With #MahaShivaratri coming up this week, thread on Shaiva Kshetras in Odisha, a state where I had stayed for 4 years, and has some of the most magnificient Shiva Temples in India.
The capital Bhubaneshwar itself gets it's name from one Shiva's names "Tribhubaneshwar", meaning Lord of the 3 Worlds, and is also called as Ekamra Kshetra, as it's believed Shiva meditated under a tree with one mango here. The city is famous for it's Shiva temples.
The magnificient Lingaraja Temple said to have been built by Yayati Kesari and dates to the 10th century. Located over an area of 25,000 sq ft, the temple is marked by it’s huge tower soaring to 180 feet and which is elaborately carved with various sculptures.
Located over an area of 25,000 sq ft, the temple is marked by it’s huge tower soaring to 180 feet and which is elaborately carved with various sculptures. The huge tower can be seen from any place in the city and is a dominant feature of it’s sky line.
Right next to the Temple is the Bindusagar lake which is believed to contain drops of every holy river in India. The temple is built in typical Kalinga style architecture, with the main temple, the Bhoga Mandap, Yajna Sala and the Natya Shala.
The Parasurameswara temple is a complex of around 20 small temples and is dedicated to Lord Shiva. This 7th century temple has sculpture of amorous couples, lions, elephants and birds.
The Mukteswara temple is another ancient 10th Century temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, the torana or the gateway is worth a watch, her for it’s fusion of Buddhist and Hindu styles of Architecture.
Next to the Mukteswara Temple is the Kedareswara temple, another temple dedicated to Shiva, again famous for it’s sculptures of women, animals, birds.
Another famous Shaiva temple in Odisha is the Ashtashambu located in Bhubaneshwar, 8 identical temples dedicated to Shiva, in which 5 temples are in one alignment called as Panchu Pandava.
The Ajaikapada Bhairava temple, located in Jagatsinghpur district, has Shiva standing just on one feet, which also accounts for it's name. The original temple was destroyed during Muslim invasions and it was subsequently rebuilt later.
The Dhabaleshwar Temple on a small island in the Mahanadi River, near Cuttack. The temple is entirely white in color, and was built by King Yayati Keshari, it is now looked after by the Athagarh royal family.
One very famous Shaiva Kshetra is Gupteshwar in Koraput district, where the Shiva Linga is located in a cave in very thick jungle. It is basically a limestone cave, and the Shiva Lingam here keeps growing in size every year.
Indralath Temple in Bolangir district, it's believed Indra worshipped Shiva here, which accounts for it's name. This is a brick temple built around 10-11th century during reign of Somvamshi rulers.
Kapilash Temple, located near Dhenkanal in a very thick forest, is worth a visit. You could either trek 1352 steps, through a thick jungle or take the winding ghat road. It's believed to be the site of Kapila Maharshi's Ashram.
The Leaning temple of Huma, around 23 km from Sambalpur, on the banks of the Mahanadi. To date none has been able to explain the reason for it's tilt. Shiva is worshipped here as Bimaleshwar.
Panchalingeswara Temple at Nilagiri, near to Balasore, so gets it's name from 5 Shivalingas enshrined in a hill, bathed by a perenial stream. This can be reached by a trek through the forests, and is another temple worth visiting.
Rajarani Temple in Bhubaneshwar, does not actually have a deity inside, and is famous for it's erotic sculptures. The 11th century temple constructed out of dull red and yellow sandstone, is considered a Shaiva Kshetra due to the sculptures on outside walls.
The Rameshwara Deula Temple is regarded as Mausi Maa of Lingaraja Temple. It's believed to have been built by Shri Rama himself, and one day before Ramnavami, the main deity in Lingaraja Temple comes here in the Rukuna Rath.
This is not a very exhaustive list of Shiva Temples in Odisha, I shared only the rather well known ones. While the state is more known for Jagannatha worship, there are equally large number of Shaiva Temples in every town and city here.
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Today is Jayanti of G. N. Ramachandran, or GNR as he was known, one of the great Indian scientists of modern era, an equally good Vedic scholar, studied the Upanishads in depth.
One of the biggest advances in the field of molecular biophysics, has been the discovery of the triple hellical structure of collagen, that enabled a better understanding of the peptide structure.
The Ramachandran plot has become a standard description of protein structures in the text books.
And the man behind this discovery, G.N. Ramachandran or GNR as he was known. His contributions in molecular biophysics, especially protein structure, were worthy of a Noble, which like most other Indian scientists was denied.
He set up two centers for molecular biophysics at IISc, and University of Madras, both of which are among the best in the world today. He was also deeply interested in Indian classical music and philosophy.
India is a land of rivers, each having it's own history, legends and significance. But how many know of the origin behind the names of these rivers?
Ganga, the holiest of the rivers, is derived from the Sanskrit word गङ्गा, that literally means "one which moves swiftly" from the root गम्( Gam) which means to move. She is also worshipped as a Devi, riding a crocodile like creature called Makara.
In Ramayana, Ganga is described as the first born of Himavat, and a sister to Parvati, while in the Mahabharat she is the mother of Bhishma, through King Shantanu. The Ramayana also has story of her descent to earth through Bhagiratha.
Yamuna in the Puranas is the daughter of Surya, and sister of Yama. Also called Yami and Kalindi, she is also one of Krishna's 8 principal wives. Dark in complexion, her mount is a tortoise, carrying a water pot in hand.
Yamuna's other brothers include Vaivasvata Manu, the first ever man as per Puranas, the Ashwini twins and Shani. As per Puranas, Surya's spouse Sanjana was unable to bear the heat and light radiating from him, and so she shut her eyes.
Jogulamba at Alampur, is one of the fiercest forms of Devi. One of the 18 Mahashakti Peethams, where Sati's upper teeth are believed to have fallen here, this is also called Navabrahma Theertha, Shiva is worshipped here as Brahmeswara.
Alampur Navabrahma Temples are a cluster of 9 temples dedicated to Shiva, located at the Sangama of the Tungabhadra and Krishna rivers, making this a very holy spot. Built by the Badami Chalukyas, these temples are known for their architectural excellence.
Sangameshwara Temple at Alampur is the most well known at Alampur, constructed by Pulakesin I, in typical Chalukyan style. Built at Kudaveli, where the Sangama of Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers takes place, somewhere in the 7th century, must visit.
You would have heard of A.S.Rao Nagar in Hyderabad, one of the faster growing suburbs, where the ECIL HQ is located.
But how many know about the man behind the name, Ayyagari Sambasiva Rao, the founder of ECIL, and one of the great Indian scientists of modern era, who had worked with the likes of Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai.
He was born in a small village Mogallu in West Godavari district on September 20, 1914, which also happens to be the ancestral village of the great revolutionary Alluri Sitarama Raju.
Coming from a rather humble family, where his mother had to pawn her ornaments to pay for his education, he studied on scholarships, and joined BHU, where he did his masters in Physics, and worked as a faculty for sometime, doing research work. In 1946, he was selected by Tata Scholarship to pursue his MS in Electrical Engg from Stanford.
As per the Puranas, when Sati died, a grief stricken Shiva, carried her body, performing the Tandava in anger. When the gods implored Vishnu to save the world from Shiva's wrath, he cut Sati's corpse into pieces with his Sudarshana Chakra.
The places where parts of Sati's corpse fell on earth are considered as Shakti Peethas, sanctified by the holy presence of Devi Maa. There are around 51 Shakti Peetha of which 38 are in India, while Bangladesh has 5, Nepal 3, Pakistan 2, and Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Tibet 1 each.
Again of these Shakti Peethas, you have 4 Adi Shakti Peethas, considered the major ones, and all are in the Eastern region. The Kamakhya temple at Gauhati, Kalighata at Kolkata, Tara Tarini at Berhampur and Bimala Pada at Puri, which is part of the Puri Jagannatha complex.
Apart from the Adi Shakti Peethas, you have 18 Maha Shakti Peethas, which are mentioned in the Ashta Dasha Shakti Peetha Stothram by Adi Shankara, of which two are not in India, Shankari Devi at Trincomalee( Sri Lanka) and Sharada Peetha at Muzaffarabad( POK).
There has been an attempt to whitewash the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan as an essentially benign ruler, who was misled by Qasim Rizvi on the Razakars.
That has been perpetuated by an entire cabal of Indian English writers, praising the Nizam, and downplaying the Razakars, even claiming it was not a Hindu Muslim issue.
Osman Ali Khan, became the Nizam in 1911 and the first thing he did was getting the Hindu dewan Kishan Prasad resign. Urdu was the primary medium of education when hardly 10% of the state spoke it, the majority languages Telugu, Kannada and Marathi were completely suppressed.
And this led most Hindus to drop out of schools, leaving Hyderabad State with one of the lowest literacy rates compared to Presidencies like Madras, Bombay or other princely states like Travancore, Mysore.