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Lingaraja Temple

Lingaraja Temple

Photo: Satyakam Parthasarathy · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
Client / Owner
Somavamsi kings
Year
Completed 11th century
Access
Private
Typology
Spiritual
Style
—

The Lingaraja Temple in the Old Town of Bhubaneswar is dedicated to Shiva as Lingaraja. The article dates it to the 11th century and credits the Somavamsi kings, with Ganga remodeling in the early 12th century. It is built of khondalite and laterite, and its sources disagree on the central tower, giving 180 feet (55 m) in one place and 148 feet (45 m) in another.

The temple faces east and has four parts in line that rise in height: the vimana, jagamohana, natamandira and bhoga-mandapa. A compound wall about 520 by 465 feet (160 by 142 m) surrounds it.

It draws about 6,000 visitors a day, and Shivaratri in 2012 drew 200,000. Non-Hindus may not enter the compound, but a viewing platform outside is reached by a laneway beside the main entrance.

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