The Temple City of India — over 700 medieval temples once stood here, the Lingaraja Temple's 55-meter shikhara still watches over Bindu Sagar lake, and rock-cut Jain caves crown a twin hill that predates the Mauryan Empire
Bhubaneswar (pop. 900,000), the capital of Odisha, was once called the Kashi of the East — at its peak in the 8th–12th centuries, the city contained over 7,000 temples, of which approximately 700 survive in various states. The Lingaraja Temple (c. 1090 CE) is the finest example of Kalinga architecture — a style unique to Odisha that differs from both north and south Indian temple design — with a 55-meter main tower (deul) decorated with intricate carved bands of figures, mythological scenes, and erotic sculptures in the same tradition as Khajuraho but less internationally known. The Bindu Sag…
Bhubaneswar's environs were at the center of one of ancient India's most consequential events: the Kalinga War of 261 BCE, in which Mauryan emperor Ashoka defeated the Kalinga kingdom (which occupied modern Odisha) in a battle estimated to have killed 100,000 soldiers and civilians. The Ashoka Rock Edicts at nearby Dhauli record the emperor's transformation from violent conqueror to Buddhist convert following the carnage — the most documented conversion in ancient history. The city itself became a major Hindu religious center under the Somavamshi dynasty (9th–11th centuries) and peaked under…