to spend quality time in peace and tranquility in in tune with nature. tourist can go for safari inside the sanctuary to visit a number of scenic waterfalls in the sanctuary, like Dhaskund waterfall, Siddhakhol Waterfall, Nakuti Darha waterfall,
The Jonk River, a tributary of the Mahanadi river, flows through the sanctuary, provide a beautiful scenery to take in for every nature lover.
Named after the two villages of Bar and Nawapara located inside the sanctuary, there are other tourist attractions, such as Gond Nagarjuna caves, which local Gondi people consider as sacred and worship there. Wildlife of the sanctuary include tigers, sloth bear, flying squirrels, jackals, four-horned antelopes, wild buffalo, leopards, chinkara, black buck, jungle cat, barking deer, porcupine, monkey, bison, striped hyena, wild dogs, chital, sambar, nilgai, jackal, gaur, muntjac, wild boar, cobra, and python. If you are lucky you may spot many of them in a single trip. A bird watchers paradise, the sanctuary is home to numerous variety of birds such as peacock, parrots, bulbul, white-rumped vultures, green avadavat, lesser kestrels, peafowl, wood peckers, racket-tailed drongos, egrets, and herons. The sanctuary is a land mass of undulating terrain dotted with numerous low and high hillocks filled with grassland and trees like teak, sal, mahua, semal, tendu ber and other local tropical tree varieties. All this makes a late afternoon visit to the sanctuary a worthwhile for any nature lover. After visit tourist can stay at the eco cottage for the night and check out next morning. A visit to Sirpur Barnawapara is a must for every tourist.
