Chausath Yogini Temple, Ranipur Jharial

Chausath Yogini Temple of Ranipur Jharial in Balangir District, Odisha, is one of the circular, open air Yogini temples of India, dedicated to the 64 Yoginis. It appears to be an early temple from soon after 900 AD, and the presence of other temples indicates that it was an important site at that time. The surviving central shrine holds an image of dancing Shiva; all the Yogini images are, uniquely, similarly shown dancing.

The Chausath Yogini Temple, built in the 9th or 10th century in Ranipur-Jharial, in an isolated position some miles from the towns of Titilagarh and Kantabanjhi in Balangir district, Odisha, is a circular, hypaethral, 64-yogini temple made of sandstone, some 50 feet in diameter.62 of the yogini images survive. The site, on an outcrop of rock, must have been important, given the presence of a large temple built of brick and several small temples of stone.The primary entrance is an opening in the circular wall towards the east; unlike at the Hirapur yogini temple, there was once a further opening towards the south, now filled in.

Ranipur-Jharial was the first of the Yogini temples to be discovered; it was described by Major-General John Campbell in 1853.