Crowded Roads and Ancient Temples

We started off the day visiting a series of Hindu Temples. Most of the Temples in this area are Shiva Temples. You can tell they are Shiva Temples because they will have a trident; Vishnu Temples have a wheel; an active temple has a flag. If it is a Brahman Temple you are in the city of Pushkar because there is only one Brahman Temple in India. Confused? Don’t worry - there are millions of Hindu Gods and we have a very difficult time keeping track of them. In fact, Indians don’t keep track of them. Most Indian families adopt a single God and worship through him or her.

No matter, the temples we visited are fabulous. The oldest was from the 6th century. When you enter them you smell hundreds of years of incense. The Hindu religion is beyond my comprehension but it clearly holds the Indian people together. Interestingly, you hear many complaints about the priests (here they can marry, so it isn’t about sex, it is about money). In every area of India that we have visited the temples are different. Here in Orissa, they are elaborately carved beehive looking structures with stories of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, the epic stories of India, carved in stone. Although we have been to India several times now, we still can’t keep the story straight. We did buy a children’s comic book rendition of the story that might assist us!

By noon, the weather here was extremely hot, and we went back to our hotel to cool off. There appears to be two kinds of people in the city of Bhubaneswar: those driving crazily on the roads which are unbelievably congested, and those who seem to sit by the side of the road, or in front of their shops doing nothing. The regions tourist industry has been devastated by killings that have occurred in the Tribal Areas. Basically, Christian missionaries have tried to convert the indigenous tribes that are animistic, and extremely religions Hindus have been killing the Christian Missionaries. Speaking of the joys of religion, notice in the picture the Lion on top of the Elephant. Lion = Hindu, Elephant = Buddhism, a reminder that although Buddhism flourished in India, Hinduism prevails.

There are 7000 temples here in Orissa. We won’t see them all! The afternoon was devoted to shopping and walking around in the market. Ever see Teeth Cleaning for 10 Rupees? That is 25 cents. That would put some Beverly Hills Dentists out of business. Cathy and Courtney both had Salwar Kameez custom tailored for them. A Salwar Kameez is the Indian women’s wear that isn’t a saree. They picked out ikat textiles, a specialty of Orissa, which cost about $20.00 and then had their measurements taken. Each outfit, which includes pants and a top will cost them, $ 4.00 dollars to be made and will be ready in two days. That gives you some idea of the relative cost of living.

Did I mention it is hot?

We had Indian food at the Hotel, and sat outside listening to a live performance of music in the courtyard while we continued to drink. Great day.