A trip to Gupteswar Cave Temple

I've only just found out that a banyan is actually a fig, the seeds dispersed in the crevices of host trees by fruit eating birds.  The plant germinates in the host tree, sending roots down to the ground, sometimes known as "strangler figs" Banyan

We spotted this one when Ananda took me to the Gupteswar Cave Temple, close to the Chattisgarh border on my last morning out in the field.  We had done all the work that we could out there and decided that we'd relax by going to this fascinating temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva.  Gupteswar Cave Temple

It is a very holy place for Hindus but I have to admit that I'm glad I wasn't there last week, on the day of Shiva Ratri when thousands of pilgrims descended on the place to worship.

Just to prove that I really did go there, I asked my friend to take a photo of me posing in front of the priests.  I had to do some unexpected laundry the night before as custom requires that anyone going to this temple wears clean clothes.  I had of course run out of clean clothes so a session with a bucket and Krishna helping me with the water pump was needed in the preceding evening to cleanse my clothes in preparation for the trip.  At least everything dries quickly here.  I also had the required bucket bath in the morning before we set out but not sure I was so clean after an hour on the back of a motorbike.

Ritual bathing in the Kolab River before going into the temple a few metres up the river bank.

The drive there and back was lovely, through dense forest with glimpses of the Eastern Ghat mountains through the trees.

It was a lovely to get a bit of a break to do some exploring.  The only downside was that it took about an hour each way on the back of a motorbike, followed by our journey back to Koraput later in the afternoon.  A total of more than 4 hours riding pillion left me tired, dirty, aching but happy to have a good few days out.