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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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Wish you all a very Happy New Year!!!!




2009 saw me making quite a lot of trips, but the end of the year saw me cancelling a much awaited one. Lets hope 2010 brings along a lot more travel for all of us.

For the last few years, we have brought in the new year at Puttaparthi, Prashanti Nilayam, the abode of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, and this year was the same. We spent a week there, and sorry, again no photographs. We spent the whole day at the ashram, and left the camera behind in the room!


The collage above is my first attempt at one, since  wanted to do something new this year, and I eagerly await your comments and suggestions. These pics were taken from the train on our way back.

The river you can see is the Krishna, and surprisingly, there was plenty of water, and there were a huge number of water birds too. We saw egrets, herons , sandpipers, and many others we couldn't identify. Among the other birds were the Kingfishers, Bee eaters, drongoes and robins, all of which I am proud to say, Samhith is identifying with ease!!!!


Comments

  1. MridulaJanuary 6, 2010 at 10:47 AM

    Wish you and your family a very happy 2010 Anu. May you travel more!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vamsee ModugulaJanuary 6, 2010 at 12:01 PM

    Happy New Year to you too Anu.

    I have not done much will collages, so I am last one to comment, but just a little suggestion.
    Did you try putting the big picture in the center and the little ones surrounding it?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anuradha ShankarJanuary 6, 2010 at 12:09 PM

    @ Mridula: Thanks for the wishes... wish u and your family too a wonderful 2010

    @Vam: I actually tried that first, but this seemed a little differnt:-))

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sankara SubramanianJanuary 6, 2010 at 1:52 PM

    May the Twenty Ten decade bring us lots of happy travels...

    The collage has come out well...though, to be fair, it lacks flair...Try using Picasa, that is if you upload your photos to Picasa Photo Album...their desktop tool...picasa...offers a great deal of interesting collage options, which you can choose depending on your taste and style...In a nut shell, picasa is the simpleton's photoshop...

    To respond to your comment on my blog...Talakad is open year around...Pancha Pathi festival draws in the maximum crowd

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anuradha ShankarJanuary 6, 2010 at 9:13 PM

    @ Sankara : thanks a lot... for the wishes, the suggestion, as well as the information!!

    i actually did use Picasa, but was wary of experimenting too much.. have a lot to learn!!!

    i used to think that talakkad was closed for most of the year,. now thanks to you, i can plan a visit sometime...

    ReplyDelete
  6. SoulSpaceJanuary 8, 2010 at 10:37 AM

    great pics...
    i love the Picasa collage options too...
    Kids are great at picking names and nature..faster than we do

    ReplyDelete
  7. ArunJanuary 15, 2010 at 12:51 PM

    Wish you a happy new year too. May 2010 turn out great for you.

    ReplyDelete

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