Temples of Bhubaneswar Old Town-History & Heritage

During my short visit to Bhubaneswar, I had two visits to Bhubaneswar old town. Old town is the area where original Bhubaneswar was centered around. There are more than 300 different temples in this part of the town. On day 01 evening, a friend, Debarpita Mohapatra, who was fellow blogger with me during Tata Nano superdrive 2010,  took me around and next day morning, I visited one more time to view the remaining important places.

Bhubaneswar's name originated from Tribhuvaneswar- meaning King of three worlds. The city has more than 300 temples, if you exclude smaller ones. One of the reason for these many temples, as per my friend Debarpita is because there was a school teaching in temple construction and lots of temples were built as a practice.

I will try to introduce you to some of the major temples in Bhubaneswar old town that I visited.

Lingaraj Temple- 11th century 
The main temple in old town- No mobiles are allowed inside. Entry is free. There is a main tower some 180 feet tall and about 64 smaller shrines in the temple complex. Non-hindus are not allowed inside.

Luckily there's a viewpoint outside the temple complex, from where it is possible take a decent photo of Lingaraj temple complex. This viewing deck is reportedly built for non-hindus to get a view of the temple complex, but is useful for anyone looking to photograph the temple, since mobiles and cameras are not allowed inside.

More about Lingaraj temple here. Enroute to the Lingaraj temple stopped at this pond, with a small temple in the centre, with colourful decoration in night. This is the Bindu Sagar with a Brahma temple in the middle.

Herbal Garden or Ekamravan

A nice garden next to the lake. Rs 5 entry ticket applicable. Located on the banks of Bindu Sagar, a green venue to walk through and may be sit around for a while.


Above: A shiva linga like structure near the herbal garden- a closer look through the hole gives view of the Lingaraja temple

Ashtashambu Shiva temple is on the other edge of Bindu Sagar.

Chitrakarini Temple
A small temple structure near Lingaraja temple

Parasurameshwara Temple

Lots of lion head motifs here, apparently this is one of the temples where elephants are shown more dominating than lions. Lots of intricate carvings here.

 Some of the intricate carvings

Mukteshwar Temple and Someshwar temple

Small and compact but has an interesting arch up front with intricate carvings.


Below-my new shirt- courtesy Utkalamrita of Sabat Exports.



Raja Rani Temple
Rs 25 entry fee applies. Located inside a nice little garden. There is no diety here, just a designer done.


A Nataraja Statue

Here's a map of all temples in Bhubaneswar Old town.


Refer this Wikipedia page for a more elaborate list. For more such historic places, you can also visit Tourist Secrets Asia Guide

Where to stay in Bhubaneswar: Swosti Grand * Swosti Premium
More temple posts: Konark Sun Temple * Wat Arun Bangkok * Aksharadham temple visit *

Reaching old town- from railway station area you can reach old town by share auto for Rs 20, or on  Mobus for about Rs 8. It is about 4 kms from Railway Station/Swosti Grand. Of course you can take Ola or Uber.