Basudeba is Lord Krishna, an avataar of Lord Bishnu. The temple of Ananta Basudeba was constructed in the thirteenth century, and the complete murties of Krishna, Balarama and Subhadra are worshipped there. Balarama stands under a seven hooded serpent, Subhadra holds Jewels pot and lotus in her two hands keeping her left foot over another jewel pot, while Krishna holds a mace, chakra, lotus and a conch. Ananta is Balarama and Basudeba is Krishna.
Ananta Basudeba temple
I will go in detail of this temple but before that want to discuss about the two old temples of Ananta-Basudeba which are not very known to lot of people and still exists near this one.
Very few people know that there are actually three Ananta Basudeba temples existed in Bhubaneswar. The first temple was built by Bhaumakaras in 7th century. This was, almost, the initial phase of temple construction in Odisha.
The first Ananta Basudeba temple
The front view of first Ananta Basudeva temple
Side view of first Ananta Basudeva temple
This temple as stated above was the first one built by Bhaumakaras in the seventh century. They originally followed the Mahayana sect of Buddhism but they were also tolerant towards other beliefs. And this prompted them to built this temple. Although the temple is purely converted now into a Rama-Sita and Hanumaan temple but we can still found the glimpses of Basudeva sects in its architecture and appearance.
first Ananta Basudeva temple
The Chakra or Sudarshana chakra on the top of temple is said to be built by stone, which is its unique feature. Below are the statues and images which were found in that temple but now re-established along the banks of Bindu-Saras or BinduSagar.
Statue № 1 of first temple
Statue № 2 of first temple
This statue no. 2 is said to be of Basudeba as the statue of Ananta is missing.
Now comes the second temple of Ananta-Basudeba.
The second temple of Ananta-Basudeba
The second temple of Ananta-Basudeba
Side view of second temple
A Parsvadevta on the wall of second temple
The second temple of Ananta-Basudeba was built by Somavamsi or Keshari dynasty in the 9th century. This temple is now converted completely in the office of Kitchen of the Ananta-Basudeba temple. Some statues were find from this temple which are again re-established along the banks of Bindu-Saras or BinduSagar.
The statue of Ananta and Basudeba from second temple
A statue from second temple
Now comes the third and most famous one. The new temple of Ananta-Basudeaba. As per the legends it appears that the original image of Bishnu was worshipped on the spot where the great temple of Ananta Basudeba was built in the 13th century A.D. Thus in the 13th century, Queen Chandrika of Eastern Ganga dynasty was prompted to construct a new temple — the temple of Anata Basudeba in this place. There must have been an old temple where this Bishnu image was installed.
Queen Chandrika with her helpers
One more thing, which I came to know is about Prasadhika means ladies who were sitting in different postues and having different items which were used in saundarjya prasadhana. From this they got the name of Prasadhika. Below are some statues which I found in the lower facade of the third Ananta-Basudeba temple.
Statue №1 of third temple
Statue № 2 of third temple
Statue № 3 of third temple
Statue № 4 of third temple
Statue № 5 of third temple
Statue № 6 of third temple
Statue № 7 of third temple
Statue № 8 of third temple
Statue № 9 of third temple
Statue № 10 of third temple
Statue № 11 of third temple
These Prasadhikas must not be confused with the Nayikas.
Statue of a female devotee
Buddha is everywhere. There is also a statue of Lord Buddha in the third temple of Ananta-Basudeba, which surprised me a lot. Here Lord Buddha seated in Dhyana Mudra.
Statue of Buddha
Two inscriptions were also came to my notice and when I made an inquiry about them, the chief priest of temple told me that these are not the original inscriptions of this temple.
First inscription
Second inscription
A statue between the two inscriptions
So now onwards if someone asks about the temples of Ananta-Basudeba in Bhubaneswar, we are in a state to inform that; its not One but, there are three distinct Ananta-Basudeba temples present inside the same compound/ campus in Bhubaneswar.
Om Namah Bhagwate Basudebaya…..
PS: All these facts are based on the detailed communication held between me and Chief Priest of Ananta-Basudeba temple, Mr. Madhavanada Mahasupkar who is affectionately known as Madhava Pandit.
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...
Note: All photographs and the content belongs to Christel Pilz…. Sun Temple Konarka — repair under the British 1903 AD How to save this wonder of Art and devotion of the Artisans? Excerpt from the Times of India article: MAGNIFICENT MYSTERY, by Sandeep Mishra | Jan 15, 2015, “It was between 1900 and 1903, on the order of then lieutenant governor of Bengal J A Baurdilon, that a major excavation was undertaken around the Jagamohan; its interior partitioned with a 15-ft wide stone wall and stuffed with sand. More than a century later, the huge volume of sand is now said to be posing a threat to the Khondalite structure, resulting in cracks and seepage of water. Big stone blocks have also reportedly fallen off, triggering fears that the temple could someday cease to exist. What then needs to be done? On offer are a range of opinions varying from the scientific to the unscientific, the real to the imagined and the reasonable to the absurd. Some favour getting rid of the ...
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 ...
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