Skip to main content

Siddheshwara temple, Jajpur, Odisha

Life of an explorer never ends. They continue to explore the new sites, with new monuments, with interesting inscriptions. Presenting a beautiful photo blog by Gitanjali Mohanty…
Seeing our enthusiasm at the Saptamatrika temple at Jajpur, the locals and elders gave us a tip-off.
“Go along the river (Baitarani) and you’ll come to another almost-forgotten Shiv temple. Go there, you will like it”. Now that was all we needed. Off we went on the narrow narrow path along the river.
No sign of any temple. We kept on asking the villagers. Not much help. They kept pointing to newer temples.
Finally we reached almost a dead-end. On one side the river bed and on the other, a small nondescript village.
It was already noon time and it was scorching hot. We see a man coming home with his cows. We ask him “do you know where can we find the Siddheshwara temple?” He gives us a glance and nonchalantly replies” across the river bed and starts walking off” We ask “how to reach there”. He casually replies “ Walk across the hot sand river bed if you can and you’ll find the temple”
After a lil discussion, we decide to trudge on the hot sands.. The hot sands give way to a lovely cool and shaded Banyan-tree grove. Still no temple .. Does it even exist? We are starting to tire off…
Just a few feet more and we are finally able to see it. Placed on a low-lying spot just adjacent to the Baitarani, it is one of the most atmospheric temple ever!
People welcome to the ancient shrine of Siddheshwara Mahadev, Jajpur. The main temple has obviously been renovated later, yet we find remnants of its glorious past all over!
Not much is known about the temple. The locals were not of much help and I could hardly find anything on the net!
It is difficult to date the inception of the shrine as recorded history of Jajpur offers no clue about it.
Thought to date back to the 5th century CE, Jaipur then was the capital of the Bhauma dynasty. The making of the Lord Siddhesware linga and the inscriptions on the temple wall and on the nearby ruins evince the popular belief that the holy shrine was built by Shri Subhakar Dev II of Bhauma dynasty. The adjacent village Hirapur is also believed to have been named after Hira Devi, the queen of Sri Subhakaar Dev II. Historian Dr. Ekadashi Padhi opine that it was Shri Narasingha Dev who renovated the temple and restored it from ruins.
It is a treasure house of Hindu temple Iconography.
One of the major highlights for me was the “Stambha” at the entrance which appeared very unique to me.. Adorned with beautiful “Naga-kanyas”, it bears invaluable inscription in proto-Odia script.
With 2 Sahasralingas, an Astika-Jaratkaru with snake goddess Manasa Devi, an Ekpada Bhairav, this place just does something to you!
Siddheshwara Mahadev Temple,
Jajpur.
Siddheswara Temple
A stupa in front of temple
A stone pillar in front of temple
Naga-Kanya along with the inscription
Sahasralinga
Lord Bishnu
Lord Ganesha
Astika-Jaratkaru with snake goddess Manasa Devi
Sun God
An iconic panel with Shiba in Nataraja pose and Nakulisha
Naga
Standing Sun God
Ekapada Bhairaba
River Baitarani
All images along with the write up belongs to Gitanjali Mohanty.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Maa Khambesvari

Khambeswari temple, Aska. PC: Debashish Dash https://twitter.com/TheDashDD Goddess Khambhesvari is originally an tribal Goddess worshipped by the tribes of hinterland Odisha. In course of time She was like many other tribal deities given a place in the Hindu pantheon and subsequently she was transformed from a nomadic cult to Shakti cult. Khambhesvari, the Goddess of the Post or Pillar is one of the famous formless autochthonous deities widely worshipped in the hill tracts of Bargarh, Sambalpur, Angul, Dhenkanal, Bolangir, Subarnapur, Boudh, Kalahandi and the Ganjam districts of Odisha. She is worshipped as a manifestation of Shakti in the form of wooden posts or pillars and also through stones. Legends: Khambeswari temple--Aska An interesting legend about the temple in Aska says that once Goddess Khambhesvari appeared in a dream before Khambamuni who lived in the forest and desired that she should be worshipped by the latter. As per the stipulation of Khambamun...

Kuruma….

It feels really very exciting when you make reading and travelling your hobby. And believe me then only you will be able to co relate the things. One fine day, I was reading a pdf file of Odisha Govt. and I came to know about a place called Kuruma, an ancient Buddhist site. I decided to go to that place to explore more. This site is located 8.6 kms to the south-east of the famous Sun Temple at Konark in the district of Puri, Odisha. First, you have to go to famous Sun Temple Konarka. From there you just move on to Balidokan, which is just 7.3 km on Konarka-Kakatpur road. From Balidokan square, just turn left to go to Kuruma, which is 1.3 km from there. The Dharma Pokhari or the Pond of Dharma is located nearby the site. Prior to this excavation, a stone slab containing the beautiful figure of Buddha was lying on the bank of this tank. Later on, this image was replaced and enshrined in a newly built shed. Besides the Buddha image, other two images were...

Chudanga Gada

Almost two years back, I went to this place. Its name attracted me. Why such a peculiar name. Chudanga Gada.  Chudanga Gada  was earlier known as Saranga Gada. The site can also be approached from Bhubaneswar through the Bhubanesvar-Cuttack road via Nandankanan and Baranga. From Baranga one has to negotiate a distance of 1.5 km north of Sitaram chowk to reach the site that is situated on the right bank of the river Prachi. I reached the site at 10 o’clock. Legends As per the Madalapanji, the fort was built by Lalatendu Kesari of Kesari dynasty (Somavamsis) when it was known as Sarangagarh, because the area had large number of water bodies filled with lotus and in Sanskrit, Saranga means lotus. Later on Baraha Kesari renovated the fort, which was captured by Ganga king Chodaganga Deva after defeating Karna Deva, the last ruler of the Somavamsi dynasty in 1110 AD. There after the fort of Sarangagada became known as Chudangagada after the name of the victor Anantavar...