Roots and branches of trees entwine the 13th century Kartikeswara Shiva temple and carvings on the walls. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, July 12: Thick layers of dust and dirt and roots and branches of huge trees have embraced the 13th century Kartikeswara Shiva temple. If attention is not paid to it, the temple located alongside the road from Garage Chowk to Lingaraj temple, will soon crumble into a heap of debris.

Situated within the precinct of Gandhi Gorabadu monastery, the temple is surrounded with a jungle of trees. Although local residents say worship is carried out in the temple, one finds the lingam buried deep under the ground. Rather, the sanctum has become a den for snakes today. Also, strong branches of huge trees such as pipal have gripped the dome of the age-old monument leading to the formation of wide cracks on it.

A portion of the structure is also buried under the earth. The entrance to the sanctum has a horizontal scroll designed with figures of Navagrahas below which one finds a beautiful carving of Goddess Lakshmi in the centre and two elephants on either side. Vertical bands of floral motifs that portray the pattern of the Kalingan school of art are still visible on the temple.

The sanctum of the shrine is full of stagnant rainwater that seeps in through cracks on the dome. According to local residents, they have never seen any repair work or maintenance done in the past few decades.

“The temple is almost reaching its end. We are surprised how it is still enduring the vagaries of nature despite having deteriorated due to the growth of dense vegetation on and around it,” said Bhagabat Behera, a local resident.

Residential buildings and shops have come up all around the temple. According to a curator at the Orissa State Archaeology, there is a danger of disappearance of the temple in the coming years if it continues to be neglected.

“All temples in the Old Town area are important and should be preserved. But due to shortage of funds and manpower as well as lack of awareness of local residents, only few have been restored or preserved properly,” said the official.

Meanwhile, the project of documenting all monuments of the state under the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities, that began last week, could be a ray of hope for these neglected heritage sites.

“We will be gathering all details of ancient monuments in the state under the project. This report will be submitted to the Archaeological Survey of India and they have planned to take necessary steps thereafter,” said archaeology expert Sadasiba Pradhan, the state co-ordinator for the project.