Papanasini Siva Temple, Hindu temple in Old Town, Bhubaneswar, India.
Papanasini Siva Temple is an abandoned Hindu temple in the Papanasini precinct of Bhubaneswar's Old Town. Its square vimana, built of laterite in dry masonry, rises 4.16 metres in the pidha order with a fivefold bada. The south-facing sanctum is empty, and the three parsvadevata niches on the north, west and east walls are also empty.
Architectural features date the temple to the 11th century, not the 14th or 15th as some later accounts state. It is a Pidha deul of the Kalingan style, built of laterite by dry masonry, with a square vimana measuring 2.50 metres on each side. The bada is divided into five parts (panchanga) and the vimana rises 4.16 metres to a mastaka of 0.95 metres.
The temple is abandoned and its sanctum is empty, so no worship takes place there today. Its name, Papanasini, links it to the idea of washing away sins, a name it shares with the Papanasini precinct and compound wall around it. The empty parsvadevata niches on the north, west and east walls show where subsidiary images once stood.
The temple stands in the Papanasini precinct off Badheibanka Chowk in the Old Town, at an elevation of about 14 metres. It is an abandoned structure with an empty sanctum, so there are no worship customs to observe. The eastern wall has collapsed and cracks run through all sides; the broken kalasa lets rainwater into the roof, so keep a safe distance from the masonry.
This temple survives with minimal upkeep and displays empty niches carved into its walls in several locations. These vacant spaces hint at how the shrine once looked more adorned in earlier centuries.
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