Sun Temple is Hot

When we had breakfast at the hotel the hostess asked us where we were from. We replied the US, she asked what does your money look like? She had never seen American money and asked the relative value. She was so appreciative that I had two simultaneous thoughts: 1. I should give her a $5.00 bill. 2. This was a con job to get me to feel guilty and give her a bill. So after some deliberations I decided to give her a $5.00 bill. She said she wouldn’t take it. Glad to be able to eliminate the con job thought.

We drove to the town of Puri. It is located on the Bay of Bengal. We are staying at a resort directly on the beach. The ride to Puri was becoming routine for us. We knew we wouldn’t be killed or hit a cow. We have become at one with Indian driving.

We stopped at a village that makes appliqué items. It was definitely in the folk art tradition. Like most artistic villages, everyone does the same thing, so there were lots of stalls selling similar items.

We then went to Konark to see the spectacular Sun Temple, which is one of the chief attractions of Orissa. It once was a huge temple surrounded by the sea, but now it is a monument. The temple built in the 13th century, has 12 huge stone wheels to give the appearance of a giant chariot. There are sculptures of the Sun God that looked amazingly Egyptian. You can climb stairs around the outside of the structure but the entrances were sealed by the British in 1907 because of fear of structural failure.

The sides of the temples are carved with statuary, much of it pornographic in nature. Our guide said that modern day Indian males in this area are so sexually repressed that on the day before their wedding they visit the Sun Temple to get a sexual education of the possibilities awaiting them.

Talking about Marriage and Sex in Bhubaneshwar here are two links to the local newspaper: The Bhubaneshwar Statesman.

One article is about a gay married couple living in a village, the other about
a marriage that can’t happen because a herd of elephants have inhabited the forest between two villages, preventing the respective bride and groom, who live on opposite sides of the forest, from seeing each other. Because the couple is afraid of crossing the forest, the marriage has been called off.

Click HERE to read about Gay Married Couple.

Click HERE to read about the elephants.