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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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Birds from my Window - Crow Pheasant

The Greater Coucal, called a Crow Pheasant, is neither a crow nor a pheasant, but belongs to the cuckoo family. They are commonly called 'Bharadvaj', and sighting them is believed to be a good omen.





We see them quite often in my area, and this one perched on a tree in our compound for a while, drying its feathers after the rains.



They are bigger than the crows, and look a lot stronger too, but at least where I live, the crows rule the roost. This one had a hard time getting dry, pestered as it was, constantly, by the crows, until it finally gave up and flew away.

I live in Mumbai, in a colony lucky enough to still have plenty of trees and open spaces. The best part of living here are the birds I see from my window, every single day. "Birds from my Window" is a series, where I regularly feature photos of birds I see from my home. To see all the posts in this series, click here. 


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Location: Chedda Nagar, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Comments

  1. ajaySeptember 2, 2014 at 6:07 PM

    nice blog and photography

    ReplyDelete
  2. TusharSeptember 13, 2014 at 12:52 PM

    I have to read what is good omen. And this is the first time I saw this bird. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

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