Part 1.3 - Lord Liṅgarāja or Tribhubaneswar or Kṛttivāsa

The Liṅgarāja temple (circa. A.D. 11^th century) occupies the central position and is also the centre of all social and religious activites of the place. This was enclosed by vast compound wall (520 feet x 465 feet) comprising the area of 4.595 acres of land. The height of its main tower (Deula) is 45.11 mts while the succeeding hall of pyramidal type (jagamohana) is 28.9 mts high.^[1] Of these other two structures like, Naṭamandira and Bhogamaṇḍapa, all four are the same axial alignment appear to have been added at subsequent date. The present Liṅgarāja temple consisting of the deula and jagamohan possibly belong to the Somavaṃśī King Uddyota Kesari^[2]. Inside the vast compound, there stand more than 100 temples of small and big size apart from other structures, viz platforms, wells and kitchine which were added throughout the past centuries.

The Liṅgarāja temple began during the period of the Gauda king Śaśāṅka. The Ekāmra Purāṇa clearly refers to Śaśāṅka’s temple building activity in the Ekāmra

⁷ Archeological Remains at Bhubaneswar,p.178

⁸ Temples legends of Orissa, p.3

⁹ Temples of Orissa,p.48

¹⁰ K.C.Panigrahi,op.cit,p.29-32

Kṣetra and this appear to contribute to the fame of the sacred centre as Śaiva Pīṭha.^[3] Śaśāṅka made Lord Tribhubaneshwar, the presiding deity of the place. We accept the view of K.C. Panigrahi in this context which states that the Śaiva temples existed at Bhubaneshwar before the 7^th century A.D. and that from the period of Śaśāṅka the shrine of Tribhubaneshwar became the supreme structure.^[4] The period of Śaśāṅka in Bhubaneshwar witnessed an extra-ordinary popularity of Śaivism in Ekāmra Kṣetra.

The name Kirttivāsa attributed to the Lord of Ekāmra as the presiding deity needs a close study in this respect. Ekāmraka became celebrated Śaiva centre, the seat of Tribhubaneshwar at least from 7^th century A.D. the place was then also known as Kṛttivāsa-Kṣetra. All records from the 7^th century A.D. to 14^th century A.D. either refer to Ekāmraka or to Kṛttivāsa-Kṣetra. The Śukla Yajurveda refers to the meaning of Kṛttivāsa.^[5] According to the text Kṛttivāsa is compound word krtti (hide) and Vāsa (clothing) one who is clad in hide. This name of Śiva reminds us of the story about the slaughter of a demon named Gajasura by Śiva who dressed himself with the former’s skin at his request at the time of his death.^[6] Even if this interpretation is well known the traditional accounts in Odisha do not seem to accept it. Our traditional accounts provide another reason for the attribution of the name Kṛttivāsa to Śiva in the Kṣetra of Ekāmraka. The composers of the accounts (Ekāmra Purāṇa and Svarṇādri Mahodaya) must have been aware of this tradition on the name of Kṛttivāsa. But they had a question about its attribution to Śiva of the Ekāmraka Kṣetra. They might have wanted to know the real screat of the name Kṛttivāsa, the presiding deity of Ekāmraka, not of Kāśī. Out of this eager investigation a new legend emerged. The Ekāmra Purāṇa gives another interpretation of the name of Krittivasa.

There was a king of the demons named Mataṅga and his son was Drmila. Drmila had one hundred sons of whom Pṛthuloma or Pṛthula was the eldest and Kṛtti and Vāsa were the strongest. The king Dramila propitiated the Brahmins and so they conferred on him a boon that his two sons Kṛtti and Vāsa would never be killed by any male. Kritti and Vāsa grew with brutal and planned the destruction of his brothers. One day Kirti took brothers to the forests on the cause of hunting wild animals, but when they grew tired, hungry and thirsty, he killed ten of them. On second occasion he took the remaining brothers to the forest and killed ten of them. This process was repeated by him. When his broken-hearted mother asked him about the whereabouts of rest his brothers, he gave her an evasive reply. King Drmila suspected Kṛtti of having killed his sons and so he ordered his army generals to kill him. But his two general-Ugrasharma and Kuvala fought bravely against him and they were killed he and his eldest son pṛthula followed Kṛtti and Vāsa with an army and left them at great distance from their kingdom. Kṛtti and Vāsa wondered here and there and last they came to Ekāmra. At the time they came to Ekāmra Kṣetra Pārvatī according to the desire of Śiva, was living in the guise of Gopallini (milkmaid) and was regularly worshipping the Liṅgaṃ of the Goṣahasreśvar shrine. The two brothers accidentally met Gopalini and being attracted with her beauty wanted to make her their wife. Gopalini at once informed Śiva of the evil intention of the demon brothers. Śiva told her that according to the boon obtained by their father they would no to be killed by any male member and so he should render a great service to the gods if she could kill them. He instructed her to request the brothers to carry her on their shoulders and while being carried by them to death. Śiva’s instruction was carried into effect and both the demons died being pressed under the feet of Gopalini. Water sprang up where they died and that spot is now represented by the Devipada-Hara tank.^[7] K.C. Panigrahi who is inclined to find the real historical secret form who is inclined to find the real historical secret form this traditional account has stated.

Another tradition says that, many of the names given in the story like those of the cālukya kings. The original names have either been corrupted or purposely distorted to suit the exigencies of a mythological story. We can hardly expect from a mythological story of the order or chronological sequence in which the Cālukya kings appears in their inscriptions but those corrupted names indicate that their activies at Ekāmra, when they occupied or attempted to occupy Odisha, descended to posterity as distant echoes which have formed the basis of mythological story.^[8]

This analysis of a traditional account on the name of Kirttivāsa as recorded in the Ekāmra Purāṇa does not help us in the attribution of the name Kṛttivāsa to Śiva (as according to the account Śiva was called as Kṛttivāsa for cleverly manipulating the death of Kṛttivāsa and Vāsa) at Ekāmraka. Even if we accept the view of K.C.Panigrahi that, the author of the Ekāmra Purāṇa was conscious of a historical event in Bhubaneswar in 7^th century A.D. We definitely like to differ from him on this ground that his analysis does not discover the real secret of the name Kṛttivāsa. While analyzing this legend from a historical point of view, Panigrahi was not conscious of the name Krittivāsa given to the presiding deity of the Kṣetra of the Ekāmraka. His conclusion has been divorced from the solution of the real problem attribution of the name Kṛttivāsa to supreme deity of Ekāmraka. The analysis also does not give us any clue regarding the necessity of the attribution of the name Kṛttivāsa to the Lord of Ekāmraka. One should not underestimate this aspect. The main aim of the legendary account is not to present the triangular conflict (Cālukyas and others) in Bhubaneswar in the 7^th century A.D. It aims to present the real cause behind such an attribution of the name Kṛttivāsa to the Lord of Ekāmraka. Moreover, the name Kṛttivāsa was overwhelming popular for centuries as the supreme deity of Ekāmraka. Hence there is necessity to study the legendary account more carefully to arrive at the door of the truth.

The legendary account might have presented symbolically the phase when the site of Ekāmraka was acquired for Śiva worship and the manner in which a particular famous zone inside Ekāmraka was acquired for making it a centre of the supreme deity. The legendary account refers to conflict between Pārvatī (in the guise of Gopalini and Kirttivasa the two demon brothers). Probably Ekāmraka became a celebrated centre of Śiva partly due to a conflict between the Buddhist–Śākta cult and the non-Vedic tribal cults. Śaivism got the benefit of acquiring the zone easily due to the conflict of the two groups. The legendary account refers to the fact that Śiva himself was not a party to conflict; but when the Śākta cult won over the nonVedic tribal cults, the Śaivites got it easily and the non Vedic zone (the area of Krittivasa) became the main centre of the Śaivites.

The area was probably original under a tribal group and it may be contended that within that tribal zone there was the natural stone which the Śaivites accepted as Svayambhu Liṅgam; but the tribal group had full control over from the beginning. Efforts were undertaken by the different religious groups (mainly Buddhists and the Śāktas) to occupy this zone in ancient time. The Śaivites might have been conscious of the existence of the natural stone (which was rare in that zone) and they might have been eagerly waiting to capture the zone for converting the natural stone (Svayambhu Liṅgam) the object of worship. They got the opportunity of acquiring the zone when there was a conflict between the tribal cult and Śākta Buddhist cult. The Śaivites were clever and the outcome of the conflict was their success in establishing full control over the zone. This is an interesting example of Kṣatraisation in ancient India. Probably this earlier conflict in Ekāmraka and silent effort of the Śaivites to control the zone continued in popular memory and the legendary account was formed when Śiva was well worshipped there after the conflicting phase of the Cālukya King, Gauda king and the Kāmarupa king in the beginning of the 7^th century A.D. Later on the story of the slaughter of the demon Gajasura by Śiva was symbolically used in the traditional account. Even if Tribhubaneshwar was the name of the deity of Kṣetra during the time of Śaśāṅka, the name Kṛttivāsa became very popular and prominent.

Footnotes and references:

[back to top]

[1]:

Temples of Orissa,p.48

[2]:

K.C.Panigrahi,op.cit,p.29-32

[3]:

Ibid,p.32

[4]:

Ekāmra-Bhubaneswar, Vol.XXXIII.NO.I and II,p.146

[5]:

Ibid.p.146

[6]:

K.C.Panigrahi,op.cit,p.220-222

[7]:

Ibid,p.222-223

[8]:

History and Culture of India,p-153