Nilakantheswar Temple, Padmapur

Nilakantheswar Temple stands on the Jagamanda hills at Padmapur in Rayagada district, Odisha, and rests on just seven rocks. Dated to the 7th century, it is described as a Buddhist temple and as the only Buddhist monastery in the district, yet it is also often called the shrine of Manikeswar Siva. The historian and epigraphist Satyanarayana Rajguru, reading a Buddhist inscription on one of its rocks, concluded that the logician-philosopher Dharmakirti once lived here.

Three more Shiva temples, Pudukeswar, Dhabaleswar and Mallikeswar, share the hillock, and a small cement front hall has lately been added to the original building. The site has made Padmapur a tourist centre. Maha Sivaratri is celebrated here, and Tuesday is the favoured day for visits.