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Odisha Part 3 - Konark : The Surya Temple, through my eyes

Many years back, when I visited the National Museum in Delhi, one of the images that I was most impressed by, was the Surya from Konark. I remember being rooted to the ground as I stood in front of the sculpture, admiring every detail, simply unable to walk away. There are various ideas of where the sculpture was placed in the temple, but wherever it was placed, there is no question that it would have drawn all eyes. I remember wondering back then, if this single sculpture was so impressive, how much more impressive the temple would have been! The first thing that struck me about the Konark temple during my first visit, was its size. I have seen huge ancient temples before – the Brihadeeshwara temple and the Kandariya Mahadev temple, to name just two. However, Konark was something else. It was awe-inspiring to even think of just how much larger the original temple would have been, with its main spire intact. So many years later, on my second visit, the size was still impressive, bu...
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Vijaya Dasami 2009

After the nine nights and days of navaratri, the festival culminated with Dusshera, or Vijaya Dashami. For us, the highlight of the day was our visit to the Fine Arts Society, Chembur for Guru Vandana and Vidyarambham – where we pay our respects to our teacher and begin a new year of musical education, or rather, Samhith does, progressing from the junior music level to senior this year…..

I complete this series of festival blogs with my photographs of the Fine Arts Kolu, one of the best in this area….

Here is the main Kolu..






This is the side decoration – this time, Tirupati, with a cave underneath…. I couldn’t get more details about this since everyone was tied up with the Vijaya Dashami celebrations…..

















Here are some detailed shots of the dolls….






















Well, thats all for this year, folks.... Shall be back with something new... till, then, keep reading my blog and suggest topics for me to write about!!!!


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Comments

  1. DollySeptember 29, 2009 at 12:53 PM

    Your pictures are beautiful, and thank you for sharing your Navaratri with us. Days have flown by so quick. Did you go to see burning of the Ravan ceremony?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anuradha ShankarSeptember 29, 2009 at 12:58 PM

    @ Lost Wanderer : THanks a lot.. its been a pleasure...
    No, I wasnt able to go for the ramleela. since i was home waiting for some last-day visitors...
    this year, wasnt even able to take in the Durga Puja, since had to be at home,,,

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  3. A journey called LifeSeptember 29, 2009 at 4:04 PM

    wow .. nice grand finale to a very interesting and nice series.. ur insipiring

    ReplyDelete
  4. MridulaSeptember 29, 2009 at 8:26 PM

    Just an extensive and beautiful arrangement. Hope your son had a lot of fun.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anuradha ShankarSeptember 29, 2009 at 10:02 PM

    @ A journey called Life : Thanks a lot..... had a wonderful time sharing all that i saw around me..

    @ Mridula : yes, samhith really enjoyed himself..... especially noticing which were the new ones and what we could do next time!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. SoulSpaceSeptember 30, 2009 at 7:21 AM

    I enjoy the passion yu bring to your writing and how yu present it to your readers, it comes directly from yr soul..thanks...and thanks for leaving comments on my blog too...
    BTw..I am learning a lot from yr blogs..am trying to emulate it..hahah

    ReplyDelete
  7. chitraSeptember 30, 2009 at 8:58 PM

    Good pictures there Anu. Hope you and son enjoyed nav. well

    ReplyDelete
  8. sriOctober 1, 2009 at 1:15 PM

    You did best by writing about so many things about golu, decorations and wonderful pictures you have taken all along! 10 days of hard work, plus blog writing must have tired u down! Kudos anu! my wishes to everyone at ur famil and special wishes to samhith as he would get a day off on vijayadasami from reading :)

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