The Lions' Gate of Lingaraj Temple: Two Views

Ramakanta Samantaray and Sailen Routray

Below are two images of the Lions' Gate of Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar. 

The Lions' Gate of Lingaraj Temple (1868-69)

(Photo Credit -'Antiquities of Orissa', first published in 1875)

The image provided above has been taken from Volume I of 'Antiquities of Orissa' by Rajendra Lal Mitra (15 February 1822 – 26 July 1891), first published in 1875. But it is highly likely that it was created in the winter of 1868-69 when the fieldwork for the book was undertaken by Mitra in the then Orissa division of Bengal Presidency. The second volume of the book was published in 1880. This was the first exhaustive documentation of the architectural heritage of coastal Orissa. Rajendra Lal was the first Indologist of Indian origins, one of the first Indian masters of the modern discipline of history and a very competent amateur photographer.

The Lions' Gate of Lingaraj Temple (November 2018)

(Photo Credit - Ramahari Jena)

This second image (a photograph) captures the same space 150 years later, in November 2018. It was taken as part of a mixed media installation titled 'Outsiders' created in a first floor hall of 'Tarang Club' located on the Eastern bank of Bindusagar, a tank near Lingaraj Temple considered as holy by many Hindus. This installation was constructed by Ramahari Jena, Ramakanta Samantaray and Sailen Routray. 

Much had changed; much had remained the same.