Nandapur

Nandapur is a small town in Koraput district surrounded by forest, hills, rivers and waterfalls. Its best-known shrine is the old temple of Maa Jogeswari, a goddess regarded as a form of Durga; a flight of stone steps climbs to the sanctum, and the carvings along the way show celestial figures and episodes from mythology. The town also has a Jagannath temple in the Kalinga style, entered through a Singhadwara gate, with sculpted panels drawn from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

Beyond the temples, the town has busy bazaars where craftspeople sell their work and riverside ghats where residents gather in the evening. Walking routes lead out through wooded hills to small waterfalls spilling over mossy rock, and to viewpoints overlooking the valleys and rivers around the town.