The Medieval Hindu temples of Puri, Rhubaneswar and Konark are promoted as Orissa's version of northern India's ‘Golden Triangle’ of Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Jaipur. One of the less affluent States in India, Orissa stands to benefit from tourism (FIGURE 1). The promotion seeks to appeal to all Indians and foreigners and also to prompt an image of Orissa as a distinct region. Such duality is typical among the diversity of community, ethnic, communal, federalist and national values at issue in India (Chatterjee 1993: 75).

Cultivation of the temples is nothing new. Whatever the original purposes of icons, significance is ascribed, not simply inherent. It depends on economic or political interest and context (Cohen 1985). Harrison (1999) has argued that images of ethnicity tend to be defended as if at risk of pollution or theft by outsiders. Under the influence of European ideology, the commonest symbol for ethnic or nationalist aspiration is language but religion and other markers of culture have been used too (Smith 1981). Other than religion, one of the criteria for invoking the temples is the discipline of archaeology. However, archaeology too is a Western conceptual idiom (Cohn 1983: 209). Although literacy — including in the ‘English medium’ — is spreading, archaeology is not appreciated by everyone in Orissa. Partly for that reason, there have been various views as to how the temples should be presented and to whom.