I travelled a lot. Even don't know how many kms I travelled and how many monuments and archaeological sites I covered. From Baleswar to Brahmapur, from Puri to Angul, from Prachi Valley to Daya Valley and Mahanadi valley, I covered most of them. During my journey, I used to get information from local natives of that particular area and I was surprised by seeing some minor but important cults. Among them Ekapada cult really impressed me. So let us have a look on this Ekapada cult.
During my research on this specific cult I got to know about various names like Ekapada, Aja-ekapada etc. Also this form is popular in several countries. Sometimes, they are associated with good fortune and sometimes they are representation of evil. The below figure I got from a research article published by Prachi Virag Sontakke.
Also in the same research paper, I got another fig which shows the development of this cult, which is as follows:
This is really fascinating to me that how this cult was initially associated with sun and moon in stage 1 and later on, in stage 2, it got an inseparable association with Lord Shiva in form of Ekapada Bhairav ( in odisha, we used to write it as Bhairaba) and ekapada Trimurti.
In Vedas also, their names have been mentioned.
रोहितो द्यापृथिवि जजान तत्र तन्तुं परमेष्ठी ततान । तत्र शिश्रियेSज एक पादोSद्रुंहद् द्यापृथिवि बलेन ।। AV 13.1.6।।
Rohita gave the Earth and Heavens their being. There Para- meshthin held the cord extended. Thereon reposeth Aja Ekapāda. He with his might hath stab-lished Earth and Heaven.
उत वः शंसमुशिजामिव शमस्यहिर्बुध्न्यो.अज एकपादुत | तरित रभुक्षाः सविता चनो दधे.अपां नपादाशुहेमा धिया शमि || RV 2.31.6||
Your blessing as a boon for suppliants we desire: the Dragon of the Deep, and Aja-Ekapād, Trita, Ṛbhukṣan, Savitar shall joy in us, and the Floods’ swift Child in our worship and our prayer.
According to V.S.Agarwala, Aja means goat, eka means one and pada means foot, so Aja-Ekapada means a goat with single foot and it represents a form of Agni. A terracotta fig was found in Rang Mahal (Suratgarh) in northern Rajasthan where the face of deity is of goat.
When we see these in terms of Odisha context, Ekapada cult is normally associated with shiva temples. Generally they are depicted with four arms, although smaller images sometimes show him with only two. Here, I am going to post some pictures which was collected during my journey to several places. Pic 1: Ekapada Bhairaba, Tini Mundiya temple, BhubaneswarPic 2: Ekapada Bhairaba, Jambheswar temple, PuriPic 3: Ekapada Bhairaba, Chausathi Jogini Temple, Hirapur, BhubaneswarPic 4: Ekapada Bhairaba, Taleswar temple, BhubaneswarPic 5: Ekapada Bhairaba, Megheswar Temple, BhubaneswarPic 6: Ekapada Bhairaba , Simhanatha Temple, Cuttack (You can notice the Egyptian style head gear)Pic 7: ekapada Bhairaba, Markandeswar temple, BhubaneswarPic 8: Ekapada Bhiraba, Brahmeswar temple, BhubaneswarPic 9: Ekapada Bhiraba, Odisha State MuseumPic 10: Ekapada Bhairaba, Siddheswar temple, Jajpur PC:Gitanjali MohantyPic:11 Ekapada Bhairaba, Biraja temple, JajpurPic 12: ekapada Bhairaba, Madhukeswar temple, Srimukhalingam. (although at present it is under Andhra Pradesh but once it was an epicenter of kalingan kingdom) PC: Tapan ku. SatapathyPic 13: Ekapada Bhairaba, Ekapada Bhairaba temple, Jagatsinghpur, Odisha PC: WikipediaPic 14: Ekapada Bhairaba, minor shrine, Simhanath temple, CuttackPic 15: Ekapada Bhairaba, Dibbalingeshwara temple, Saripalli, near Vizainagaram PC: Sudha @rasu667(although at present it is under Andhra Pradesh but once it was a part of kalingan kingdom)Pic 16: Ekapada Bhairaba, Vaital temple, Paralakhemundi, Gajapati PC: Vishnu Mohan Adhikari @VAdkri Locally known as agnistambh or nirakarlinga Pic 17: Ekapada Bhairaba, somnath temple, Ghoradia, Delanga
There are lot of temples in Bhubaneswar where we can find such images of Ekapada Bhairaba, which I will post later. Some Agama texts, like, Amsumadbhedagama,Uttara-Karanagama,Uttara-Kanikagama, also describes this cult in details.
The Linga Purana, describes Shiva as "the lord who has one foot, four arms, three eyes and a trident ... who is stationed after creating Vishnu from his left side and four-headed Brahma from his right side."
Ekapada Bhairaba cult was once an important cult in Odisha and here in Jagatsinghpur, one temple is there dedicated to Ekapada Bhairaba. The archaeological survey has established that the temple was built during the early 10th century by Somavamshi Kings. Later it was destroyed due to flood and attacks by non-Hindu rulers. The present temple was rebuilt during the 20th century.
We can try to have some more research on Ekapada Bhairaba so that this cult again gain some importance.
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