Mahavinayak Temple

The Mahavinayak Temple is one of the oldest Ganesha shrines in Odisha, standing at Chandikhole in Jajpur district. Five gods, Ganesha, Shiva, Vishnu, Durga and Surya, are worshipped together as a single deity inside one sanctum. It was raised in the 1100s under the Keshari, or Somavamshi, kings of Odisha.

A legend explains the fivefold cult: when Rati, wife of the love god Kamadeva, prayed here for her husband's release from Shiva's curse, five hands reached out for her offering, and Brahma told her the five gods had accepted it together; a granite stone then rose from the earth, holding their combined power.

Local tradition also claims this is where Ganesha's severed head fell, and links the Baruna hill beside the temple with the Pandava king Yudhishthira, whose palace ruins are said to face the shrine.