Parasurameswara is the oldest well-preserved temple in Bhubaneswar, built around 650 CE under the Shailodbhava kings. It shows the Kalinga style in its first confident form: a short curved tower (rekha deul) attached to a rectangular hall with a flat, two-tiered roof.
Although small, it is covered in some of the liveliest early carving in India — dancing Shiva, musicians, rows of animals and the lattice windows of the hall — and it is still an active Shiva temple, with a sahasra linga (a lingam of a thousand small lingams) in the courtyard.
Top things to do at Parasurameswara Temple
Read the hall’s walls
The hall’s outer walls carry panels of musicians and dancers and the stone lattice windows (jali). Compare them with Mukteswar across the road to see how the style changed in three centuries.
Find the thousand-lingam stone
In the courtyard to the north of the temple stands the sahasra linga, a single stone carved with a multitude of tiny lingams.
Start an Old Town walk here
Parasurameswara is a natural first stop on a chronological walk: here (7th century), then Mukteswar (10th), Rajarani and Brahmeswara (11th), finishing at Lingaraj.
How to get to Parasurameswara Temple
- Location: just west of Mukteswar on the edge of the Old Town, about 2 km from Lingaraj.
- On foot: 3–5 minutes from Mukteswar; 10 minutes from Rajarani.
- Tours: included in the temples-and-Puri day tour and most Old Town walks.
Insider tips
- Free to enter; open roughly sunrise to sunset. A priest may offer to explain the temple for a donation.
- Photography is generally fine outside; ask before photographing the sanctum.
- The courtyard stone is hot underfoot on sunny afternoons — another reason to come early.
Best tours & tickets for Parasurameswara Temple
These experiences are the easiest way to see Parasurameswara Temple with a guide and transport sorted:
Private day trip from US$94 Bhubaneswar: Temples and Puri Private Day Tour
Starts with the small, exquisitely carved early temples of Bhubaneswar — Parasurameswara and Mukteswar — then heads 60 km to the coast for Puri, the Jagannath Temple and the sea. A good pick if Konark is already on another day of your plan.
- Parasurameswara and Mukteswar, the oldest jewels of the Old Town
- Puri and the Jagannath Temple
- Time on Puri’s beach
Walking tour from US$21 Bhubaneswar: 2-Hour Guided Heritage & Cultural Walking Tour
A short private walk through the Ekamra Kshetra, the sacred Old Town around Bindu Sagar, pairing well-known temples with the small shrines and tanks tucked between houses. Reviews are mixed, so treat it as a budget introduction rather than an in-depth tour.
- The Old Town on foot with a local guide
- Temples, tanks and lanes most visitors drive past
- The cheapest guided option in the city
