guide in hand we decided to visit the area of \u200b\u200bthe temples of Bhubaneswar. The choice was not difficult because the only thing for which this city is famous for its high density of temples, about 500. For this reason it is called the "city of temples".
reach the area is a difficult task. First we have to leave home and go through the road. It is not easy as it sounds: there are no crosswalks or traffic lights or roundabouts, you just have the right amount of patience, timing, courage and rashness to jump in traffic at the right time neurotic. And when I say neurotic is not a way to automatically adjective traffic whizzing resources of all kinds here: Tir bulky full of stones, car-trailer loads of wood beams that significantly exceed the length of the vehicle, bicycles are also overloaded of long bamboo canes, scooters with 3 or 4 passengers and then to cars, autorisciò to the cows, the real master of the road. All occupy the roadway as he was so completely random, si sorpassa ad entrambi i lati e spesso ci sono veicoli in contro senso. Sembra di stare in uno di quei videogiochi dei primi anni 90 in cui la rana deve attraversare l’autostrada.
parties understand that now is not the time to claim victory. The guy says that will take us to Lingaraj Mandir ... but I had specifically told to go to Parasumaresvara Mandir! The path I had carefully prepared: from oldest to newest temple to note the evolution of style. We discuss all the way, he says he does not know the time indicated by me and tells me that the Lingaraj is very nice, I showed him the map and the path to another temple, then he stops to ask for information but it seems that no one knows. At this point I also began to doubt the reliability of my Rough Guides. In short, leads us to the end where he says.
The area is very suggestive: pilgrims in traditional clothing, seniors with a long beard and the look
They can be defined as Hindu or not? They could enter the temple here in India? And if I marry an Indian and I take my son can get Indian citizenship? Answers to these questions I have not found yet, but they, the Hindus, who go a bit 'more about the practical, they found a loophole to admire their temples to tourists magic sheep. For non-Hindu tourists was built a viewing platform that sits on the wall of the temple. We climb accompanied by a boy in exchange for 50 rupees explains a little 'history of the temple and Hinduism. I actually am more interested in her outfit: a simple cloth around the vita, deve essere molto fresco e ti puoi permettere di non indossare le mutande; chissà come starei io con un telo di questi, chissà se ne comprerò mai uno quando arriverò al punto di strapparmi anche i capelli per il caldo.
La vista da quassù è comunque interessante. Alla sommità delle costruzioni si distingue perfettamente l’amla, la sfera scalanata ed appiattita sostenuta dai grifoni e incoronata dal tridente di Shivala, tipico simbolo dell’Orissa. Il Lingaraji è tuttora un luogo di culto molto attivo. Il santuario interno contiene il “lingam svayambhu”, uno dei dodici santuari di Lord Shiva dell’India, considerato metà Shiva e metà Vishnu, una commistione alquanto particolare.
Continuando il percorso costeggiando il Bindu Sagar, un lago artificiale che si dice contenga acqua attinta da tutti i principali fiumi sacri del mondo. E’ un importante luogo di abluzioni per pellegrini e per lo stesso Dio Lingaraji. Al momento, qualcuno un po’ più profano invece lo sta usando per un rito meno spirituale ma comunque molto saggio: pescare.
stroll among the houses, cows and one of the boys playing cricket wherever it happens until you reach a small green park, the first spot of careful and intense green that I see that you can lie down without getting dirty. Around the park is open 3 other temples, all quite crowded. There is also a funny character who is sitting at the entrance of one of them to scribble on a notepad, trying to sell his doodles to the few tourists who go to see there. I wonder if his idea works, in which case you know how I could earn even if I had put on the market all the sheets that I had before during long phone calls from the landline at home. Without doubt scribbles have great charm, a charm that excites and intrigues. The allure of the mysterious and incomprehensible. Jung called them "the spontaneous self-representation of the current situation of the unconscious expressed in symbolic form." Then I read that the Vedas (Hindu scriptures) are the creation of an ancient mind-intuitive and symbolic ... Is he that shines when doodle Hindu my part? If the next time I bring a notebook used maybe make me go into the temple!