Queen's Cave - 2nd Century BC

Beautiful two-story cave seen in the pic is at Udayagiri Caves.
Udayagiri-Khandagiri caves are spread over hills is situated 6 km from Bhubaneshwar, Orissa.
"Ranigumpha" Cave shown is most prominent among 33 caves located on two hills, and dates back to 2nd Century BC. This is also called as "Rani Ka Naur" or Queen's palace and extensive carvings & sculptures are found here.

Brahmi Inscription of 17 lines by Raja Kharavela, King of Kalinga was found in Hatimgumpha(elephant cave), which dates back to 2nd Century BC.
It is believed that, these caves were residential blocks for Jain monk during his regime.

For more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udayagiri_and_Khandagiri_Caves
http://www.orissatourism.org/udayagiri-khandagiri-caves.html

125 temples, Jyotirlinga - Jageshwar

034/366 Jageshwar, Uttaranchal

Jageshwar, temple lies in ancient route to Kailash Manasa Sarovar.
It is said that, Adi Shankaracharya came here and re-established the sanctity of these temples.

This place is unique and contains around 125 temples and are of different size and shape. These temples is said to be built between 7th century to 18th century AD.
Main temple contains Jageshwar(also called as Yogeshwar). Dieties in other temples are Mrutyunjaya, Nava Durga, Surya, Kalika, Lakshmi, Pushti Devi etc.

It is said that, Katyuri Rulers(7th-14th century AD) & Chand Dynasty(15th-18th Century AD) restored these temples & worshipped here.

People here consider that this is amongst 12 jyotirlingas, instead of Nageshwara, which is in Gujarath.

Jageshwar is 37km from Almora, Uttaranchal

Pottery @ Janapada Loka

033/366 Janapada Loka, near Ramanagara, Karnataka
Janapada Loka in Kannada means "Folk-Culture World", is lovely place where one can get to see glimpse of Karnataka's folk heritage. This place contains museum displaying more than 5000 artifacts which depicts the essence of Karnataka folk.
The display includes an various tools used for agriculture, hunting, fishing implements, weapons, ingenious household gadgets, masks, dolls and shadow puppets.

Pic shows pottery skill...

Touch the clouds in Kodachadri

032/366 Kodachadri, Karnataka
This lovely peak located in Shivamogga District, Karnataka, is of altitude of around 4300 ft. This peak is with dense forest in Western Ghats.

Word "Kodacha" means hill in native dialect and "Adri" also means hill in Sanskrit. It is also called "Kudajadri" and "Kodashi Parvatha".

It is said that, Adi Shankaracharya visited this peak amd performed penance here. There is a small temple on the peak for Sage Sri Shankaracharya.

Famous Mookambika Temple is located in Kollooru (Kollur) is at the foothills of Kodachadri. It is said that, Adi Shankaracharya established Mookambika Temple.

Path to the peak from Nittur(base) is around 13km and is extremely scenic. Best time to trek is monsoon season but one needs to sustain leech attacks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodachadri

Kedarnath Temple, Uttarakhand

031/366 Kedarnath, Uttarakhand

Kedarnath Temple situated at around 11700ft(3584 meters) in Uttarakhand.
One needs to trek for 14 km from Gaurikund. One can also use horse or dholi to reach this lovely place. This route is extremely scenic and to be remembered for long. Most part of trek is next to beautiful River Mandakini and one gets to see various falls through out the trek including Rudra Falls.

It is also believed that, Jyotirlinga situated here was worshipped by Pandavas and main temple was built by them..

Indian Saint & Philosopher, Adi Shankaracharya, who propagated "Advaitha" concept, is said to have renovated this temple. Sri Shankaracharya's Samadhi is close to the temple.

About pic: Wooden carving of Lion seen on Kedarnath Temple.

More info:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple

Woman Power

030/366 Salute to multi-tasking woman on Women's Day

Woman carries wheat & other necessary things up the hill in small village close to Phata, Uttarakhand.

Naina Devi Mandir, Nainital

029/366 Nainital, a beautiful hill station earns its name from eye-shaped lake called Naini Lake.
"Nain"(or Nayan in Sanskrit) means eyes, "taal" means lake, resulting in name "Nainital".

In the northern part of lake(called as 'Mallital'), Naina Devi Mandir is situated.
It is believed that The Naini Lake is one of the 64 Shakti Peeths, or religious sites where parts of the charred body of Sati (Parvati) fell on earth while being carried by Lord Shiva. The spot where Sati's eyes (or Nain) fell, came to be called Nain-tal. The goddess Shakti is worshipped at the Naina Devi Temple.

In pic, devotee worships Lord Shiva Linga installed in Naina Devi Mandir early morning.

108 Streams, Salvation at Muktinath

028/366 Muktinath, Nepal

This place is highly revered for Hindu Vaishnavas(devotees of Lord Vishnu). As name of this place suggests, it is believed that one attains Salvation if this holy abode is visited.
It is said that, famous Indian philosopher, saint Sri Ramanujacharya(1017AD - 1137 AD), who spread the devotion to Lord Vishnu, installed main deity here.
Main deity is made of Saligrama Shila. There is beautiful statue of Ramanujacharya in this temple.

Temple is surrounded with 108 water springs & water falls through Cow shaped structures(seen in pic). There are two ponds in front of temple.

Muktinath is also called as 'Chumig Gyatsa', which means 'hundred waters' in Tibetean language. This place is considered to be sacred even for Buddhists and is one of 24 Buddhist Tantric Places.


This temple is situated at an elevation of around 12200ft & gets covered with snow during winters.

More info: http://www.muktinath.org/

Parking woes - New York City

027/366 New York City, New York

There is an aura about this most populous city of USA.
Instead of showing rosy picture of NY, I thought of showing pain point of this huge city :-)
Finding free Parking Space is almost impossible & charges for paid parking is atrotious, which will definitely burn your pockets.
Looking at the sign board of a busy street in NY seen in pic, one can imagine the fine for violation.

I also felt NY is the 'dirtiest' city amongst the cities which I have visited in US.

Other beautiful pics of NY seen through my camera are here.