Ananta Vasudeva Temple is a prominent Hindu temple located on the eastern bank of Bindu Sarovar in Bhubaneswar, around 4.5 kilometers from Bhubaneswar Railway Station, Odisha in India, dedicated to Lord Krishna, an avatar of Lord Vishnu. The temple was built in the thirteenth century, and it has the entire murtis of Krishna, Balarama, and Subhadra. Balarama stands beneath a seven-hooded serpent, while Subhadra holds a jewel pot and a lotus in her two hands, her left foot resting on another jewel pot, and Krishna wields a mace, chakra, lotus, and conch. The temple was built during the time of King Bhanudeva during the reign of Chandrika Devi, the daughter of Anangabhima III. In the British Museum’s collection, there is a commemorative inscription that marks the temple’s foundation.
The original image of Vishnu appears to have been worshipped on the site of Ananta Vasudeva’s grand temple, which was built in the 13th century A.D. In the 13th century, Queen Chandrika of the Eastern Ganga dynasty was inspired to build a new temple – the temple of Ananta Vasudeva – in this location. This Vishnu image had to have been installed in an old temple. The Marathas, who extended their empire to the Mahanadi River, were in charge of renovating the Vishnu temple in Bhubaneswar in the late 17th century.
The temple is similar to the Lingaraj temple in appearance, but it has vaishnavite (Lord Vishnu-related) sculptures. The temple includes longitudinal bands of miniature shikharas (shrines) that are identical to those found at Lingaraj temple, with the exception that the number of shikharas forming one longitudinal band is only three in this case. Each temple in Bhubaneswar has a different kind of sculpture on the outer walls. The majority of female statues on the temple walls are extremely ornate and unoriginal.
Unlike the images of the Jagannath Temple in Puri, the idols discovered in the garbhagrha (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple have complete structure. Unlike the Puri temple, the shrimurtis (idols) here are made of black granite stone rather than wood. The city is known as Chakra kshetra (round place) only because of this temple, whereas Puri is known as Shankha kshetra (curved place).
