The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.s1.110

v2.c17.s1.110

The presiding divinity of the temple is a misshapen block of stone which serves the purpose of a *liṅgam*. According to the *Ekāmra Purāṇa*, the great saint Kapila performed, in this neighbourhood, a long-protracted penance, which induced Śiva to visit him in person, and offer him blessings. The saint asked three boons; 1st, that Śiva should assume the form of a *liṅgam* for adoration by the saint; 2nd, that he should produce on the spot a sacred pool, which should suffice to cleanse mankind from all sins; and 3rd, that he should grant the remnant of his food to the saint. The boons were forthwith granted, and the *liṅgam* which Śiva became for Kapila is the same which now exists in the temple, and the sacred pool is the tank by its side. With such a story to back them, it is not remarkable that the temple and the tank should enjoy the highest reputation for sanctity. The water of the tank is purer and holier than that of the River Ganges and of a hundred thousand sacred pools put together. And the reward of worshipping the *liṅgam* in the temple ensures identity of the worshipper with Śiva himself. The feasts and fasts celebrated in this temple are the same with those at the Great Tower; but there is a special one named Bhāṇḍabhaṅga. It is celebrated on a Sunday of the wane in the month of Phālguṇa.