LINGARAJA TEMPLE
Location : Bhubaneswar, Orissa
Presiding Deities : Lord Shiva
Dates Back : 11th Century
Architectural Style : Orissan Temple Architecture

A Magnificent Example Of Temple Architecture Of Orissa
A product of the accumulated and crystallized experience of several centuries,
the temple of Lingaraja is the quintessence of Orissan architecture. In the
elegance of its proportions and the richness of its surface -treatment, it is
one of the most finished and refined manifestations of the temple-architecture
in India.

The treatment of its different elements displays the consummate skill of its
different elements displays the consummate skill of its master-designer; all
its constituent parts are effectively integrated into a compact unity of
supreme dignity. The crowning achievement of the architect is the design of the
graceful contour of its towering 'Gandi'. The Gandi's soaring height and
grandeur are almost a marvel.

The Decorations
The plastic embellishment of the temple is of equally exquisite workmanship.
All the panoply of Orissan decorative motifs is mustered here with a rare
aesthetic sense; every piece of carvings serves its appointed role and enhances
the majesty of the edifice as a whole. With all the features fully evolved, it
is the culmination, in every respect, of the architectural movement at
Bhubaneswar and sets the norm for the later temples.

A Traditional Connection
Traditionally, the construction of the temple is associated with three of the
later 'Somavamsi' kings with names ending in 'Kesari' but there is no reliable
record of its date.

However, an inscription on the wall of the 'Jagamohana', recording the grant of
a village for the maintenance of a perpetual lamp in the shrine of
'Krittivasas', by which name the temple was anciently known, and dated A.D.
1114-15 in the reign of the 'Ganga' king 'Anantavarman Chodaganga', sets the
later limit of the date of the temple.

The temple is a combination of four structures, all in the same axial alignment
- 'Deul', 'Gahamohana', 'Nata-Mandira' and 'Bhoga-Mandapa', the last two being
subsequent additions. The spacious courtyard is full of shrines, big and
small, of varying dates, their number exceeding a hundred, of which only a few
are of outstanding merit. The complex is enclosed by a massive compound-wall
pierced by an imposing portal on the east and two secondary gates on the north
and south.

The Jagmohana
The 'Jagamohana' is equally monumental and closely follows the 'deul' in
decorative details. The 'Jagamohana' originally had two balustraded windows, of
which the one on the south side was converted into a door at a later date,
perhaps when the 'Nata-Mandira' or 'Bhoga-Mandapa' was built. The topmost part
of the 'Bada' above them is relieved with three 'Rekha' replicas spaced by
either a male or a female figure.

The Temple Deity
By the time the Lingaraja temple was constructed, the Jagannatha cult had
become predominant throughout Orissa. This is reflected in the fact that the
temple deity here, the 'Svayambhu Linga', is not, as in all other cases,
strictly a 'Shiva linga'. It is considered to be a 'Hari-Hara' linga, that is,
half Shiva, half Vishnu. This and the variety of deities represented elsewhere
on the temple, once again point out the basically syncretic nature of so much
of Orissan religion.

There are 150 subsidiary shrines within the immense Lingaraja complex, many of
them extremely interesting in their own right, but non-Hindus cannot visit
them.

MINOR SHRINES IN THE COMPOUND OF LINGARAJA
Amidst the group of subsidiary shrines clustering round the great temple, two,
one, on the north of the 'Jagamohana', known as "Gopalini" or "Bhuvanesvari"
and the other, on the south of the 'Deul', known as "Savitri", are of the
"Khakhara" order. The 'Parsva-Devatas' in them are different forms of
'Parvati'.

In some of the other subsidiary shrines can be seen a number of images of
different dates, mostly of 'Parvati', 'Karttikeya', 'Ganesa' and 'Surya' and
rarely of 'Balarama', 'Subhadra', 'Krishna' and 'Trivikrama'.

Many of them found their way into these shrines after the decay or destruction
of the temples, to which they had originally belonged. Particularly noticeable
is an early image of 'Parvati', housed in a tiny shrine to the northeast of the
Lingaraja temple.