Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

SR No.: 001609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 566
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Story, Literature, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

Page 504

APPENDIX III
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when Somadeva wrote, Saivism was predominant in central India as in the south. We may now turn to Orissa.
ORISSA Early medieval Orissa was an important centre of Saivism. Bhuvaneśvara in the Puri District is the home of early temples dedicated to Siva, the oldest being the Paraśurāmesvara assigned to the eighth century A. D. The temple of Mukteśvara, famous for its sculptures representing scenes of religious life, for example, ascetics and disciples and the worship of Siva, is somewhat later. The temple of Lingarāja, regarded as the most stupendous edifice of its kind in Orissa, is placed about the middle of the tenth century. Close to it is situated the small but exquisitely beautiful temple of Parvati, which is probably of the same date as its great neighbour. Other important Saiva temples at Bhuvaneśvara include the Brahmeśvara (eleventh century), which stands on a platform with four smaller temples at the corners, and thus occupies a position similar to that of the temple of Goņdeśvara at Sinar, twenty miles from Nasik. The beautiful temple of Megheśvara situated close to the Brahmeśvara was built towards the end of the twelfth century; while the Siva temple of Căteśvara was built about the year 1220 A. D. in the village of Krishnapur in the Cuttack District. It may be noted that the only architecturally important Vaişņava temple at Bhuvaneśvara is the Ananta-Vāsudeva said to have been built by Bhavadeva, a minister of king Harivarman of Eastern Bengal. It cannot be much later than the great temple of Lingarāja.
Interesting early temples dedicated to Siva exist also at Khiching. the old capital of the rulers of Mayurbhanj, and in Baudh State on the right bank of the Mahānadi. The twin temples at the village of Gandharādi, a few miles from Baudh Town, belong to the same style of architecture as the Parasurãmeśvara at Bhuvanesvara. If the Parasurameśvara is assigned to the middle of the eighth century, the Gandharādi temples may be placed towards the close of that century. The two temples are exactly similar to each other: the one is dedicated to Siddheśvara Siva with its sikhara surmounted by a Sivalinga, and the other is a Vaisnava shrine dedicated to Nilamādhava, with a wheel of blue chlorite on the top of the sikhara. A wheel on the top of the sikhara is a common feature of Vaişņava temples, but the location of an entire Sivalinga on the top of a temple is something unknown in Orissan architecture.
Next in importance are the three Siva temples, situated close to the modern temple of Rāmeśvara, in Baudh Town. They have been assigned to the ainth century. Beglar, who saw them in the last quarter of the 19th century,
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This section is based on R. D. Banerjea: History of Orissa, Vols. I and II. Chapters 29 and 30 deal with Architecture and Plastic Art respectively. See also R. D. Banerjea: Antiquities of the Baudh State in Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, Vol. XV. See below. R. D. Banerjea (op. cit.), Vol. I, p. 262. This view is no longer accepted. See The History of Bengal, Vol. I, p. 203, published by the University of Dacca.