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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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Spotted Munias

We spotted these Spotted Munias, also called Scaly-breasted Munias, at the Mysore Palace.



We were wandering around the gardens, reveling in the peace there, away from the crowd which seemed to have taken over the museum, when we saw a Grey Hornbill fly past. We went off in search of the bird, which proved too elusive for us. Instead, as we gave up our search and relaxed once more, we spotted these birds perched on a fence. The fence was covered with them, and even as I clicked, many flew off, leaving just these for me to capture. 

It was small things like these that made our Mysore trip memorable.

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Comments

  1. DietmutSeptember 11, 2013 at 12:26 AM

    amazing spot, really beautiful birds. Greetings from Holland, Dietmut

    ReplyDelete
  2. AmritaSeptember 12, 2013 at 5:06 PM

    What beautiful birds ! And a lovely capture as well

    ReplyDelete

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