Yameswar Temple is a Shiva shrine in the Harachandi Sahi area of Puri, southwest of the Jagannatha Temple, in the old Yameswar Tota quarter. It is one of the five Shiva shrines of Puri known as the Pancha Pandava. Local belief holds that the god of death has no right to punish devotees within the sacred kshetra, and the name Yameswar, lord of Yama, is linked to this idea. The temple has long been associated with the Jagannatha temple's ritual life.
quick facts
- district
Puri
- dress code
Ethnic or traditional dress is customary.
know before you go
do
- Remove footwear before entering the temple compound
- Keep your voice low inside the shrine
- Follow the guidance of the temple servitors
- Make room for devotees who are praying
avoid
- Do not climb on the structures or touch the carvings
- Do not litter the compound or the tank
- Do not block the doorways while others wait to worship
how to reach
The temple is within Puri town, southwest of the Jagannatha Temple near Harachandi Sahi, and is reached by road. Puri railway station is the nearest station.
address: Harachandi Sahi, Yameswar Tota, Puri, Odisha 752001
history and significance
why it matters
Yameswar is one of the Pancha Pandava Shiva shrines of Puri and is counted among the eight guardian Shiva deities that surround Shrikshetra in local tradition.
The name carries a belief that death has no power within the kshetra, citing the Skanda Purana, which makes the shrine a place where devotees pray for protection from untimely death.
history
The name Yameswar is old in Puri tradition. The Skanda Purana mentions Yameswar, and the Odia Mahabharata of Sarala Dasa speaks of a Yamanika Tirtha on the sea shore of Utkala where a Yameswar Mahalinga stood. In that telling, Yamanika, a son of Brahma, was cursed to remain in place and became a stone, the Mahalinga. A researcher writing in the Orissa Review reads this as a distant memory of an older tantric tradition at Puri and links the name to Yamantaka. This is a scholarly interpretation, not settled fact.
A Gaudiya Vaishnava commentary on the Chaitanya Charitamrita places Yameswar Tota on the southwest side of the Jagannatha temple, a garden and sandy beach where Gadadhara Pandita lived. No firm date for the present temple is given in the sources consulted.
nearby
- Jagannatha Temple, northeast of the shrine
- Lokanatha Temple, which lies west of Yameswar according to the Orissa Review
other temples nearby5
questions visitors ask
Is this the same as the Yameswar temple in Bhubaneswar?
No. Bhubaneswar has a separate Yameswar temple, a Shiva and Yama shrine of the Eastern Ganga period. This page describes the Yameswar shrine in Puri.
What does the name Yameswar mean?
It means the lord of Yama, the god of death. Local belief holds that death has no power inside the sacred kshetra of Puri, citing the Skanda Purana.
Where was Yameswar Tota in Chaitanya's time?
A commentary on the Chaitanya Charitamrita places it southwest of the Jagannatha temple, a garden and sandy beach where Gadadhara Pandita lived.