Bhubaneshwar is often called the city of temples . It is impossible to know exactly how many temples there are, but it has been estimated that there might be over 700 temples in the city. This number, while impressive, is just a fraction of the original number, which, sometime in the 13 th century, would have been about 7000. Wikipedia has a page dedicated to the Hindu temples of Bhubaneshwar , where 93 temples are listed. All these are ancient temples, built between the 7 th and 13 th centuries CE. Bhubaneshwar was once known as Ekamra Kshetra , the sacred mango grove. We know this name from an inscription at the Ananta Vasudeva temple, which mentions the name of the place, and the main temple (that we now know as the Lingaraja temple) in the mango grove. Ananta Vasudeva Temple, with a sculpture of Trivikrama in the niche It is extremely interesting to note that the Ananta Vasudeva temple is the only temple to Lord Vishnu in this city. Varaha, Ananta Vasudeva Temple Located v...
You have been reading my travelogues for around 3 years now, so here's something new for all of you. That mine was a family of wanderers is something all of you know very well by now. All of us jump at any chance to travel, but I am the only one who has been jotting down my experiences. Recently, one of my maternal uncles has taken to writing his experiences too. He works for the Airport Authority of India, and gets to travel a lot, looking for sites for new airports and sites where work is in progress. Thus, he gets to go to places which are out of the way, yet of tourist interest. When I asked him to start writing his own blog, he suggested that maybe I could use his travelogues on mine. Needless to say, I was thrilled. So here's the first one - his account of his visit to Kushinagar in September. Kushinagar I had an opportunity to visit to Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, in connection with construction of an international airport at Kushinagar. I was surprised to...