Chausath Yogini Temple (Hirapur)

Chausath Yogini Temple of Hirapur near Bhubaneswar ( Odisha )

The Chausath Yogini Temple of Hirapur (popularly often called the Mahamaya Temple ) near Bhubaneswar in the state of Odisha is one of the rare surviving evidence of a village-matriarchal and originally rather non-Brahmanic cult of gods in northern India .

location

The village of Hirapur, with a population of around 700, is located - just 6 km from the temple district of Bhubaneswars - on the east bank of the Kuakhai River , an estuary of the Mahanadi River . The temple is located near the village on a small hill. Buses from Bhubaneswar in the direction of Puri pass near the temple.

history

Nothing is known about the time of origin or the person (s) who commissioned the Chausath Yogini Temple in Hirapur. Some figures are sometimes compared stylistically to those of the Mukteswar Temple of Bhubaneswar from the 10th century, but in large parts of India between the 10th and 14th / 15th In the 19th century there was no more significant stylistic development and during this time tantric rituals experienced a (renewed?) High point. The temple was only 'rediscovered' by scientific research in 1953; it still serves the local and regional population as a place of worship.

temple

Yoginis in the Chausath Yogini Temple of Hirapur ( Orissa )

The Yogini Temple of Hirapur is a round atrium temple enclosed by a granite stone wall and open at the top, only about 10 m in diameter with only one entrance - protruding from the wall - which is secured by two standing male guardian figures; There are female gods in nine niches on the outside wall. The more or less well-preserved statues of 60 female deities ( yoginis ), which differ from one another in their posture and the attached attributes, are made of darker and harder basalt rock on the inner walls, which are provided with high rectangular niches . All figures can no longer be clearly identified by name; most are two-armed, a few multi-armed. In the middle of the courtyard is a shrine dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva , which probably dates from the time the temple was built, because here there are four other yogini statues, which are accompanied by four Bhairava images with erect penises. Many of the 60 to 70 cm high figures testify - despite multiple destruction - of the craftsmanship and artistic mastery of the sculptors of that time.