Maitreswara Temple - Bhubaneswar

Site Name: Maitreswara Temple
Site Type: Hindu ancient temple
Location:   Near Lingaraja temple, Bhubaneswar city, Odisha state, India
Highlights: Architecturally beautiful ancient temple
Nearest Railway Station: Bhubaneswar
Nearest Airport: Bhubaneswar
How to reach: Well connected by road, rail and air
Hotel: There are many options across the city
Restaurants: Varieties of options 

Bhubaneswar is not only about the gigantic Lingaraja temple or the architectural marvels such as Raja Rani temple or Parasurameshwar temple. The city has a lot more to offer for any enthusiastic and art loving traveler or devotee. The city, which is the capital city of Odisha (formerly Orissa) state of India, is called as 'the City of Temples'. It once had around 3000 temples and even today hundreds of temples are located in every nook and corner of this heritage rich city. Let us explore an unknown temple named Maitreswara temple in this article.


Location:

It is very difficult to provide the exact location of small and little known temples. Maitreswara temple is located on the right side of the Ratha Road leading from Lingaraja temple to Badehibanka Chowk in Bhunabeswar. The nearest temples to this site are Chitrakarini temple and Papanasini temple. 



Temple Layout:

The temple complex has one main temple and another small temple.

There is another temple called Maitreswar temple located within the complex of Papanasini. Let us not get confused with that.

The main temple is facing the east direction. It has Shiva Linga in the sanctum santorum. The vimana is of rekha deula type and the Jagmohana has pyramidal shaped (Pidha) roof. The entrance has the Navagraha panel. The walls have niche idols of Ganesha, Kartikeya and Durga, but all of them are broken partially. There are no sculptures found in the vimana and it is pretty plain. As the main temple has all the features such as vimana, Jagmohana with Pidha and niche idols completely, it looks awesome.

This sandstone temple with pancharatha plan can be dated to the 13th century CE and was built by the Gangas. 

The smaller temple just has sanctum santorum with rekha type vimana and it does not have Jagmohana. The sanctorum enshrines the idol of Shiva Linga. The walls have the niche idols (Parsvadevta) of Ganesha, Kartikeya and Parvati. Next to this temple, two Shiva Lingas are found. This temple can also be dated to the 13th century CE and was built by the Gangas.

Happy travelling.






Comments

  1. thank you very much. Odisha is under appreciated for beautiful images.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot for your support and encouraging words. It's my dream to cover each and every temple of the entire Orissa state.

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