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Odisha Part 6: The Yogini Temple of Hirapur

I fell in love with this temple the first time I set eyes on it. Back in 2017 , I had been excited to see yet another Yogini temple, when I visited Puri. The resort I was staying at (and writing for), had arranged for a car and driver to take me around. The driver was happy to take me to most of the places I wanted to go, but when it came to Hirapur, he was appalled. He knew of the temple, but had never been there. It was a tantric temple, one not visited by women, and certainly not women travelling alone. He tried to convince me not to go, but my stubbornness and persistence paid off, and he reluctantly agreed when I told him that if he didn’t take me, I would find another driver who would. All along the way, he kept going on about the sinister things that happened at the temple, the tantric rituals that were performed at night…. An Odisha brahmin who took his religious duties very seriously, to the extent of stopping the car to perform the sandhyavandam when he deemed it time, he...
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I am back at last!

I am back, after a long hiatus...... and thanks to the gap, don't know what to write... Theres actually lots to write about..... Apart from my trip to Hampi, Badami, Aihiole and Pattadakkal, which most of you know about, I also made a trip to Ajanta and Ellora, and later even one to Elephanta. So now I have so many cave temples I want to describe, and I dont know where to start!! Apart from that, there have been lots more interesting things happening.. such as a book launch, the Kala Ghoda Festival, which is now over... and lots more.....



Before I get back with my posts, here is a bit of good news for all of you. Thanks to all those of you who voted for me in the Best of Indian Blogosphere 2010 Polls, this blog is one of the winners in the Personal Category. Once again, my sincere thanks to all of you. You can see the badge on the top right hand corner of the blog. You can see the complete list of selected blogs here. 

Meanwhile, since I am still wondering how to make up for all the time I missed, here are a few pics for you.....






These are 'Book art' from the Kala Ghoda Festival, which was held at the beginning of Feb. These are made from old, torn books. They look fascinating, don't they? Samhith loved them, and wondered if he could make these too, and wanted to use his books for the purpose, but I have deflected the intention for now. Do any of you know how to go about making such masterpieces? Would love to hear from you... and maybe Samhith can learn and try it out on some of his old books too!

Now that I have started again, I hope to keep writing at least one post a day, so wish me luck! Meanwhile, there are some interesting things coming up, so please do keep coming back!!


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  1. Sankara Subramanian CFebruary 26, 2011 at 1:30 AM

    Welcome back and Congratulations for your blogjunta award.

    The book art is very interesting.Some of them are really creative.

    ReplyDelete

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