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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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Ganesha on a Govardhan

Today is Ganesh Chaturthi, and with everyone writing about Ganesha in some way or the other, I thought I should do a post too, but related to something I saw on my recent visit to Jaisalmer. Are you now confused? And wondering what connection Ganesha has to Govardhan and that too, Jaisalmer? Well, then, first, let me show you what I am talking about….




And now that you have seen it, let me draw your attention to the ‘a’ in the title. I am not talking about ‘The Govardhan Mountain’ but ‘a Govardhan’, and therein lies the difference! This Govardhan is a stone, a sort of marker, identifying a spot – usually water, in the desert. These markers were extensively used by the Paliwal community in Jaisalmer, to identify special sites. It could be the presence of water, or mark a tunnel, or a site for a temple. These stones were usually aligned with the directions of the compass, and had the figures of deities inscribed on them, usually, Ganesha, Vishnu, Hanuman, and another figure, which could be Rama or Krishna.  Here are some other views of the same Govardhan I showed you before…

Its certainly Vishnu on the left. Am not sure of the one on the right


This pair looks like Rama and Hanuman. What do you think?



An interesting tidbit, wouldn’t you agree? Thanks to the folks at Suryagarh for pointing them out and telling me about them! 

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Location: Jaisalmer, Rajasthan 345001, India

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