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...
This is not among the more popular tourist places in Jaipur. It is more of a pilgrim place, and a favourite among locals. Since we visited Jaipur as guests of a local family, they decided to give us a tour of the city... or rather; to places that they thought, we would enjoy seeing the most. First on their list was the temple of Galtaji. Honestly, I had no idea such a temple existed. In fact, I had never thought that I would visit temples while in Jaipur!! However, this temple turned out to be a surprise in more ways than one!