Dhauli Temple

With the beautiful Daya River lying in the proximity, you have the ancient land of Dhauli that lets you know about the enormous battles that were fought here, the Kalinga War of 261 B.C. Buddhism for which Dhauli is so well known played a crucial role in transforming King Ashoka to a diehard Buddha devotee who eventually followed the preaching of Buddha for the rest of his life.

Dhauli is famous for the edicts related to Buddhism that were composed from the Brahmi script and used Prakrit language. One can spot a series of rock cut monuments at this hill. Numerous artifacts tell us about the urban settlement at this place in the 3rd century B.C. One finds the image of intricately carved elephant and close to this elephant, you have a stupa.

An enormous temple in Dhauli is the Dhavaleswar Temple, which is much frequented by the visitors. In addition to this, you have the Bahirangeswar Temple Siva Temple as well as the Ganesha Temple that together add to the religious aspect to this place.
Moreover, Dhauli also has another attraction named as the Shanti Stupa whose foundation was laid by the Japan Buddhist Sangha. Therefore, Dhauli is a worth visiting place by the diehard devotees of Lord Buddha.

The great Mauryan king renounced the path of violence to embrace Buddhism and publicized his new maxims in rock edicts, installed in different parts around the empire. One of these is here at the base of Dhauli hills, in which he proclaims, ‘All men are my children’, and expresses his concern to ensure impartially, non-violence, justice and compassion, an inscription in ancient brahmi script. The top of the rock is sculpted into an imposing elephant’s head, which is related to the dream the Buddha’s mother saw of the Buddha descending to her womb in the form of an elephant.

At Dhauli he built several chaityas, stupas and pillars. This is said to be the earliest rock cut structure in India. However, today the more visited site is, Vishwa Shanti Stupa, Peace Pagoda, at the top of Dhauli Hill, built by Indo Japanese collaboration in 1972, standing in the form of a massive dome with lotus petals as its crown. The five chhatris (umbrellas) placed on its flattened top represent five important aspects of Buddhism. This gleaming white double storey structure stands on a platform with two entrances with flights of steps. The stupa, from its origin emerges as the central focus of worship.