Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/S7cvvtl9pK8
Location: “Mama
Bhanja Temple, 8109134645 AWRABHATHA DNT DNT, Barsur, Chhattisgarh 494441”
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mama_Bhanja_Temple
Mama Bhanja Temple is a temple in Barsur, dedicated to
God Shiva. According
to a legend, the task to create this temple was given to two people who were
related (Mama is maternal uncle and Bhanja is the nephew). Surprisingly, the
two men were able to complete in a day and hence the temple was given this
name.
According to another legend,
there was an empire of the Ganga dynasty king in Barsur. The king’s nephew was
an art lover. It started calling a craftsman from Utkal country without telling
his maternal uncle Raja and built a grand temple. When the king came to know
about this, he got very jealous and tortured by calling his nephew. Bhanja came
into charge and killed his maternal uncle. Later he regretted a lot. For repentance,
he installed the same statue in this temple by making his head shape.
Therefore, this temple was built in memory of maternal uncle. After this, after
the death of the nephew, the idol was installed in his memory in the temple.
Thus, due to both this idol, it is called Mama-Bhaja Temple. Some scholars call
it to be an ancient Shiva temple.
Constructed in the 10th century, the temple is
one of the finest example of ancient Hindu temple architecture with intricrate
carvings and sculptures.