Kapilash Temple, also known as Mahadev Chandrashekhar Temple is situated in the north eastern part of Dhenkanal town,

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

, India at a distance of 26 km from the district headquarters.

Location and architecture

The temple is situated at a height of about 2239 feet from sea level. The main tower of the temple is 60 feet tall. There are two approaches to the temple. One is by climbing 1352 steps and the other is thru Barabanki or travelling by the twisting way. King Narasinghdeva I of Ganga Dynasty constructed the temple for Sri

Chandrasekhar Chandrasekhar, Chandrashekhar or Chandra Shekhar is an Indian name and may refer to a number of individuals. The name comes from the name of an incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva. In this form he married the goddess Parvati. Etymologically, the nam ...

in 1246 CE as indicated in the Kapilash temple inscription. In the left side of the temple the ''Payamrta Kunda'' and in the right side the ''Marichi Kunda'' exist. The temple has a wooden Jagamohana. Sri

Ganesh Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped Deva_(Hinduism), deities in the Hindu deities, Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is ...

Kartikeya Kartikeya ( sa, कार्त्तिकेय, Kārttikeya), also known as Skanda, Subrahmanya, Shanmukha (), and Murugan ( ta, முருகன்), is the Hindu god of war. He is the son of Parvati and Shiva, the brother of Ganesha ...

Gangadevi Gangadevi, also known as Gangambika, was a 14th-century princess and Sanskrit-language poet of the Vijayanagara Empire of present-day India. She was wife of Kumara Kampana, the son of the Vijayanagara king Bukka Raya I (c. 1360s-1370s). Gangade ...

, etc. are found in the temple. Patita pavana

Jagannath Jagannath ( or, ଜଗନ୍ନାଥ, lit=Lord of the Universe, Jagannātha; formerly en, Juggernaut) is a deity worshipped in regional Hindu traditions in India and Bangladesh as part of a triad along with his brother Balabhadra, and sister ...

is installed in the temple as the ''Parsa Deva''. Lord Vishwanath temple is also situated in Kapilash. According to some scholars this temple is older than the

temple, hence it is known as ''Budha Linga''. There are many legends about Kapilash pitha and its significance. Tradition describes it as the ashram of

Kapila Kapila ( sa, कपिल), also referred to as Cakradhanus, is a sage in Hindu tradition. According to Bhagavata Purana, he is the son of the sage Kardama and Devahuti, the daughter of the Svayambhuva Manu. Kardama had nine daughters, who wer ...

, to some scholars it is the second

Kailash Mount Kailash (also Kailasa; ''Kangrinboqê'' or ''Gang Rinpoche''; Tibetan: གངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ; ; sa, कैलास, ), is a mountain in the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It has an altitude of ...

of Lord

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

. Shridhar Swami who wrote commentary on

Bhagavata Purana The ''Bhagavata Purana'' ( sa, भागवतपुराण; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' or simply ''Bhagavata'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (''Mahapuranas''). Composed in Sa ...

stayed there. There are some monasteries in the premises.

Temple robbery

Three ancient idols were stolen from the temple premises in November 2015. The three stone ancient idols were stolen from near the entrance of the famous temple, they were statues of Lord Ganesh, Goddess Durga and Goddess Bhairavi.

Gallery

File:Kapilasa temple Dhenkanal Odisha1.jpg, Kapilash Temple File:Kapilasa_temple_Dhenkanal_Odisha2.jpg, Kapilash Temple File:Kapilasa temple Dhenkanal Odisha3.jpg, Kapilash Temple File:Kapilasa temple Dhenkanal Odisha5.jpg, Road to Kapilash Temple File:Kapilash Hilltop View.JPG, Hilltop View

References

External links

Kapilash Temple Details in Dhenkanal Official Web-site

sculptures of Chandrashekhara temple
Hindu temples in Dhenkanal district {{Odisha-hindu-temple-stub