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Odisha Part 9 : The Vaital Temple, Bhubaneshwar

The Vaital temple is of the many intriguing temples in Bhubaneshwar. To begin with, the structure itself resembles a South-Indian temple more than the typical Kalingan style that we see everywhere else in Odisha. The temple has been dated to the last quarter of the 8 th century CE. Further , unlike most of the temples in Bhubaneshwar, this temple is not dedicated to Lord Shiva. Inside the sanctum is one of the deities who is very rarely seen in a sanctum – Chamunda, along with the Saptamatrikas. This is evidently a Shakta shrine. However, the presence of Lakulisha on the vimana indicates the connection with the Pasupata sect, which is most prevalent in this region during this time period. Further, the name of the temple – ‘Vaital’, comes from the word ‘ vetala’ , referring to spirits, which were invoked by tantrics to attain siddhis. Thus, this temple is an amalgamation of Pasupata and Shakta philosophy, with a strong emphasis on tantric rituals, and this is reflected in the iconogra...
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Trysts with Swifts

My tryst with Swifts seemed to continue, even on our trip to Morachi Chincholi......

My regular readers will remember that the first time I saw swifts in large numbers was when I had been to Omkareshwar - We had then seen swifts nests in the rocks lining the river Narmada......

I got  a closer look at the house-swift's nest on my trip to Binsar, where we were lucky to see a mother swift in her nest with her swiftlets.....

And now, on our trip to Morachi Chincholi, we stopped by a river to dip our feet in the cool water, and what do I see, but a group of swifts flying hither and thither, and under a bridge, a cluster of their nests!! What a sight! I was happy to show off my knowledge, and we began clicking photos.... Of course, we couldn't get any closer thanks to the water, and this is the best I could do!




Hoping that my tryst with swifts continues in the future too... and not just with swifts, but with other birds too!!
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Comments

  1. UshaJuly 7, 2010 at 2:50 PM

    Hey! Saw some swifts here yesterday and I also quickly showed off my knowledge :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. P.N. SubramanianJuly 7, 2010 at 6:43 PM

    Life is like that. All good wishes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MridulaJuly 7, 2010 at 8:42 PM

    It is still very beautiful. And I usually get to see the other Swift, the Maruti Swift!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJuly 7, 2010 at 9:54 PM

    Oh.. that must have been beautiful..

    ReplyDelete
  5. IndraniJuly 8, 2010 at 11:15 AM

    Oh! To see them so close! How lucky!

    ReplyDelete
  6. RashmieJuly 8, 2010 at 1:17 PM

    it must have been exciting! Nice short post :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. rahul kumar singhJuly 8, 2010 at 2:57 PM

    To see them so close! How lucky

    ReplyDelete
  8. Indian BazaarsJuly 14, 2010 at 7:39 AM

    This is really interesting! Never seen this before.

    ReplyDelete

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