'Rameswara (Mausi Ma) Temple, Bhubaneswar' - by KJS Chatrath

 

In February 2017, I had the privilege of visiting Bhubaneswar again after a few years. I was able to spend some time visiting some of the may temples of Odisha, some of which I had visited for the first time in 1968. One such temple that I visted was Rameswara temple. I was straight away impressed by two things- a nice signboard in Odiya and English and secondly that  the environs were maintained neat and clean.

 
Now about the background of this temple. Legend goes that when Lord Rama was returning from Lanka after victory over Ravana, Goddess Sita wanted to worship Lord Shiva here. So Rama built a Linga for that purpose.

Traditionally during Ashokashtami, which falls one day before the Rama Naumi in the month of Chaitra,  Lord Lingaraja comes to this temple  in a colourful procession on a large chariot called Rukuna Rath and stays here for four days before returning in the chariot to Lingaraj Temple. In this procession, bronze images of three deities―Chandrasekhar (the representative of Lord Lingaraj), Rukmini and Basudeva are taken to Rameshwar Temple  

This temple is also known as Mausi Maa temple.  Rameswara Temple is just two kms away from Lingaraj temple. The temple houses a Shiva Linga within a circular yonipitha made of chlorite. There is also an image of Goddess Durga that is worshipped within the sanctum. The Jagamohan (assembly hall) of the temple was built much later. While some historians say that the temple was built during the late Soma Vansh period that can be traced to the early part of the 12th century AD, others date it back to the 9th century AD.

(Text with inputs from the internet)