The Rajarani Temple in Bhubaneshwar gets its name from the stone used to build it - the red and yellow sandstone used here is locally called Rajarani. This temple was once known as the Indreshwara temple, which is mentioned in the Ekamra Purana, which tells us about the temples of Bhubaneshwar, which was then known as Ekamra Kshetra. Today, the temple stands in a well-maintained lawn, and is the only ticketed monument within the city. The temple is built in the typical Kalinga style, with the tall curvilinear shikara over the garbagruha , and a jagamohana connected to it. The temple is believed to date back to the 11 th century, and is most well known for its sculptures. The entrance to the temple has two pillars with a Naga couple protecting the sanctum, holding garlands in their hands. The base of the pillar shows 3 lions standing over 3 elephants, a typical motif in temples of this region during this period. On the other side of the pillar is a horse and rider, and the two mo...
Our final morning at Leh began with a rather long wait for a new driver, who had gotten lost within the maze-like roads that led to our homestay! Why a new driver? Because most drivers in Ladakh don’t like to drive into Srinagar! Besides, we would be driving through Kargil and entering Srinagar on the 15 th of August, Independence Day. The date wasn’t intentional, and had we known, we would have altered our plans, but apparently tensions run high around the date, even when situation was as normal as possible. More about that later. For now, there’s a lot more that I have to tell you about Ladakh and the places we visited. Because yes, despite our intention to take things easy, we planned to make a lot of stops on our last two days in Ladakh! Our first halt of the day was the very interesting site of Pathar Sahib. The Gurudwara here commemorates the visit of Guru Nanak to this region, on the way to Tibet, in the 16 th century. As per the legend, during Guru Nanak’s visit here...