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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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Red Flowers

Looking back, collating the images from my summer trip, I realized that we had seen many flowers, and most of them were red!! Here, take a look -

Red Passion Flower - can you see a bee buzzing in there?




Red Ginger
I saw these two flowers in the resort in Bangalore where I attended a wedding. Is it any surprise that I clicked them instead of paying attention to the ceremonies?

Lobster Claw or Hanging Heliconia

Flamingo Flower
These two were abundant in the compound of our hotel at Wayanad. It was impossible, not to click them!

Blood Lily
As to this one, it stood out proudly, the only splash of colour, in an otherwise green landscape, at the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary Visitors Enclosure!

Beautiful, aren't they? And with such interesting names too!!!

P.S. Many thanks to Flowers of India for helping me identify them!

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Comments

  1. MridulaSeptember 24, 2013 at 4:41 PM

    Beautiful collection.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bindhu UnnySeptember 24, 2013 at 6:16 PM

    Nice clicks, Anu. Never seen a red passion flower and red ginger flower.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarSeptember 25, 2013 at 4:35 PM

      Thanks Bindhu! I hadnt seen these either! had to search to get the names too :D

      Delete
  3. SujitSeptember 25, 2013 at 2:15 PM

    Awesome...
    Really nice collection,

    ReplyDelete
  4. IndraniSeptember 26, 2013 at 1:57 PM

    These are lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousSeptember 26, 2013 at 3:53 PM

    I like your post and everything you share with us is current and very informative,you have done a fantastic job
    Car Hire Punei

    ReplyDelete

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