About

The Lingaraja temple is the largest temple in Bhubaneswar. The central tower of the temple is 55 m tall. The temple represents the quintessence of the Kalinga architecture. The temple is believed to have been built by the kings from the Somavamsi dynasty, with later additions from the Ganga rulers. The temple is built in the Deula style that has four components namely, vimana (structure containing the sanctum), jagamohana (assembly hall), natamandira (festival hall) and bhoga-mandapa (hall of offerings).

The Lingaraj temple is situated in the Ekamra Kshetra (temple city) of Bhubaneswar. There are a series of ancient sandstone temples, heritage ponds and water tanks which exist within a 1126 acre area, with an outer core of 476 acre, intermediate core of 504 acre and inner core of 145 acre.

While the Lingaraj is the largest, and religiously most important temple in the Ekamra Kshetra, there are dozens of other temples in the area, which collectively represent the architectural progression and development of the Kalinga school of architecture with its distinctive Natamandir, BhogMandir, Jagamohana, and Deul Vimana formations.

The Parashurameshwara temple is the earliest to have a jagamohana in addition to the vimana (spire). The presiding deity here is the form of Shiva that was worshipped by Vishnu in his Parashurama incarnation. An inscription refers to the temple as the Parasehwara, possibly derived from Parashara, a Lakulisa-Pashupata sect teacher. The temple is built to a triratha plan, and the temple walls feature images of deities such as Shiva, Vishnu, Durga, and Ganesha.
An image of Ravana lifting Kailasha appears in this temple, too, a motif seen in contemporaneous temples in Ellora, Belur, and Halebidu. Also seen are an image depicting Annapurna offering alms to Shiva, and a scene depicting the marriage of Shiva and Parvati.

The Ananta Basudeva temple is a temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu, an exception in an area populated overwhelmingly with Shiva temples. The temple was constructed in the thirteenth century, and has idols of Krishna, Balarama and Subhadra, who are worshipped there. The altar on which these idols are installed is covered by a seven-hooded serpent.

The Swarnajaleswara Temple (not to be confused with the similarly named Subarnajaleswara temple) was built by the Sailodbhava King with only a vimana (spire) in the 7th century. The temple walls feature carvings of scenes from the Mahabharata, and a fragmentary image of a Naga bearing a foliate, overflowing pitcher (purna ghata).

The Kotiteertheswara is distinctive in style with its turrets built into the spire. It was built by Somavanshi kings in the pancharatha style sometime in the 11th century. It is constructed in pyramidal (pidha) style.

The Mukteshwara temple is one of the most lavishly decorated of the temples in the area, perhaps next only to the Rajarani temple. It was built in the 10th century, and unusually, faces west. It has a mangalatorana an arched gateway, which is unique to the temples in Kalingan architecture. The 10.5m tall temple stands in a low compound wall next to a temple pond. It has a rekha deul style vimana, along with a pyramidal jagamohana. The jagamohana has latticed windows on the north and the south. The ceiling of the jagamohana has a delicately carved full-bloomed lotus, and contains representations of Veerabhadra, and Saptamatrikas with babies in their laps.
The temple walls feature a number of maiden carved in alto-relief, naga-nagini pilasters, bhararakshakas, elegant floral and faunal depictions, arabesque motifs, and figures of Ganga, Yamuna, and Nataraja. The front part of the deul features a bho motif, consisting of a large chaitya arch medallion, flanked by dwarfish figures.

Architecture

The Lingaraja temple faces east and is built of sandstone and laterite.

It is enshrined within a spacious compound wall of laterite measuring 520 ft (160 m) by 465 ft (142 m). The wall is 7.5 ft (2.3 m) thick and surmounted by a plain slant coping.

The bhogamandapa has a square base of 13m sides on the inside, and 17.15m sides on the outside. It has four doors, one in each of the sides.

The natamandira has a square base of 12m on the inside, and 15m on the outside. It has one main entrance and two side entrances.It has a flat roof sloping in stages.

The jagamohana has a rectangular base of 11m x 9.1m on the inside, and 17m × 15m on the outside. It has entrances from south and north and has a 30m tall pyramidal roof made of up several horizontal layers arranged in sets of two with intervening platform as in the bhogmandapa. The facade to the entrances are decorated with perforated windows with lion sitting on hind legs. The inverted bell above second unit is adorned by kalasa and lions.

The rekha deula, which rises in the form of a 60m high pyramidal tower over the sanctum, has a square base measuring 6.7m on the inside, and 16m on the outside

Trivia

The complex has 150 smaller shrines in its courtyard.