Lingaraj Temple

About

Lingaraj Temple, built largely in the late 11th century during the reign of the Somavamsi king Jajati Keshari and completed under the Eastern Gangas, is the largest and most prominent temple in the old town of Bhubaneswar, Odisha. It marks the spiritual centre of Ekamra Kshetra — the ancient sacred precinct described in the Brahma Purana as one of the four chief Shaiva Tirthas of India alongside Kashi, Ujjain, and Pashupatinath. The temple is a textbook example of Kalinga architecture, with its four classical components arranged on a single east–west axis: the Vimana (sanctum tower), the Jagamohana (assembly hall), the Nata Mandir (festival hall) and the Bhog Mandap (offering hall). The rekha-deul Vimana rises to roughly 55 metres (180 ft) and is intricately carved with miniature shikharas, narrative panels, and erotic figures characteristic of the Kalinga school. The presiding deity is a 2.5-metre-wide self-manifested rough-hewn stone — worshipped as Harihara, the syncretic union of Shiva ("Hari" being a Shaiva epithet here, despite its more common Vaishnava use) and Vishnu — bathed daily with water, milk and bhang. The compound covers 250,000 sq ft, is enclosed by a 7-metre laterite wall, and houses over 50 minor shrines. The temple's Bindu Sagar tank, just to the north, plays a central role in the annual Ashokashtami festival in March–April when the deity Lingaraj is taken in procession to the Rameshwar Temple. The temple is administered by the Lingaraj Temple Trust under the Odisha government's Endowments Department. As at Jagannath Puri, non-Hindus are not allowed inside the precinct but may view the temple from a viewing platform on the outer compound wall, set up by the Archaeological Survey of India.