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Odisha Part 2 - Puri: The Experience of Jagannath

The temple of Jagannath at Puri is one of the four most important temples across India. Sometimes called the Char Dham – Badrinath in the north, Rameswaram in the South, Dwarka in the west, and Puri in the east – these temples mark four corners of our country, and each of these temples has a connection to Adi Shankara. He is said to have travelled to each of them, thus marking a sacred geography of India, long before the country actually existed. Among these 4 temples, 3 are dedicated to Lord Vishnu, while only Rameswaram is dedicated to Lord Shiva, though the lingam there is said to have been installed by Rama. Further, Shankara set up Mutts at 3 of these sites (or very close to these sites, like at Badrinath, where the mutt is at Joshimutt), while the mutt in the south is at Sringeri in Karnataka, quite a distance away from Rameswaram. Coming back to the topic, I have visited Rameswaram most often, Badrinath during my childhood, and Dwaraka a few times, but Puri had stayed out of re...
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Memories of 2013 - Travel Vignettes - Coorg

Our trip to Coorg was on a sudden impulse. Three short days were nowhere near enough to do justice to the beauty or the heritage of the region. The first image that comes to mind, when I now look back on those three blissful days is this....





Samhith swimming in the Cauvery at Bhagamandala. It was meant to be a short halt, on the way back from Tala Cauvery, but the cool waters and the lack of crowds encouraged us to spend a lot more time than we intended. Later, we spent more time on the banks of the Cauvery, this time at the Dubare elephant camp.


If we were stunned by the amazingly beautiful and elaborate paintings at the Monasteries in Bylakuppe...



We were equally fascinated by the ruined fort at Madikeri.


We had been trying to visit Coorg for all of 11 years. We actually made the bookings twice, and had to cancel each time, for some reason or the other. That we broke the jinx this year, only makes me happier, though the duration of the trip made it impossible for us to do anything off the beaten track. Yet, it was  great trip to start off the year with! 

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Location: Kodagu, Karnataka, India

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  1. UnknownDecember 21, 2013 at 2:32 PM

    Nice photos Anuradha. Loved the post.

    Check out my photographs on City and Architecture, hope you will like them!
    URL: http://picsonia.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-bit-of-city-and-architecture.html

    ReplyDelete

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