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Maa Khambesvari

Khambeswari temple, Aska. PC: Debashish Dash https://twitter.com/TheDashDD Goddess Khambhesvari is originally an tribal Goddess worshipped by the tribes of hinterland Odisha. In course of time She was like many other tribal deities given a place in the Hindu pantheon and subsequently she was transformed from a nomadic cult to Shakti cult. Khambhesvari, the Goddess of the Post or Pillar is one of the famous formless autochthonous deities widely worshipped in the hill tracts of Bargarh, Sambalpur, Angul, Dhenkanal, Bolangir, Subarnapur, Boudh, Kalahandi and the Ganjam districts of Odisha. She is worshipped as a manifestation of Shakti in the form of wooden posts or pillars and also through stones. Legends: Khambeswari temple--Aska An interesting legend about the temple in Aska says that once Goddess Khambhesvari appeared in a dream before Khambamuni who lived in the forest and desired that she should be worshipped by the latter. As per the stipulation of Khambamun
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Ekapada----The single footed cult

I travelled a lot. Even don't know how many kms I travelled and how many monuments and archaeological sites I covered. From Baleswar to Brahmapur, from Puri to Angul, from Prachi Valley to Daya Valley and Mahanadi valley, I covered most of them. During my journey, I used to get information from local natives of that particular area and I was surprised by seeing some minor but important cults. Among them Ekapada cult really impressed me. So let us have a look on this Ekapada cult. During my research on this specific cult I got to know about various names like Ekapada, Aja-ekapada etc. Also this form is popular in several countries. Sometimes, they are associated with good fortune and sometimes they are representation of evil. The below figure I got from a research article published by Prachi Virag Sontakke. Also in the same research paper, I got another fig which shows the development of this cult, which is as follows: This is really fascinating to me that
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Siddheshwara temple, Jajpur, Odisha

Life of an explorer never ends. They continue to explore the new sites, with new monuments, with interesting inscriptions. Presenting a beautiful photo blog by Gitanjali Mohanty… Seeing our enthusiasm at the Saptamatrika temple at Jajpur, the locals and elders gave us a tip-off. “Go along the river (Baitarani) and you’ll come to another almost-forgotten Shiv temple. Go there, you will like it”. Now that was all we needed. Off we went on the narrow narrow path along the river. No sign of any temple. We kept on asking the villagers. Not much help. They kept pointing to newer temples. Finally we reached almost a dead-end. On one side the river bed and on the other, a small nondescript village. It was already noon time and it was scorching hot. We see a man coming home with his cows. We ask him “do you know where can we find the Siddheshwara temple?” He gives us a glance and nonchalantly replies” across the river bed and starts walking off” We ask “how to reach there”. He casu
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Khalakata Patana

 Khalakatapatna is situated on the left bank of the river Kushabhadra and was a port town of the Ganga dynasty (12th and 14th centuries AD). The excavations at Khalkatapatna (IAR 1984–85: 56–60), took place at the site between 1984–85 and 1994–95, brought to light a brick jelly floor, which might have served as a loading and unloading platform. Chinese Celadon ware, Chinese porcelain with blue floral design on white background and egg-white glazed ware, besides glazed 6 chocolate ware of Arabian origin and dark grey and red slipped ware of indigenous origin pottery were recovered from the excavations. The shapes include bowls, basins, vases and miniature pots and all are wheel turned. The other antiquities include arecanut-shaped beads of terracotta, fragments of bangle of glass and copper, terracotta animal figurines, a miniature copper bowl and one complete and one fragment of Chinese copper coin datable to the14th century AD. The circular copper coin has a square perforation
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Expressions from Konarka…..

Note: All photographs and the content belongs to Christel Pilz…. Sun Temple Konarka — repair under the British 1903 AD How to save this wonder of Art and devotion of the Artisans? Excerpt from the Times of India article: MAGNIFICENT MYSTERY, by Sandeep Mishra | Jan 15, 2015, “It was between 1900 and 1903, on the order of then lieutenant governor of Bengal J A Baurdilon, that a major excavation was undertaken around the Jagamohan; its interior partitioned with a 15-ft wide stone wall and stuffed with sand. More than a century later, the huge volume of sand is now said to be posing a threat to the Khondalite structure, resulting in cracks and seepage of water. Big stone blocks have also reportedly fallen off, triggering fears that the temple could someday cease to exist. What then needs to be done? On offer are a range of opinions varying from the scientific to the unscientific, the real to the imagined and the reasonable to the absurd. Some favour getting rid of the
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