Guptesvara Siva temple is located within the Kapilesvara temple precinct, Kapilesvara village, Old Town, Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar is the capital of the Indian state of Orissa, officially Odisha. The city has a long history of over 2000 years starting with Chedi dynasty who had Sisupalgarh near present-day Bhubaneswar as their capital...

, the capital of the Indian state of Orissa

Orissa

Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...

 (Lat. 20° 13’ 74” N., Long. 85° 49’ 65” E., Elev. 45 ft.).The enshrined deity is a Shiva

Shiva

Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...

lingam within a circular yoni pitha at the center of the sanctum. The temple was built in 14th -15th Century A.D. and now it is under the guidance of Kapilesvara Temple Trust Board. The local people ascribe the temple to the Gajapati period. Here Rituals like Sankranti and Sivaratri are observed.

Surrounding

The temple is surrounded by temple Kitchen in north and east, Chitresvara temple in west at a distance of 1.10 metres, Ghantesvara temple in south within a distance of 6.45 metres. The temple is facing towards west.

Physical Description

The temple has a square sanctum measuring 1.70 metres, with a frontal porch of 0.95 metres. It is pancharatha as distinguished by a pair of anuratha and kanika pagas on either side of the raha. On elevation, the vimana is of pidha deul with usual bada, gandi and mastaka that measures 3.40 metres in height. With threefold division of bada, the temple has a trianga bada measuring 1.20 metres in height (Pabhaga 0.16 metres, jangha 0.86 metres, baranda 0.18 metres). The gandi and mastaka of the temple 192 measures 1.40 metres and 0.80 metres in height respectively. The walls are plain. The doorjambs are plain and measure 1.17 metres in height x 0.51 metres in width. The Building material used here is Light grey sandstone. It was built with Dry masonry Construction techniques in Kalingan style.

Current Scenario

Rain water is seeping into the sanctum from all sides through cracks in the roof and walls. It was repaired by Orissa State Archaeology during X and XI Finance Commission Award and now maintained by the Kapilesvara Trust Board.