Temples in Bhubaneshwar

After staying in the very modern, very clean city of Vizag (or Visakhapatnam - I don't know why it is that cities in India have so many different names), being in Bhubaneshwar was like going back in time.



To compound the effect, we stayed in the oldest part of the city in a hotel was really a mandap. (Now we know that a place called Siddhi Mandap is likely to be what it says, a mandap.)

Bhubaneshwar, like Benares, is a holy city. It is the home of literally thousands of small and large temples, most of them sitting beside sacred swimming pools of various sizes called tanks.



Our first night at Siddhi Mandap, the mosquitoes who live in the tank at our door in addition to the promise of an engagement party for 400 that evening convinced us to look for another place to stay.

Very early the next morning, we took an auto to the 64 Yogini Temple .



There are several 64 Yogini Temples around India, and the one at Hirapur is one of the smallest,



but it is gem nonetheless.

Afterwards we looked around to see where we could stay that night. Good thing that Ramakrishna Ashram didn't want us. It would have been a big mistake to leave Siddhi Mandap!

(to be continued in the next entry)