Bhubaneswar, Nov. 4: Temples in coastal Odisha have always hogged the limelight for their tourism potential and architectural beauty, but few would be aware that these religious structures owe their evolution to temples found along the Upper Mahanadi Valley.

Prominent temples of Old Bhubaneswar including Parsurameswar, Mukteswar, Lingaraj and Rajarani, and a few others in Ekamrakshetra — one of the famous pilgrim centres of the Shaivites — had their roots in the temples existing in the valley in terms of style.

From Athamallick to the upstream, the Upper Mahanadi Valley stretches over 300km while the Mahanadi river, the sixth longest in the country, is about 860km in length.

Looking at the temples of western and central Odisha, one would be able to witness the pure and original form of temple art, which was later manifested in the temples of the coastal belt. Historian Sasanka Sekhar Panda, whose 12-year research in the form of two-volumes titled Sculptural Art of Upper Mahanadi Valley published last month, have brought to the fore this evolutionary link.

The book lists over 14 temples that are intact and 72 others currently in ruins and unknown to scholars and historians. With this, Panda has added new chapters in the history of temple architecture, sculptural art and iconography of the Upper Mahanadi Valley and Odisha, in general.

The historian says the pan-Indian scenario of temple art and architecture had a tremendous impact on the temple style of the Upper Mahanadi Valley. Geographically, the undivided Kalahandi, Koraput, Boudh, Sambalpur and Sundergarh came under the area. Now, the Upper Mahanadi Valley covers 14 districts of Odisha.

In his book, he mentions: “the Guptas and the Vakataka kings (associated with sculptures and paintings in the Ajanta caves) were patronising art in their areas; the Nalas of the Upper Mahanadi Valley got similar ideas as they were constantly warring with the Guptas (4th century AD) and Vakatakas of Nagpur. Samudragupta, the scion of the Guptas, attacked and defeated three kings of Kosala, Mahakantara and Korala and, perhaps by the Gupta invasion, the temple architecture was greatly influenced.

“In fact, before the Guptas there was no finite temple building style and tradition and they started it. One can say that the Upper Mahanadi Valley saw rigorous temple building activities during the Guptas in 4th century AD and continued it till 13th century AD.”

Buddhist influence

The discovery of many temples and their ruins brought forth the Buddhist influence in building of the brick temples in the Upper Mahanadi Valley. In fact, before the construction of temples, the entire coast of the river Mahanadi was found dotted with numerous Buddha viharas, stupas and chaityas that were built with bricks.

Many such stupas and viharas from that era can be seen in Ratnagiri-Lalitgiri and Udayagiri Buddhist circuit in Jajpur district. The two brick temples in the Upper Mahanadi Valley can be found at the 10th century AD Ranipur-Jharial (near the famous 64 Yogini Temple) and another at Budhi Komna of Pataleswar Shiv, also from the same period.

Many other structures corroborate the strong Buddhist influence – a Buddha statue found in Boudh decades ago and Buddhist remains from Shyamsundarpur and Pargalpur, both in the Upper Mahanadi Valley.

“The tourism department or private players can plan adventure tours through which travellers can trace the history of temple architecture and style. Tourists could be taken on a river voyage in boats and small cruises to see the historic locations. The only leaning temple of the country is located near Huma, a beautiful site to travel to with family,” said Debasish Mohapatra, a Bhubaneswar-based tour operator.

The diamond route

Besides remnants of temple architecture saga, historians have found out that the Upper Mahanadi Valley was rich in diamonds and gemstones. Greek geographer and astronomer Ptolemy, in his Ancient India wrote that Sambalpur was “the capital of a district which produces the finest diamonds in the world.” In his book, he, however, refers to the city as Sambalaka.

“The business of diamonds and precious stones from Upper Mahanadi Valley was extended up to Java, Sri Lanka, Sumatra, Cambodia, Burma and even China as traders took them to the coast of Kalinga through the Mahanadi river route. Besides rulers, the businessmen (called sresthis in Sanskrit) must have contributed to construction of temples in the Upper Mahanadi Valley,” Panda said.