Bindu Sagar

Bindu Sagar Review

Surrounded by a stone embankment, this, the largest sacred tank in Bhubaneswar (a square-ish man-made lake, more commonly seen next to South Indian temples), was the central point around which Bhubaneswar's multitude of temples was originally built. While standing at the banks of the tranquil tank you will be able to spot the ancient temples that surround it, especially the dignified, towering, saffron-flag-flying Lingaraj; it makes a great photograph. Pilgrims, believing that this tank is filled with water from every sacred stream and tank in India and can therefore wash away sins, come here to cleanse themselves. Once a year, Lingaraja, the main deity of that temple, is brought to Bindu Sagar to be washed. Bhubaneswar has its own chariot festival, like Puri (some time in April or May) that centers around this lake, when Chandrasekhar, a representative of Lingaraj's main god Shiva, king of the lingas, and deities Rukmuni and Basudev are taken on a chariot pulled by devotees to Rameswara Temple, 1½ km away. Near Lingara Temple.