Bharati Matha Temple

This temple was built around the 11th Century AD. The Matha Mahantas, who lived their lives for the development of Hindu religion, lived around this time and these people were respected as Gods by the general public. These Mahantas had the power of knowing when and where they would die and as their end comes near, they appoint successors to take their legacy forward. Once, they are done with their commitments, on that particular day, they go and sit in a particular place and enter into deep meditation and eventually their lives go away from their bodies. The public bury them in that same place and within 15 days, construct a small Shiva temple with a Yoni Pitha around it. In a similar way, 9 small temples were constructed and came to be known as Bharati Mata Burial temples I to IX.

The Bharati Matha is not an exception from the Kalinga style architecture commonly seen in Bhubaneshwar. The technique used to build the temple is masonry type. The height of the monument measure 26 metres. The Temple is facing toward the western side and is made up of coarse grey sandstone. It is a three storied structure and measures at height of 11.50 metres. The Bharati Matha Temple is square in shape occupying and area of 26 square metres. The temple is built on an elevated platform of 1.50 metres with seven mouldings. There are three living rooms measuring 6.15 by 3.45 metres.

The temple is surrounded by a wall having a height of 2.52 metres. The temple is simple with no extreme decorations but has Doorjamb with a length of 8.84 metres and 0.35 metres thick. It has a height of 1.70 metres. The wall of the temple encloses a courtyard but the temple is not well maintained. There is an urgent need for restoration as these historical monuments form a pride from the past.