May 19th , 2018
Tour of Salepur & Choudwar – It was a morning of excitement and lots of anticipation, when collectively 8 Heritage Enthusiastic individuals’ took and endeavour to see some of the ancient treasures of Undivided Cuttack . The ever consuming Summer heat and yet the brave enthusiasts were simple unstoppable .
This day will go down the memory lane as discovering rich antiquities and artefacts and building the initiative and foundation for Cuttack Heritage Walks . Shri Dipak Samantarai , Shri Dilip Das, Shri Shibaji Nayak, Shri Hitesh Seth, Shri Nishikant Mohanty , Master Abhigyan Mohanty , Shri Ashish Sarangi and Myself. An age group spread from 14 years to 72 years and what a group it was indeed.
Our first stop – was Sri Chateswara Temple , A 13th Century built by the Gangas in Kishnapur Village near Salepur. The Stone Inscription by Shri Ananga Bhima Deva – III well kept , chronicled with the achievements and victories he made as the Ruler of Kalinga from 1211 A.D. While he thwarted the enemies in Bengal and drove them away, he had swiftly conquered the Kalachuris in the West and built a strong alliance , expanded his Kingdom until Rajamundry in the South .
Architecture
On the basis of a number of detached sculptures of different faiths like Saivite and Sakta, the original temple can be assigned to the Eastern Ganga dynasty rule during 12th Century AD. A miniature four- armed Vishnu, broken images of Chamunda, Surya and Buddha, Udyotasimha, Nandi, miniature temple and other architectural members.The temple is pancharatha on plan and the bada has multi-segmented horizontal mouldings in elevation.
