It is evening of 14th December, after the end of semester exams I searched on Google for lost cities of Odisha just for time pass. Then I got a name which is popular but not for that which was described in that site. I was amazed by reading that. Do you know what is that name? Yes, that name is “choudwar”. I started searching for more data about this place from Google but I didn’t get more information about this place. The only thing that I came to know from Google about this place is it is related to Mahabharat. So, I decided to go there to explore the place.

With this fewer data, I planned a trip to choudwar with two of my friends. On 16th December, Sunday we started our journey from talcher railway station at around 5:30 AM towards agrahat on “talcher-puri passenger”. We reached charbatia station around 8:30 and asked the station master for the route to Choudwar. Stationmaster suggested us to go to the king palace of choudwar first. With the help of him, we started our journey towards our destination.

 

First, we went to the palace of Choudwar which is known as “Virat Gadi”. We met a person there, who told the whole history of that place. He told that-“now choudwar is known as an industrial area, which is now surrounded by Choudwar jail, Impha factory, closed OTM factory, Choudwar municipality and Agrahat village. But, from the Nobel of Mahabharat, you’ll surely get to see a different face of this place. The glory of this place made it different from others. Choudwar is known as Mastchya Desha in Mahabharat. The Somakuli Keshari king the brave Virat who is the friend of Lord Sri Krishna and the brother-in-law of kichak ruled it. Tradition holds that it was the capital for Virat. He established 8 prominent Shiva pithas known as astasambhu in the vicinity of Choudwar, which are now lost their glory in the wave of time.” We asked him "how this place is related to Mahabharat”. He smiled and replied “go to the temple called bhaideswar. You’ll get your answer there”. The palace is now in a ruined condition and declared as a state archaeological site for the preserve. Still, in this condition, the pillars of that palace describe the glory and bravery of that kingdom.

When we are going towards Baideswar temple, we saw an old temple at the distance of 1km to the east from the palace. We went there tried to collect some data about that palace. We came to know that the temples name is “Kapaleswar temple” which is built by Soma-vansi in 10th century A.D. It is one of the Astasambhu of choudwar. This temple was rebuilt in Ganga density period. The bramhin of that temple gave information about other 7 temples (Uttareswar, Maninageswar, Kedareswar, Jhyoteswar, Balunkeswar, Bateswar & Chateswar) and he told that “king Virat takes food in the morning after worshipping in all these 8 Siva pithas.  

Then we started a journey towards the next Siva pitha “kedareswar”. This temple is famous in all over Odisha as “Budha linga”. This temple is built on the land of 85decimal. This temple has a Natya Mandir and puskarini(pond) in front of it. It has spectacular carving on its walls but it is still in a ruined condition. This is the only temple which was not rebuilt. After this temple, we went towards the baideswar temple.

After a walk of 15 minutes, we reached baideswar temple. There we came to know another thing about this place by the bramhin of that temple. He said that –“when the whole choudwar was suffering from dry, Arjun came and dug a hole with his archery. From which a water stream came out". We tasted that water and it was really a different taste. We asked him “why Arjuna came here?” He replied, “Lord Sri Krishna suggested the five Pandava brothers with their consort droupadi to take shelter in choudwar at the time of their secret exile”. It was a great story we listened from him and knew how this place is related to Mahabharat. After it we took some rest, eat some fruits and went towards “Uttareswar Temple”.

We reached Utareswar temple after 15 mins of walk. It is a sunny day and we get tired due to it. We met a local there and he told something more interesting about that place. He said that “The 11th-century temple has a chequered history. “The shrine was built several centuries ago in the Dwapar Yuga. It was built by King Birat for his daughter Uttara and was named after her. The temple was in a bad shape, lying in a dilapidated state till 2002. Thanks to the ASI’s efforts, the structure was subsequently renovated and restored. The construction of the boundary wall was undertaken after the government allotted Rs 50 lakh 2 years back. Though we have demanded a tourist spot status for the temple, the government is yet to consider it. Minister Debi Prasad Mishra during his visit here had assured that the place would secure a tourist spot tag soon”. He also said that “the abode of Lord Shiva, is guarded by a King Cobra. The serpent appears during the puja every day and disappears soon after the end of the ritual”. After it, we went towards maninageswar temple which is 4 temple of astasambhu of choudwar.

We reached Maninageswar temple on a bullock cart. It is one of the astasambhu temples. This temple was a modern temple. It is one of the astasambhus of choudwar. It was rebuilt by a Gujarati businessman in 1944 when the temple has not even any clue of it; it has only a sivling in the middle of the temple. After that, we asked locals about other 4 temples and went towards them.

We booked a rickshaw to reach our next destination which is balunkeswar temple. It’s a living temple. Shivratri is the main festival of this temple. Its environment is so good. It was one of the astasambhu temples of choudwar.

 

From here we went towards chateswar and bateswar twin temples. It was built in 1230 A.D. it has a puskarini in front of it.from here we went to the last temple of astasambhu which is situated in the other corner.

We reached our last destination jhoteswar. This not looks so good now. It was a ruin. In the British era, it was rebuilt by locals. it is also an astasambhu of choudwar.

It was the ending point of our tour. We knew something new about choudwar like about its glory, relation with Mahabharat and about astasmbhu etc. still we are very tired due to walking for so long. I think you all never knew about these places. I think that’s why Odisha is called as the best-kept secret of India. After this trip I’m searching for more places related to Ramayan and Mahabharat, I’m getting success in it too. This is the ending of my blog. I think you knew something new from it. Thanks for reading:)