Panchu (Pancha) Pandava Temple

Pancha Pandava Temple is a Hindu Temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu located in Ganeswarpur Village in Cuttack District of Odisha. The temple is situated on the left bank of the river Birupa on the outskirt of Ganeswarpur at the foot of Jalauka hill.

In the memory of Pancha Pandavas’ stay here, the ruler of Somavamsi dynasty had built this magnificent temple with amazing stone carvings in the 10th century. The temple of the presiding deity, Lord Krishna (with consorts Rukmini and Satyabhama), was at the centre of the complex, surrounded by four other small temples dedicated to the Pandavas.

Dedicated to Lord Vishnu, the khandolite superstructure (vimana and jagamohana) of the main temple have long since collapsed, although the corner shrines do still exist and are in a good state of preservation. Inside is an image of a four-armed Vishnu made from green chlorite standing over a rectangular yonipitha pedestal, flanked by a female figure on each side holding a lotus.Lord Vishnu holds Chakra & Shanka in his upper hands and shows Abhaya & Varada Mudra in his lower hands.

This temple is in Panchayatana architectural style where the main shrine is built on a raised platform with four smaller subsidiary shrines at the four corners and making it a total of five shrines. Out of four subsidiary shrines, only three shrines have survived and the shrine on the north east corner had been completely disappeared.

As per legend, Pandavas stayed at this place for a few days during their exile. While younger Pandava brothers, Arjuna, Bhima, Nakula, and Sahadeva, resided here under the Jalauka hills, the eldest brother Yudhishthira lived in the nearby Rudrapur village with mother Kunti. The Pandavas used to worship Lord Vishnu here.

People say that this was one of the most-visited temples in the medieval period.