| Padmapur, a village in the Gunupur subdivision is 24 km from Gunupur town and nearly 80 km from Raygada, the district headquarters of Raygada district. Five Siva Temples dedicated to Manikeswar, Dhavaleswar, Mallikeswar, Nilakantheswar and Podukeswar adorn the nearby Jagamanda hill. The little shrine of Mallikeswar at the top of the hill is peculiarly built by big blocks of stone without the use of mortar. The shrine contains an inscription in the characters of the 7th century A. D. which preserves a small genealogy of 3 Buddhist Acharyas, Chandralekha, Bhaddhakhan and Dharmakirtti. It appears that once the monastery of the famous Acharya Dharmakirtti flourished in this hill. It is known from Tibetan account that Dharmakirtti, the famous logician & philosopher, had his monastery in Kalinga and the inscription found in the Jagamanda hill clearly indicates the location of it. |
