Essay name: Temples of Purushottama Kshetra Puri
Author:
Ratnakar Mohapatra
Affiliation: Sambalpur University / Department of History
This essay studies the Temples of Purushottama Kshetra (Puri) which is renowned for its historic and religious significance, situated in Orissa (Odisha) by the Bay of Bengal. Purusottama-ksetra is famous for the Lord Jagannatha temple and numerous smaller temples, it showcases the distinctive Kalinga architectural style.
Chapter 2 - Characteristics features of Orissan Temples
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the Gauri temple, the Gopālini and Savitri shrines inside the Lingarāj temple Compound. The other notable khākharā temples of Orissa are the Varāhi temple at Caurāsī (Puri district), the Gangeśvari temple at Bayāḷisibāti (near Gop in Puri district), the Durgā temple at Baulapur (near Tapanga, Puri district), the Durgā temple at Rāmeśvara (Cuttack district) etc. These temples were constructed in different periods, reveal the distinctive character and architectural peculiarities of the style and help us to trace the course of its evolution. The Vaitāḷa temple of Bhubaneswar is the best preserved among the earliest specimens of the khākharā order deuḷa. K.C.Panigrahi suggests that "the Vaitāḷa temple was a place of worship of the Kāpāḷikas who used to invoke the aid of the Vetāḷas (spirits) for their siddhis, and from the word Vetāla, the name Vaitāḷa has been derived".37Kṛṣṇa Deva has referred that the wagon vault roof of Vaitāḷa temple resembles the "Teli-kā Mandira' at Gwalior.38 The Varāhī temple of Caurāsī represents an advancement over the Vaitāḷa temple in the description of the bāḍa. The Gangeśvari temple at Bayāḷisbāṭi is the most developed among the khākharā order temples of Orissa. On the stylistic grounds, K.S.Behera has referred that the temple may be assigned to the 13th century AD.39 This temple may be remarkable for the graceful toraṇas adorning the entrance and the two other pagas of the jagamohana .40 d. Gauriya Type:- A fourth, a late type, Gauriya, an exotic form of temple from Bengal of which we find a very few examples in Orissa did not strike roof and falls beyond the pale of the Orissan Style. The other temples dedicated to the worship of Sixty-four Yoginis at Hirapur and Rāṇipur Jhariāl were constructed in circular form. They contain niches within the inner portion of the circular wall for the Yoginis and a maṇḍapa at the centre for the presiding deity. They have only one door entrance in the eastern direction. They have been conceived in the pattern of a Saktipitha and have no firm base in Orissan Style of architecture. As regards orientation, there is no fixed rule. Generally, most of the temples of Orissa face to east but some temples also facing west, north and south are not unusual in Orissa. 37
