Kichakeshwari Temple

The Kichakeshwari Temple stands at Khiching in northern Odisha, the ancient capital of the Bhanja rulers. It honours Kichakeshwari, a form of Chamunda or Kali who was the family goddess of the Bhanja dynasty and the state deity of the Mayurbhanj chiefs.

The original shrine was raised in the 700s, built of black chlorite in the Kalinga style. Its hundred-foot rekha tower rises on a high platform behind carved walls, though vandalism left it in ruins for long periods.

The sanctum holds a ten-armed skeletal image of Chamunda-Kali with sunken belly and protruding ribs, wearing a garland of skulls and seated on a corpse. The compound also preserves an early brick shrine called the Itamundhi.