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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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Bay Backed Shrike

I have seen this bird before, but had never been able to capture it on camera. On my recent visit to Nanded and around, we saw these birds in plenty. However, it was only when we were in an auto, visiting the temples around Shegaon, that I could stop and photograph it.





The Rufous Bay Backed Shrike is quite a common bird in India. Our auto driver was surprised that I was stopping to photograph it, but he seemed to be used to people with cameras who stopped every now and then to click something, and he happily indulged me!


Thanks so much, to Karthik for pointing out that this is a Bay Backed Shrike.. 
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Comments

  1. magiceyeDecember 1, 2012 at 11:06 AM

    Lovely captures!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. MridulaDecember 1, 2012 at 11:07 AM

    Lovely clicks Anu.

    ReplyDelete
  3. R Niranjan DasDecember 1, 2012 at 12:51 PM

    Nice clicks.

    www.rajniranjandas.blogspot.in

    ReplyDelete
  4. ArtiDecember 1, 2012 at 7:29 PM

    Nicely shot! Thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. TeamgsquareDecember 3, 2012 at 8:34 AM

    Wonderful capture of this beautiful bird .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarDecember 6, 2012 at 2:09 PM

      Thanks Team GSquare. nice to see u here after such a long time!

      Delete
  6. UnknownDecember 3, 2012 at 1:30 PM

    Anu,

    This was lovely. Truly a great pic. I know what a challenge it is to shoot birds! Awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bindhu UnnyDecember 4, 2012 at 11:14 AM

    Nice one, Anu. Many times we spot birds but getting a nice photo is difficult. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarDecember 6, 2012 at 2:12 PM

      THanks Bindhu!!! and so nice to see u here after so long!

      Delete
  8. AnonymousDecember 14, 2012 at 5:47 PM

    Wow!! fantastic Photography and Description.

    ReplyDelete

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