The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c11.55

v1.c11.55

**Reply to the fifth objection :** This objection is by no means a weighty one. The Śivites may well say that æsthetic considerations may have had much to do with it than religion ; certain it is that in no part of India are Śivite temples excluded from the precincts of towns and villages. In Benares, scores if not hundreds, of such fanes stud every part of the town. At Bhuvaneśvara, the palace of Lalāṭendra Keśarī stood in close proximity to the Great Tower. The most remarkable fane in the heart of Ujjayinī, in the time of Vikramāditya, was the temple of Mahākāla, a form of Śiva ; and Kālidāsa calls special attention of the Cloud Messenger to visit it in his way to Kailāsa. Indeed, it is difficult to find a Hindu city which has not more than one Śivite temple within its boundary.