Chitrakarini Temple

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Overview

It is very difficult to provide the exact location of small and little known temples. Chitrakarini temple, though is historically prominent and architecturally important, remains little known. It is located in a small lane backside to the famous Lingaraja temple. One needs to take the road on the left side of Linga Raja temple (called as Lingaraja Temple Road), cross the place where the aerial view of Lingaraja temple can be photographed, and also cross the Parvati temple entrance and come to the end of Lingaraja complex. After this complex ends, there is a small lane to the left where the Chitrakarini temple is located.

About The Temple

Although the Orissan temple architecture style falls under the broad category of Nagara style of temple architecture, it has its unique and distinct features. Within the Orissan temple architecture style, there are three types based on the period of the construction and which dynasty constructed the temple. Chitrakarini temple, which was built by the Ganga Kings in the 13th century CE, is a Panchayatana temple, where there is a main shrine in the middle with four sub-shrines in the four corners.

In the main shrine, Chamunda's idol is found. It is a red colored stone idol. In the Jagmohan, the idols of Hanuman and bas relief idols of Navagraha in a single row are found. All these idols are not old as the temple. It is said that once, there were five idols in the main shrine and four idols each in the other four shrines, making totally nine idols of Shakti in this temple. However, no idol is found in the other four shrines nowadays.

The vimana, pidha as well as the walls of the shrines are intricately decorated and lot of sculptures such as elephants, lions, lions controlling elephants, dancing girls, erotic figures, Nagas and deities are found on them.

Legend and Stories

History

Chitrakarini temple belongs to the latter group temples of Bhubaneswar. It is certain that it was built by the Ganga Kings. It was perhaps built by the Ganga King Narasimha Deva I, who was also called as Parama Mahesvara, in the middle of 13th century CE.

How To Reach Bhubaneswar

Airport

Located around 6 km away from the city-centre, the Bhubaneswar Airport or Biju Patnaik International Airport connects the city with rest of the country by air. There are daily flights for Bhubaneswar from cities like New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Visakhapatnam. From the airport, taxi/bus services are available to reach any part of the city.

Railways

Bhubaneswar Railway Station is the main railhead connecting the city with several Indian cities. There are regular superfast trains available from Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore etc. From the station, you can take private cabs or taxis to reach anywhere in the city.

Road

Baramunda bus stand, located around 5 km away from the city centre connects Bhubaneswar to all other major India cities by road. Regular bus services are available for the cities like Konark, Puri, Hyderabad, Raipur, Ranchi and Kolkata.

Temple Address