INDIAN KALINGA STYLE TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE OF TWO SHAIVA TEMPLES OF THE COASTAL BELT OF ODISHA: A RECENT STUDY

Abstract

The coastal belt of Odisha preserves a good number of Kalinga style of temples in Eastern India. The architectural features of the Shaiva temples of the coastal area of Odisha really draw the attention of scholars, art historians, and archaeologists to undertake research works. Among the numerous extant temples of the coastal belt of Odisha,  two Shaiva temples are taken here for scholarly discussion. The names and sites of these two  Shaiva temples are viz. 1. Akhandalesvara temple at Prataprudrapur, and 2. Ramesvara temple at Tola-Gopinathpur. Although the Akhandalesvara temple is primarily dedicated to Lord Shiva, still some Vaishnavite  images like Lord Krishna, Lakshmi-Narasimha and a broken image of Varaha are found to be preserved in it’s jagamohana. So the site of Akhandalesvara temple is a coordinating place of both Shaivism and Vaishnavism. Similarly, the second temple is mainly devoted to Lord Ramesvara Siva, it also preserves the brass image of Lord Krishna in its sanctum. There is an additional shrine dedicated to goddess “Marichikei thakurani” noticed inside the Ramesvara temple complex of Tola-Gopinathpur. The site of the Ramesvara temple of Tola-Gopinathpur is aptly a sacred place for Shaivas, Vaishnavas and Shaktas of the Hindu pantheon. The detail history of both the temples of Akhandalesvara and Ramesvara are very interesting for more scholarly works. The aim of this article is to focus on architectural designs along with the religious significance of the above two Shaiva temples of the coastal belt of Odisha. Methodologically, both the primary and secondary sources have been used for the writing of the present article.