Maa Bhattarika Temple, Sasanga (Baramba)

According to the IGNCA sheet, local people say the temple was built by Padmanabha Deva, a ruler of the former princely state of Baramba. The present temple is a renovated one, but on the basis of the loose sculptures and the side-niche images the sheet dates the original temple to the 18th century AD, the period of Baramba's princely rule. Its listed reference is R. P. Mohapatra's Archaeology in Orissa (1986).

The IGNCA sheet lists the temple's ownership as the Endowment Department of the Government of Odisha together with a village temple committee. It describes the temple as in good condition because of renovation by local people.

The river setting brings repeated flooding. In August 2023, OdishaBytes reported that Mahanadi floodwater entered the temple and reached the sanctum after heavy rain, and that the servitors and temple authorities moved the presiding deity to the flood shelter at Ratnagiri for safety.

Architecture and sacred features

The IGNCA sheet describes a west-facing stone temple in a simplified Kalinga style. It has three parts, the sanctum tower (vimana), the porch hall (jagamohana) and an open hall (muktimandapa), each square in plan with a stepped pidha roof. The vimana is pancharatha in plan and panchangabada in elevation. The building is of ashlar stone, plastered and whitewashed, and measures roughly 14 by 6.5 metres with a height of about 12.3 metres.

The exterior is largely plain apart from small ornaments on the upper parts. The side niches hold a six-armed Mahishasuramardini Durga on the north, a four-armed Kartikeya on the east and a four-armed Ganesha on the south. Loose sculptures from the older temple, including three Navagraha slabs and images of Surya, Kubera and Ganesha, are set into the walls.