The Three Basudebas of Bhubaneswar
Basudeba is Lord Krishna, an avataar of Lord Bishnu. The temple of Ananta Basudeba was constructed in the thirteenth century, and the complete murties of Krishna, Balarama and Subhadra are worshipped there. Balarama stands under a seven hooded serpent, Subhadra holds Jewels pot and lotus in her two hands keeping her left foot over another jewel pot, while Krishna holds a mace, chakra, lotus and a conch. Ananta is Balarama and Basudeba is Krishna.
I will go in detail of this temple but before that want to discuss about the two old temples of Ananta-Basudeba which are not very known to lot of people and still exists near this one.
Very few people know that there are actually three Ananta Basudeba temples existed in Bhubaneswar. The first temple was built by Bhaumakaras in 7th century. This was, almost, the initial phase of temple construction in Odisha.
This temple as stated above was the first one built by Bhaumakaras in the seventh century. They originally followed the Mahayana sect of Buddhism but they were also tolerant towards other beliefs. And this prompted them to built this temple. Although the temple is purely converted now into a Rama-Sita and Hanumaan temple but we can still found the glimpses of Basudeva sects in its architecture and appearance.
The Chakra or Sudarshana chakra on the top of temple is said to be built by stone, which is its unique feature. Below are the statues and images which were found in that temple but now re-established along the banks of Bindu-Saras or BinduSagar.
This statue no. 2 is said to be of Basudeba as the statue of Ananta is missing.
Now comes the second temple of Ananta-Basudeba.
The second temple of Ananta-Basudeba was built by Somavamsi or Keshari dynasty in the 9th century. This temple is now converted completely in the office of Kitchen of the Ananta-Basudeba temple. Some statues were find from this temple which are again re-established along the banks of Bindu-Saras or BinduSagar.
Now comes the third and most famous one. The new temple of Ananta-Basudeaba. As per the legends it appears that the original image of Bishnu was worshipped on the spot where the great temple of Ananta Basudeba was built in the 13th century A.D. Thus in the 13th century, Queen Chandrika of Eastern Ganga dynasty was prompted to construct a new temple — the temple of Anata Basudeba in this place. There must have been an old temple where this Bishnu image was installed.
One more thing, which I came to know is about Prasadhika means ladies who were sitting in different postues and having different items which were used in saundarjya prasadhana. From this they got the name of Prasadhika. Below are some statues which I found in the lower facade of the third Ananta-Basudeba temple.
These Prasadhikas must not be confused with the Nayikas.
Buddha is everywhere. There is also a statue of Lord Buddha in the third temple of Ananta-Basudeba, which surprised me a lot. Here Lord Buddha seated in Dhyana Mudra.
Two inscriptions were also came to my notice and when I made an inquiry about them, the chief priest of temple told me that these are not the original inscriptions of this temple.
So now onwards if someone asks about the temples of Ananta-Basudeba in Bhubaneswar, we are in a state to inform that; its not One but, there are three distinct Ananta-Basudeba temples present inside the same compound/ campus in Bhubaneswar.
Om Namah Bhagwate Basudebaya…..
PS: All these facts are based on the detailed communication held between me and Chief Priest of Ananta-Basudeba temple, Mr. Madhavanada Mahasupkar who is affectionately known as Madhava Pandit.
