The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s4.2

c5.s4.2

Ekâmrakânana—Bhuvanesvara on the river Gandhavatî, twenty miles from Cuttack in Orissa (Brahma P., ch. 40). The building of the temple at Bhuvanesvara was commended by Yayâti Keśarî, the founder of the Keśarî dynasty, who ascended the throne of Orissa after expelling the Yavanas or Buddhists in 473 A. D., and was completed about a century after by Lalâṭendu Keśarî. Under the name of Kaliṅga-nagarî, Bhuvanesvara was the capital of Orissa from the sixth century B. C. to the time of Yayâti Keśarî in the middle of the fifth century A.D. (Dr. R. Mitra's Antiquities of Orissa, vol. II, p. 62). Same as Harakshetra. It appears, however, that the place was covered with jungle before Yayâti Keśarî commenced building the temples at Bhuvanesvara towards the close of his reign; he died in 526 A. D. At the time of Lalâṭendu Keśarî (623-677 A. D.), it again became the capital: it contained seven Sâhis and forty-two streets. The temples of Bhuvanesvara (a Hari-hara image), Mukteśvara, Gaurî and Paraśurâma, which still exist, contain much workmanship of great artistic value. The tank called Devî-pâda-harâ, having 108 small temples of Yoginîs on all its sides, is said to have been the place where Bhagavatî crushed down the two demons Kîrtti and Vâsa with her feet (Bhuvanesvara Mâhatmya). The Bindu Sarovara is the most sacred tank in Bhuvanesvara dug by the queen of Lalâṭendu Keśarî. The ruins of the ancient palace of Yayâti Keśarî still exist by the side of the road leading from the Railway Station near the Râmeśvara temple. Lalâṭendu Keśarî is said to have erected a palace to the south of the temple of Bhuvanesvara (Dr. R. Mitra's Antiquities of Orissa, vol. II, p. 83; Stirling's Orissa in JASB., 1837, p. 756).