The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.s1.84

v2.c17.s1.84

**Bhaskaresvara:** To the north-east of the last, in the midst of a wide open plain, there is an old temple of a peculiar make, quite unlike the other temples of Bhuvanes'vara. It is named Bhāskareśvara of "the lord of the solar god." The *Ekāmra Purāṇa* has it that the gods of heaven, when informed by Brahmā of the unrivalled sanctity of the Mango Forest on the sea-shore, desired the thousand-rayed divinity, Sūrya, to proceed at once to the place, promising to follow him in due course. Sūrya came, and, charmed with the transcendental beauty of the place, got the celestial architect Viśvakarmā to erect a temple at a distance of 1,500 fathoms to the north-east of the Great Town of Kīrtivāsa. The temple erected, he established in it a noble *liṅgam*, and devoutly worshipped it with the choicest offerings. Kīrtivāsa, gratified by this devotion, offered him a blessing, and at the request of the devotee, promised to be ever-present in the *liṅgam* established by him.