How many Shiva temples have you visited till date? Have you ever seen a Shiva Temple without the trident on the pinnacle (Shikhara) of the temple? Unlike any other temple, the Lingaraj Temple of Bhubaneswar has a bow instead of the trident of Lord Shiva, thus making it unique from other prominent Shiva temples across the country. But why is it different from other temples?
The Lingaraj Temple wields many stories & has fine-grained khondalite stone carved in the Kalingan architecture style. The craftsmanship of Kalingan Architecture has followed the principle of construction based on the traditional technique of corbelling. The Parsva Devata images have been carved out of chlorite or muguni stone.
It is believed that during the rise of the Ganges who were devout Vaishnavas, a new movement started resulting in the synthesis of Shaivism and Vaishnavism & the religious sphere in Bhubaneswar underwent a radical change. The Ganga kings are described as versed in the tantric schools of Shaivism and Vaishnavism.
As per some theories, the Ganges while remodelling the Lingaraj Temple introduced certain Vaishnavite elements which are not usually found in other Saiva Shrines. In the Southern doorjambs of the Natamandir of Lingaraj Temple, the images of the Vaishnava Dwarapalas, Jaya-Vijaya were placed instead of Chanda-Prachanda. On the western side of the main temple of Lingaraj and on the northern side of its Bhogamandap the images of Jagannath and Laxmi-Narayan were enshrined, so that a devotee while making Parikrama around the main temple could first meet these Vaishnavite deities.
It is during this time that a Vaishnavite image of Garuda (eagle) was placed on the Garuda pillar to the left side of the Nandi bull of Shiva. The flag on the Lingaraj temple was fixed to a Pinaka bow instead of a trident usually found in the Shiva Temples. A bow represents the 2nd most powerful weapon of both Shiva & Vishnu. Lingaraj was hence called as Harihara, the sattvik combination of Vishnu and Shiva.
Do you know any other version of this story? Let us know in the comment section below.
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