Sobhaneswar

Sobhaneswar is a Shiva temple at Niali in Cuttack district, on the left bank of the Prachi river, about 400 yards from the Niali to Madhava road. It is a protected monument dated to the twelfth century and linked to the Eastern Ganga period, probably the late reign of Anangabhima Deva. A very large bull, Nandi, stands before the temple and is described as the largest in India. The shrine belongs to the Shaiva tradition and Mahashivaratri is its main festival, with weddings and thread ceremonies also held here.

No founding legend of the temple is recorded in the published sources consulted, and what can be stated rests on architectural and archaeological documentation. The temple stands in the Prachi valley, a region of old Shaiva and Vaishnava shrines, and is generally dated to the twelfth century under...