tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35509336500926466672026-05-20T17:20:25.799+05:30My Travels Across IndiaAnuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.comBlogger1102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-21983405782984265842026-02-12T16:55:00.001+05:302026-04-09T11:05:22.429+05:30

The Hindu and Buddhist history of Odisha, or rather, ancient Kalinga, is rather well known to everyone. Who hasn’t heard of the grand temples of Odisha – Puri, Lingaraj and Konark, or the great war of Kalinga which inspired Ashoka to convert to Buddhism? In contrast, very few know of the Jaina heritage of this region. This is quite a pity, since, just around 7 km from the city, is one of India’s

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com1Odisha, India20.2375561 84.2700179-20.039782049891052 13.9575179 60.51489424989105 154.5825179tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-51975029255705458822026-02-07T09:38:00.001+05:302026-04-09T12:22:08.012+05:30

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 13th century, would have been about 7000. Wikipedia has a page dedicated to the Hindu temples of Bhubaneshwar,

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com1Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India20.2959847 85.8246101-8.0142491361788437 50.6683601 48.606218536178844 120.9808601tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-88218830064569915672026-02-03T11:49:00.000+05:302026-02-03T11:49:04.415+05:30

The Vaital temple is of the many intriguing temples in Bhubaneshwar. To begin with, the structure itself resembles a South-Indian temple more than the typical Kalingan style that we see everywhere else in Odisha. The temple has been dated to the last quarter of the 8th century CE. Further, unlike most of the temples in Bhubaneshwar, this temple is not dedicated to Lord Shiva. Inside the sanctum

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The Parasurameshwara temple is one of the oldest temples in Bhubaneshwar, dating back to the early 8th 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

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-30113081856624850622026-01-24T15:34:00.000+05:302026-01-24T15:34:28.138+05:30

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

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-2283250886709368462026-01-21T09:38:00.000+05:302026-01-21T09:38:30.510+05:30

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

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My quest for ancient temples often takes me to hidden corners of the country, often less visited by regular tourists. More often than not, my drivers are completely unaware of these temples, and we often get lost looking for them, despite the ease that Google Maps has provided. On my recent visit to Odisha, I had only two such less visited temples on my list – the Varahi temple at Chaurasi, and

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-27205701604420312652026-01-15T08:38:00.001+05:302026-01-16T15:20:07.398+05:30

My first visit to the Chilika Lake in Jan 2017 was for content for a resort. It was peak season, and I would have loved to stay near the lake, but the brief was to stay at Puri and cover areas that could be visited from Puri. And so, I did the usual touristy thing, taking a boat for half the day. Which is why, on my next visit to Odisha, if there was one thing I was clear about, it was that I

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-61143083110862110932026-01-10T12:34:00.001+05:302026-01-10T12:34:18.867+05:30

Many years back, when I visited the National Museum in Delhi, one of the images that I was most impressed by, was the Surya from Konark. I remember being rooted to the ground as I stood in front of the sculpture, admiring every detail, simply unable to walk away. There are various ideas of where the sculpture was placed in the temple, but wherever it was placed, there is no question that it would

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com0Konark, Odisha 752111, India19.8875953 86.0945364-8.4226385361788445 50.938286399999996 48.197829136178846 121.2507864tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-65511645107189981162026-01-01T07:53:00.001+05:302026-01-01T07:53:55.149+05:30

The temple of Jagannath at Puri is one of the four most important temples across India. Sometimes called the Char Dham – Badrinath in the north, Rameswaram in the South, Dwarka in the west, and Puri in the east – these temples mark four corners of our country, and each of these temples has a connection to Adi Shankara. He is said to have travelled to each of them, thus marking a sacred geography

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com1Puri, Odisha 752001, India19.8049379 85.817938599999991-8.5052959361788467 50.661688599999991 48.115171736178844 120.97418859999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-69467440308201466652025-12-29T19:21:00.000+05:302025-12-29T19:21:12.017+05:30

Odisha is a state I have visited twice. The first time was a sponsored trip, visiting a resort to write about them, as well as some of the more popular places to visit. I wrote the required content, but never got around to writing about the trip on the blog. This May, I visited Odisha for the second time, this time with family. The timing wasn’t great – it was either raining or it was terribly

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-23717959168073953172025-12-17T10:05:00.005+05:302025-12-31T22:39:30.093+05:30

The absence of ancient Hindu structures in Kashi is something I have always lamented about. The shrines are certainly ancient, and that is something that has always attracted me to the city. However, I miss the beauty of the ancient structures that we see at other sites. This feeling is intensified when I see marble and concrete and tiles in temples that once would have been beautifully adorned

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The city of Kashi is filled with temples, big and small, old and new. There are temples at every corner, and you never know where you will stumble upon a small shrine. There are idols beneath what remains of trees (there are hardly any trees any more within the core area of the city), there are saffron covered forms resembling deities which seem attached to walls, an especially incongruous sight

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-90299988654842171212025-11-21T10:47:00.004+05:302025-12-31T22:37:12.231+05:30

Memory is unpredictable. One never really knows what we will remember and what we will forget. Which is why nostalgia arrives in unpredictable waves, highlighting something and skimming over others. Recently, I have found myself thinking of how memory works, as I was assailed by nostalgia over a trip to Varanasi, a city I prefer to think of, as Kashi. The nostalgia hit right as we landed at

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com3Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India25.3176452 82.9739144-2.9925886361788443 47.8176644 53.627879036178847 118.1301644tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-64138737569703484652024-11-04T19:39:00.002+05:302026-04-15T15:37:56.247+05:30

The year was 1290. A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com9HW2H+F7Q, Newasa, Maharashtra 414603, India19.5512039 74.9282423-8.7590299361788446 39.771992299999994 47.861437736178843 110.0844923tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-70031773304465629442023-12-12T13:04:00.004+05:302023-12-12T13:05:41.748+05:30

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-27850294899521179242023-06-24T13:37:00.003+05:302023-06-24T13:39:11.765+05:30

My first trip to Vaishnodevi was unimpressive. Climbing was hard, and it only served to highlight how badly out of shape I was, while my in-laws managed to cope so much better. Further, I hadn’t quite realized that the cave experience wouldn’t be the same as I had imagined, since the original cave was only opened at certain times a year, and that we only entered a newly created tunnel, one far

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com10Bhavan, Katra, 18230133.0308295 74.94904164.7205956638211575 39.7927916 61.341063336178848 110.1052916tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-10167911139912366732023-05-22T19:01:00.000+05:302023-05-22T19:01:11.149+05:30

During my recent trip to Uttarakhand, I was faced with a problem I had never encountered before. We were passing through Delhi, but we had hardly any time in the city. On earlier visits when I have had to change trains/flights at Delhi, I have always arrived in the morning and left again at night, visiting relatives in between. This time, I was arriving in the city at night, and leaving again

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com2New Delhi Railway Station, Bhavbhuti Marg, Ratan Lal Market, Kamla Market, Ajmeri Gate, New Delhi, Delhi 110006, India28.6428915 77.21908940.33265766382115558 42.0628394 56.953125336178843 112.3753394tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-21070622435674249342023-03-21T22:01:00.001+05:302023-03-22T10:46:12.138+05:30

The first time I visited Pandharpur was back in 2007. The names Vitthal and Pandharpur, were just names to me. I had heard of them, but that was about it. Seeing the lord standing on the brick, hands on his hips, was memorable, but more memorable was the sight that greeted us as we walked out of the main sanctum of the temple. In the mandap just outside were a group of devotees singing abhangs,

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com9Pandharpur, Maharashtra 413304, India17.6805816 75.315503499999991-14.201033725031795 40.159253499999991 49.5621969250318 110.47175349999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-40671657958084889192022-10-21T20:53:00.001+05:302026-04-07T14:03:03.851+05:30

A little bit of context before you begin reading this book review. I have recently enrolled for an MA in Philosophy at the University of Mumbai. Philosophy is something I have been getting interested in, over the past few years, as those of you who have been reading my blogs and Instagram posts would know. During the pandemic, I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do next, and this is

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-83208645192236926582022-05-20T20:59:00.005+05:302022-05-20T20:59:52.762+05:30

The Elephanta Caves, located on Elephanta Island, or Gharapuri, about 11 Km off the coast of the Gateway of India, Mumbai, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A visit to these caves, excavated probably in the 6th century CE, is awe-inspiring, and also thought-provoking. Over the years, I have visited the caves a number of times, and also attended a number of talks by experts in the fields of art,

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com15Elephanta Island, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra18.9608385 72.9312921-9.3493953361788442 37.775042099999993 47.271072336178847 108.0875421tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-80406844512581233272022-04-15T12:24:00.003+05:302022-04-15T12:25:36.234+05:30

A chubby, naked, fair Krishna, holding a butter ball, covered in golden ornaments, Yashoda by his side, an indulgent smile on her face, even as her finger is raised in admonition. Rama and Sita seated on the throne, Lakshmana on one side, Bharata and Shatrughna on the other, surrounded by sages and kings; Rama a distinctive green in colour. These are both popular themes in Tanjore Art. I first

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com7159-161, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Lion Gate, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400023, India18.9269015 72.83269159999999-9.3833323361788459 37.67644159999999 47.237135336178845 107.98894159999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-89188729440661388572022-02-25T13:03:00.003+05:302026-04-07T14:04:38.781+05:30

Ayodhya is synonymous with Rama, which is why it is a pleasure to read a book about Ayodhya, where there is no Ram. The events of “Warlord of Ayodhya” occur in the city, when Rama is in exile. It is Bharat who is at the centre of this story, an unwilling character forced to play the lead. While he rules the kingdom with his brother’s sandals on the throne’s footrest, and remembers his brother’s

Anuradha Shankarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10460310200883662583noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550933650092646667.post-15924492049476953762021-08-20T17:31:00.002+05:302021-08-20T17:31:45.293+05:30

Over 2000 Km by road, in around 10 days. Stunning landscapes, wonderful people. That sums up our Ladakh trip. But how did it actually work? How did we make it happen? Read on to find out! Leh, the capital of Ladakh, is accessible by air and road. Flying into Leh is the easiest, and time-saving option, while the road is the time consuming one, but with the added advantage of driving past some

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The spectacular landscapes of Ladakh continued to astound us as we continued on our way past Lamayuru. Somewhere along the route, the Wakha river joined us, and along her canyon were stunning natural rock formations, which reminded me of the ancient temples of central India. This continued all the way to Mulbek, where we stopped to see the colossal Maitreya Buddha carved into the rock. We

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