The temple city round the Lingaraja, built in the eleventh century by the Somavamsi kings (Jajati Keshari is named) and remodelled by the Ganga kings with Vaishnava touches; Rajaraja II made gold gifts to it by an inscription of Saka 1094 (1172).
English Wikipedia's Lingaraja page says the Brahma Purana makes Jajati Keshari move his capital here from Jajpur. About it stand the smaller temples of the campaign board (Mukteshvara, Rajarani, Brahmeshvara, Parashurameshvara), the Bindusagar tank, the Dhauli Ashokan rock and the old ruin of Sisupalgarh.
Who holds it
- Name
- Rajaraja III
- Title
- The Ganga king and the Lingaraja priests
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia, Lingaraja Temple.
Lord in 1200
Rajaraja III.
What the town holds
- The Lingaraja temple and the Bindusagar tank
- The lesser temples and their endowments
How things stand that morning
A Shaiva temple city of Brahman priests, under the Ganga king's patronage.
Wealth
Temple endowments and pilgrims.
Threats
- None recorded for 1200
Council
Temple orders under the Brahman priests; no town council is recorded.
Communities
Brahman priests of several orders, temple servants, stone carvers.
Fairs and markets
Shivaratri and the car festival (their dating in 1200 is not proved).
Walls and castle
Temple enclosures only.
Trade and crafts
Stone carving and pilgrim trade (khondalite quarries, board).
Places of note
- Bhubaneswar: Temple city.
Where the sources disagree
- English Wikipedia says the present form of the Lingaraja dates from the last decade of the eleventh century; the campaign board says secure.
Evidence: Inscription of 1172 and the dynastic pages fix the temples and the patron; the city's life in 1200 is inferred.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
Primary sources for Eastern Gangas
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Lesser Chronicle (the continuation of the Mahavamsa), Dhammakitti and later monks of the Mahavihara tradition (the first continuation about the 13th century (chapters 37 to 79), carried on in stages to the 18th century). The only narrative source for Lanka in 1200. Read online
- Inscriptions of Bengal, vol. 3, Various (the Sena kings' chanceries), edited by N. G. Majumdar (copper plates of the 10th to early 13th centuries; edited 1929). The one-volume edition of the Sena copper plates, the main documentary evidence for Bengal around 1200. Read online
- Epigraphia Indica: inscriptions of the Chandelas, Paramaras, Gahadavalas, Chaulukyas, Senas and Eastern Gangas, Various (edited for the Archaeological Survey of India by J. Burgess, E. Hultzsch, F. Kielhorn, Sten Konow, F. W. Thomas and successors) (inscriptions of the 1180s to 1210s; the series ran from 1892). The main record series for the Hindu kingdoms of northern India around 1200. Read online
- Epigraphia Zeylanica: lithic and other inscriptions of Ceylon, Various (the Polonnaruwa kings' chanceries), edited by D. M. de Zilva Wickremasinghe, H. W. Codrington and S. Paranavitana (inscriptions of the 3rd century BC to the 18th century; the series ran from 1904). Prints with translation the stone records of the Polonnaruwa kings who held or lost the throne around 1200. Read online
- The Song of Govinda, Jayadeva (late 12th century, by tradition at the court of Lakshmanasena of Bengal). A literary witness, not a chronicle. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.