SCULPTURAL ART AND ARCHITECTURAL PATTERN OF THE DHAVALESVARA TEMPLE OF DHAVALESVARA IN ODISHA

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to discuss on the sculptural art, architectural features of the Dhavalesvara temple of Dhavalesvara in the Cuttack district of Odisha. Dhavalesvara temple is a significant Shaiva Shrine of the Cuttack district of the state of Odisha. This temple is very famous shrine in that locality, for which, a good number of devotees come to visit this shrine. Old sculptures of different deities of both Saivism and Vaishnavism are also found to be preserved in the temple site, for which the site of the temple is considered as ‘Hari-Hara pitha’. This temple initially consisted of vimana and jagamohana. In later period, natamandapa as well as bhogamandapa were also added to the main temple. The artistic as well as religious aspects of the Dhavalesvara temple represent a noteworthy Shaiva shrine of the medieval Odisha. The original Parvati image in the northern side parsvadevata niche is not noticed, in that place a Mahisamardini Durga image is inserted as side deity. The six armed and three headed image of Kartikeya is unique in the study of Odishan art tradition. The extant preserved old loose sculptures of the temple suggest us that these were probably collected from the local areas for the purpose of worship. Most of the loose sculptures are not in intact, so their identifications are not possible properly due to mutilation of images. All the images of different periods were finely executed by the Kalingan School of artists. Source materials from primary as well as secondary data are utilized in the writing of this article.