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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 5 - Shaiva Temples of Purushottama Kshetra

Page:

31 (of 66)


External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)


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Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)


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planets. These female figures have their conventional mounts carved in a row. Here R.P.Mohapatra opines that they may be associated with the Dasamahāvidyā figures.67 These female deities may be identified with Nava-Durgās. The intervening recesses between the pagas of the baḍa of the vimāna are filled with simha vidaḷas, gaja-vidaḷas, amorous couples and dancing female figures with different postures. The balustraded windows of the jagamohana wall are finely relieved with dancing female figures with musical instruments in their hands. These decorative elements are only found from the walls of the temple. Paintings In the inner walls of the Märkaṇḍeśvara temple are also elegantly depicted with various paintings, which are derived from the story of different Puraṇās. The painting of ten-armed Nataraja figure is excellently portrayed on the backside wall of the sanctum. It is depicted in dancing posture on the prostrate body of Bhasmāsura. The southern side inner wall of the sanctum is depicted with painting of the 'Trinity' i.e. Jagannātha, Balabhadra and Subhadrā. The painting of the northern side consists of a scene of Mārkaṇḍeśvara, which depicts Yama, the god of death, inviting Mārkaṇḍa, a boy of seven year old whose life span was expired by his calculation. Here Yama holds the rein of kaḷa pāśa (noose), which lies around the neck of Mārkaṇḍa. At that time, the boy (Mārkaṇḍa) is closely holding Sivalinga with kneeling posture, behind, whom the picture of Śiva is depicted in standing posture with trident and dambaru in his two hands. There is a painting of devī Syāmākāḷ� depicted on the northern inner wall of the bhogamaṇḍapa. Her four hands display khadga, cutting human head; a blood pot and another hand in varada mudrā. She is in standing posture on the prostrate body of Śiva. The inner walls of the nisa shrine (north) are elegantly depicted with paintings of Dasamahāvidyās such as Ugratāra, Syāmākāḷ�, Bhubaneśvarī, Tripurā- sundarī, Bagaḷ�, Bhairavī, Matāngī, Dhumāvatī, Kamaḷ� and Chhinna mastā. The local artists of Puri have executed all the above paintings in modern period. These pictures are depicted in the traditional Patta Style paintings of Orissa. The temple complex of Mārkaṇḍeśvara is enclosed by a high boundary wall, which is built in laterite. This boundary wall has three gates; one on the south 203

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