Gadeigiri Radhastami 2002

Here are a few shots of a wonderful festival in Gadeigiri taken by Madhavendra Puri Prabhu. This was a particularly special event as Sri Sri Radha Madhava the original deities of Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode were also gracing the occasion.

Sri Sri Radha Gopal Jiu ready for their festive bath

Sri Sri Radha Madhava. If you would like to know more about the amazing story of their rediscovery write us at: katha@gopaljiu.org

Both sets of deities on the snana-vedi, bathing platform

Closeup of Gopal getting his bath

Closeup of Madhava

The palm leaf Bhagavatams read by Srila Gour Govinda Swami. Each volume is wrapped in red cloth to protect it from insects. One volume can be seen opened.

View of the entire altar

Closeup of the big deities of Sri Sri Radha Gopaljiu

Sri Sri Radha Gopaljiu and Sri Sri Radha Madhava together on the altar

Sri Sri Radha Gopaljiu temple in Gadeigiri Orissa

Misc Bhubaneswar 2005

Below are a few pictures from some parikramas and research we did here in Bhubaneswar in 1995:

Bindu Sagara: this lake was created by Lord Shiva for Parvati from all the sacred rivers of the universe in the center of the lake you can see the island they use for the candan-yatra festival of Sri Madan Mohan.



This is the Lakshmanesvar temple in Bhubaneswar where Lord Rama's brother Lakshman worshiped Lord Shiva


The ancient Yameshwar (now pronounced Jambeshwar) Mahadev temple, where Yamaraj worshiped Shivaji


Found in a 20 foot deep well, outside the Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar, this is said to be the deities of Lingaraja's mother and father

Megheshwar Mahadev temple where the personified clouds worshiped Lord Shiva


This saintly lady has been serving the deities at the Megheshwar temple for many years


Left to right: pujarini at Megheshwar temple, Janice E Miller (mother of Madhavananda Das) and Pradosh

Mrs Miller and Pradosh at the temple of Brahmeshwar Mahadeva in Bhubaneswar. This is where Lord Brahma worshipped Shivaji


Pujari at one of the many side temples at the Brahmeshwar Mahadeva complex


Closeup of carvings at the Brahmeshwar temple


The ancient temple of Bhaskareshwar Mahadev, where the sun is said to have worshiped Lord Shiva

Left to right: Our friends Srivatsa Puja Panda and Madan Mohan Das. Madan Mohan Prabhu is a Gaudiya Math devotee who has been living like a babaji at the temple of Gauri Sankar for many years. Whenever we come to visit there he is very happy to see us and provides everyone in our group with a place to sit. Srivatsa Puja Panda is a brahmana who lives next to the temple, he is almost always there when we come.

This deity of Satyanarayan (Lord Vishnu) was found about 50 years ago when they drained the Bindu Sagar lake (see top) for cleaning. He now stays in one of the main temples at the Gauri Sankar temple complex. Madan Mohan Prabhu (seen above) has been staying in His temple and performing the worship. Many deities were found on the bottom of the lake. It is common for Hindus to put broken deities into the water. They may have also been put in the water out of fear of invading muslims.

Kapilas Tirtha

Kapilasa Tirtha is considered in some sthala-puranas to be one of the five most sacred places in Orissa. It is about a three hour drive north of Bhubaneswar. There Lord Kapiladev performed bhajan, Srila Sridhar Swami wrote his famous commentary on the Bhagavatam (his samadhi is also there) and Maharaja Prataprarudra rediscovered the ancient deities of Lord Vishnu and Chandrasekhar Mahadeva. It is on top of the largest mountain in the region, within a heavily jungled area. There are elephants, cobras, tigers and many other wild animals in the area. A number of ancient caves can be found in which many sadhus reside, some of whom are said to have be meditating there for hundreds of years. Although there was a bit of a heavy crowd when we arrived (we went on Monday, always the busy day of the week at Shiva temples) the atmosphere was very serene. We intend to print something about the place in our next magazine.

Entrance to the ancient Chandrasekhar temple complex

Sesadeva standing on the steps going to the Vishnu temple on top of the hill. There is a natural spring there that comes from the right foot of this deity. It goes down the hill where it comes onto the head of the Shiva deity of Chandrasekhar Mahadeva. There are over 1,300 steps to go from the bottom of the hill to the top.

The ancient deity of Lord Vishnu resides on top of the hill. This temple was said to have been established by Maharaja Prataprarudra in the place where he found the deity.

This shrine is the full samadhi of Srila Sridhar Swami. His famous commentary on the Bhagavatam was greatly appreciated by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and was said to have been written here at Kapilas.

The footprints of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The local tradition describes that Mahaprabhu visited here just before he went through the Jarikhanda forest on his way to Vrindavan.

Temple of Jagannath, Baladeva, Subhadra and Sri Sri Sita Rama. This mandir is located a few hundred yards below the Chandrasekhar temple. The sadhu at this temple was kind enough to provide wonderful prasadam (very tasty, cooked over local firewood) for our group of 10 devotees.

Sadhu at the Jagannath temple. He is almost 90 years old and
has been staying and doing his bhajan at Kapilas since 1940.