The Parasurameshwara temple is one of the oldest temples in Bhubaneshwar, dating back to the early 8 th century CE. It is also one of the more intriguing temples, with a wide variety of very interesting sculptures. This temple has been attributed to the Shailodbhavas , who were Shaivites. The dynasty is named for their founder, Shailodbhava, who is said to have emerged from a rock, by the grace of Lord Shiva, in response to a prayer by a man from Kalinga, to create a man capable of ruling the earth. That this temple is dedicated to Shiva is clear, not only from the Shaiva dwarapalas who guard the entrance, but also from the numerous sculptures depicting Shiva in his many forms. However, what makes this temple very interesting is the presence of multiple images of the goddesses, especially the Saptamatrikas. The presence of different forms of the goddess, a panel depicting the marriage of Shiva and Parvati, as well as an image of Ardhanareeshwara suggest a strong Shakta influence o...
We are a family which speaks more often in English or Hindi than in our mother tongue – Tamil. We are more comfortable in these languages, and don’t even know to read and write Tamil properly. But there is one field in which our mother tongue comes first, and we discovered that when my son was born! We most often spoke to him in English/Hindi, but when it came to playing with him, the first songs which came to mind were the ones our grandmothers sang – in Tamil! We had to try hard to remember the words of some of the songs and rhymes, but somehow, we enjoyed those a lot more than any English rhymes we could sing….. In fact, for the first time I realised how wonderful they were, and thought of recording them for posterity. As things happened, we had no time for that, and we soon forgot all about them as my son outgrew that stage…. Thanks to Tulika, and their fourth blogathon, I now have a chance of re-remembering some of them…. so here I go…. Note: please exc...