November 1 – Sri Jagannath Temple of Koraput and the return drive to Rayagada

This morning we visited Sri Jagannath Temple of Koraput.  Jagganath is “Lord of the Universe” and is considered a non-sectarian deity and is part of Jagannath consciousness that accepts all religions, casts and creeds.  His origins are from the nearby tribal cultures instead of Hinduism. 

An interesting note: the term “Juggernaut” (huge, powerful and overwhelming force) derives from Jagganath. During the annual Jaggannath Rath Yatra (major festival) huge crowds would pull symbolic chariots through the streets. Sometimes the crowds were so large that they were basically unstoppable.

The white-washed temple really dominated the area.  

The interior was pretty simple and unadorned except for the awesomely colored ceilings.

Adjacent was a large hall...

that had small or altar areas representing other, similar areas around the world.  If believers could not travel to another specific temple these altars could fill in for the temple as though the believer had made the pilgrimage.

Many of these altars had a lingam (usually a phallic pillar that is a representative of the Hindu deity Shiva) placed inside a yoni (a disk-shaped platform representing the Hindu goddess Shakti).  Together the lingum and yoni represent creation and regeneration and the union of male and female that recreates all existence. 

Then it was into the countryside for a lovely drive and interesting sights.

Our next stop was the potter’s village of Goudguda...

where we watched several potters working. 

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Watch video of potter.
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The local river is their source of clay and it is all hand harvested and hand hauled up to the village. Hard work

There was a lot of finished pottery around.

We also saw the "oven" where they fired the pots.  It consisted of a pile of wood, the pieces to be fired and then the entire pile covered with broken pieces of pottery as a cover.

Then it was on to another country market with a cattle market some distance from the main market.  We skipped the cattle market although eventually that market must have closed because soon there were lots of cattle being moved along the road through the market.

We saw people coming across the fields to the market.

We stopped for a considerable amount of time to explore the main market.  It was amazing, colorful, crowded, busy, and a bit smelly in places.

Within the market was an area dedicated to selling goats and sheep

And of course there were chickens.

There was lots of produce,

and lots of household goods,

One area the ladies were doing a brisk business selling bangles.  

So many interesting things to see.

After leaving the main market we took a detour to the small village of Pujariput for an unannounced treat.  The villagers gathered to watch the tourists (us)...

as they (we)  were entertained by a group of young women who danced a local dance called the Demsa.

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Watch video of dancers.
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They were accompanied by a band, probably men from the village.

Near the end the young women pulled the entire group of us (except for Tara) out and we all participated in the line dance.  It was actually pretty easy but we danced for some time and we all ended up rather winded.

Then they escorted us back to the bus and we had a photo session.

A really special treat.