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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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Bulbuls

Its been a while since I posted any bird photos on the blog...So here are some photos of Bulbuls....

I see Bulbuls every day....... These Red Whiskered Bulbuls come home to eat the food we put out for the birds....





The Red Vented bulbuls, for some reason, never come to eat the scraps of food. They are busy eating whatever food is available on the trees around our house...



And then, there are these... cousins of the birds which come to our house, these birds live far far away... in the cold climes of the Himalays, these birds are just as common... These are the Himalayan Bulbuls. I clicked these photos on my recent trip to Vaishnodevi.






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Comments

  1. MridulaJuly 5, 2012 at 2:07 PM

    I love the hairstyle of the Himalayan Bulbuls a lot. Lovely clicks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ಅಶ್ವಿನಿ/ AshwiniJuly 5, 2012 at 2:19 PM

    Nice clicks.. I find them around my house too. They chirp almost throughout the mornings and the evenings.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AshJuly 5, 2012 at 2:43 PM

    lovely pics... the third one looks so cute :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJuly 5, 2012 at 3:08 PM

    the himalayan bulbuls are so chic ! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarJuly 6, 2012 at 9:51 AM

      Thats an interesting way of describing them, Shruti!!

      Delete
  5. P.N. SubramanianJuly 5, 2012 at 10:20 PM

    Extremely beautiful captures. I am yet to spot one around my home in Kerala.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarJuly 6, 2012 at 9:53 AM

      THanks PNS! I am so surprised to hear that! I see these birds here all the time and they are quite common wherever i have been...

      Delete
  6. krishnaJuly 6, 2012 at 7:39 AM

    nice!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. R Niranjan DasJuly 6, 2012 at 2:54 PM

    Wonderful photography. The bulbuls look beautiful.

    http://rajniranjandas.blogspot.in/2012/07/night-safari.html

    ReplyDelete

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