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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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Memories of 2013 - Travel Vignettes - Coorg

Our trip to Coorg was on a sudden impulse. Three short days were nowhere near enough to do justice to the beauty or the heritage of the region. The first image that comes to mind, when I now look back on those three blissful days is this....





Samhith swimming in the Cauvery at Bhagamandala. It was meant to be a short halt, on the way back from Tala Cauvery, but the cool waters and the lack of crowds encouraged us to spend a lot more time than we intended. Later, we spent more time on the banks of the Cauvery, this time at the Dubare elephant camp.


If we were stunned by the amazingly beautiful and elaborate paintings at the Monasteries in Bylakuppe...



We were equally fascinated by the ruined fort at Madikeri.


We had been trying to visit Coorg for all of 11 years. We actually made the bookings twice, and had to cancel each time, for some reason or the other. That we broke the jinx this year, only makes me happier, though the duration of the trip made it impossible for us to do anything off the beaten track. Yet, it was  great trip to start off the year with! 

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Location: Kodagu, Karnataka, India

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  1. UnknownDecember 21, 2013 at 2:32 PM

    Nice photos Anuradha. Loved the post.

    Check out my photographs on City and Architecture, hope you will like them!
    URL: http://picsonia.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-bit-of-city-and-architecture.html

    ReplyDelete

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