Chausath Yogini Temple, Hirapur

The date of the temple is uncertain. Odisha Tourism describes it as a 9th-century shrine built by Queen Hiradevi, and Wikipedia records the belief that Hiradevi, a queen of the Bhauma-Kara dynasty, built it around 864 CE. The IGNCA record, based on architecture and sculpture, assigns it to the early 10th century, during Bhauma-Kara rule, and notes that the structure has been renovated.

The temple came to wider scholarly attention in the 1950s; the IGNCA record cites a 1953 note on the 'hypaethral temple of sixty-four yoginis at Hirapur' in the Orissa Historical Research Journal, and Odisha Tourism also dates its rediscovery to 1953. It has since been renovated and conserved by the ASI. According to the IGNCA record, the Odisha Endowments Department and the Odisha Tourism Development Corporation are also involved in its care, and a local trust manages the worship.

Architecture and sacred features

The temple is a low circular enclosure built of sandstone blocks without mortar on a laterite foundation, facing east. A short rectangular entrance passage projects from the circle, so that, as Wikipedia notes, the plan resembles the base of a Shiva linga. The IGNCA record gives the circle as about 10.5 m across and about 2.1 m high, with a small rectangular pavilion (mandapa) at its centre.

Inside, sixty niches in the circular wall each hold a Yogini, and the central pavilion holds four Bhairavas and four more Yoginis, one of which is missing; two Bhairava images stand at the entrance. The Yoginis, carved in black chlorite and each about 40 cm tall according to Wikipedia, stand on animals, demons or human heads, each with her own pose, ornaments and hairstyle. The outer wall carries nine images of Katyayani and two door guardians in yellowish sandstone, which the IGNCA record notes are badly worn by the weather.