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Odisha Part 10: Bhubaneshwar – the city of temples

Bhubaneshwar is often called the city of temples . It is impossible to know exactly how many temples there are, but it has been estimated that there might be over 700 temples in the city. This number, while impressive, is just a fraction of the original number, which, sometime in the 13 th century, would have been about 7000. Wikipedia has a page dedicated to the Hindu temples of Bhubaneshwar , where 93 temples are listed. All these are ancient temples, built between the 7 th and 13 th centuries CE. Bhubaneshwar was once known as Ekamra Kshetra , the sacred mango grove. We know this name from an inscription at the Ananta Vasudeva temple, which mentions the name of the place, and the main temple (that we now know as the Lingaraja temple) in the mango grove. Ananta Vasudeva Temple, with a sculpture of Trivikrama in the niche It is extremely interesting to note that the Ananta Vasudeva temple is the only temple to Lord Vishnu in this city. Varaha, Ananta Vasudeva Temple Located v...
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Rangolis - Maharashtrian style!

I have always been fascinated by the Maharashtrian way of drawing rangolis. While I love drawing the traditional 'kolams' with rice paste, I am no good at using the kolam powder or rice flour. These are typical Maharashtrian patterns drawn at Jalgaon, where, as I mentioned earlier, we attended a puja.

The girl was young, must have been younger than me, and she drew these two rangolis in a matter of minutes!



Normally, when we use rice flour, we can only draw one line at a time. Here, in the next rangoli, she drew 4 at a time!!! It was fantastic to watch her, and I tried taking a pic of her drawing the rangoli. Unfortunately, it was dark and they did not come out well. These pix were taken the next day, and I wasn't able to locate her and ask her to pose next to her creations.




A wonderful job,isn't it? what do you say????



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  1. NishaJanuary 17, 2010 at 12:30 PM

    These are beautiful. Kudos to that girl. I could never learn doing complicated designs.

    But I still feel that south Indians make faster rangolis. In Chennai during festivals seasons they make big ones on the road... each better than the other one.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MridulaJanuary 17, 2010 at 2:45 PM

    I am sure I will never be able to make these even in days! My teachers used to give me passing marks in drawing because I used to do well in other subjects :P

    ReplyDelete
  3. SoulSpaceJanuary 17, 2010 at 8:10 PM

    lovely
    actually Yu must visit vilages in Tamilnadu during Marghazi(if yu have, then do tell!)...entire streets with wonderful elaborate kolams...
    its beautiful
    and so were these...

    ReplyDelete
  4. sriJanuary 18, 2010 at 5:12 PM

    beautiful creation, from the professional girl :) and as story teller said if u visit agraharams of south during margazhi that would be a virtual delight :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousOctober 12, 2012 at 2:26 PM

    Loved the rangoli designs. Very creative.Love to feature these rangoli designs here http://www.3mik.com/group/rangoli

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownOctober 22, 2013 at 11:50 AM

    What an amazing artwork! I am always feeling awed everytime i see these Rangoli designs made for the festivals, so amazing! thanks!

    ReplyDelete

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