Bhubaneswar is an inland town about 20 miles south of Cuttack. It is a Railway station on the mainline between Calcutta and Madras. Once it was the proud capital of a large and flourishing kingdom. The founder was Yayati Kesari who expelled the Buddhists and established the Kesari or Lion dynasty of Orissa.
The chief temple is the Lingaraja temple. The name of the presiding deity is Tribhuvaneswara or the Lord of the three worlds. Siva is worshipped in the form of a large uncarved block of granite about 8 feet long. It is a Svayambhu linga.
The other temples are the Raja Rani temple, Brahmeswara temple, dedicated to Brahma and the Vasudev temple dedicated to Vishnu.
There are many rock-cut caves in the Udayagiri and Khandagiri. The Hathi Guha or the elephant cave, the Ravi Guha and the Ganesha Guha are found in the Udayagiri.
The Latghara Guha in the Khandagiri hill contains the figures of the Jain Tirthankaras. The figure of Rishaba Deva is beautiful.
There are many sacred tanks. The most sacred is Vindusagara. “Whatever merits may be acquired by annual pilgrimages to the source of the Ganges, the Prayaga or the Ganga Sagar, repeated for 60 years, may be acquired by a single bath in the Vindu Sagara.”
Drops from all the sacred pools on earth, in heaven, in the lower regions and also nectar constantly fall into it. Hence the significant name, Vindu Sagara. It is celebrated to possess the combined sacredness of all the sacred rivers and tanks of India. Therefore, it is largely resorted to by pilgrims.
