The Parasurameshwara temple is one of the oldest temples in Bhubaneshwar, dating back to the early 8 th century CE. It is also one of the more intriguing temples, with a wide variety of very interesting sculptures. This temple has been attributed to the Shailodbhavas , who were Shaivites. The dynasty is named for their founder, Shailodbhava, who is said to have emerged from a rock, by the grace of Lord Shiva, in response to a prayer by a man from Kalinga, to create a man capable of ruling the earth. That this temple is dedicated to Shiva is clear, not only from the Shaiva dwarapalas who guard the entrance, but also from the numerous sculptures depicting Shiva in his many forms. However, what makes this temple very interesting is the presence of multiple images of the goddesses, especially the Saptamatrikas. The presence of different forms of the goddess, a panel depicting the marriage of Shiva and Parvati, as well as an image of Ardhanareeshwara suggest a strong Shakta influence o...
There is no counting the number of temples in the vicinity of Tirupati, but the TTD maintains some of them, and they also run buses to these temples in an attempt to popularize them. While some are just small temples about which not much information is available, some of them are really beautiful and worth a visit. We took the TTD bus to make a visit to all these temples in a day. It happened to be Diwali, so we had the added satisfaction of spending the festival in a memorable manner. Here are the temples we visited. Karvetinagaram Narayanavanam Nagari Bugga Nagalapuram Surutapalli Appalayagunta Tallapakka Chennakesava Swamy Temple Karvetinagaram Karvetinagaram , located about 48 Km from Tirupati, traces its origins back to the era of the Chalukyas, who had their capital at Narayanavanam. At some point, a forest was cleared and their new capital (Nagaram) was built here. Since the capital was built by cutting down a forest, this place came to be known as ‘Kadu vetti...