हिंदीOn this day
Standing

Mukhalingam Temples (Kalinganagara)

The old Eastern Ganga capital Kalinganagara on the Vamsadhara, where three Shiva temples show the Kalinga style in its youth, before Bhubaneswar and Puri.

Built: c. 9th–11th century, Eastern Ganga kingsWhere: Andhra PradeshDeity: Bhagwan Shiva as Madhukeshvara, Someshvara and Bhimeshvara18.59° N, 84.00° E
  1. c. 9th–10th century
  2. 12th century
Photo: G.N. Subrahmanyam · CC0

01A capital on the Vamsadhara

Copper-plate grants of the Eastern Ganga kings are issued from Kalinganagara, and most scholars place it here at Mukhalingam, in the north-east corner of Andhra. The Gangas ruled Kalinga from here for centuries until Anantavarman Chodaganga, in the 12th century, extended the kingdom north to the Ganga and began the Jagannath temple at Puri. The name of the place comes from its linga, which shows a face of Shiva, a mukhalinga.

02Three temples

The Madhukeshvara temple, the main shrine, still in worship, stands in a walled court with smaller shrines at its corners. Its walls carry Ganga dynasty inscriptions and fine figures of Durga, Ganesha, Kartikeya and river goddesses at the doors. The Someshvara temple nearby, smaller and more richly carved, is counted among the jewels of early Kalinga building; the Bhimeshvara temple is a short walk away. Few pilgrims come, and the temples are quiet in a way Bhubaneswar no longer is.

The life of this place

  1. c. 9th–10th centuryThe Madhukeshvara and Someshvara temples are built under the Eastern Gangas.
  2. 12th centuryAnantavarman Chodaganga extends the Ganga kingdom north; the capital later shifts towards Odisha.
Visiting

About 50 km from Srikakulam. Mahashivaratri is the big festival.

Nearby

Suryanarayana Temple, ArasavalliStanding
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Suryanarayana Temple, Arasavalli

One of the few temples of Surya still in daily worship in India, where twice a year the morning sun passes through the gopuram and falls on the feet of the murti.

Srikurmanatha Temple, SrikurmamStanding
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Srikurmanatha Temple, Srikurmam

The only major temple in India where Vishnu is worshipped as Kurma, the tortoise who bore Mount Mandara at the churning of the ocean. Its walls carry Eastern Ganga inscriptions and old painted murals.

Maa Budhi Thakurani Temple, BrahmapurStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Maa Budhi Thakurani Temple, Brahmapur

Brahmapur calls its Devi the Old Lady, Budhi Thakurani, and every second year it holds a month of festival for her in which she leaves her temple to live among the weavers who brought her.

Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Temple, SimhachalamStanding
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Temple, Simhachalam

The hill of the lion above Visakhapatnam, where Bhagwan is worshipped as Varaha and Narasimha in one form, hidden under sandal paste all year but one day.