Mukhalingeshwara Temple, Mukhalingam – The Temple

Mukhalingeshwara Temple, Mukhalingam – The Temple

Mukhalingeshwara Temple is the earliest of the three temples of Mukhalingam. This temple is facing towards east with a three Khakhara Deul style gopura with stone kalasa on top of it. This entrance is flanked by huge sculptures of lions. Dhwaja Sthambam, housed on a circular pedestal can be seen in front of the gopura. There is another entrance to the temple on the southern side.

The temple is built over a raised platform and can be accessed through a flight of steps. The temple is enclosed within a compound wall. Nandi housed in a mandapa can be found immediately after the eastern entrance, facing the sanctum. This temple follows Panchayatana style of architecture. Panchayatana is an architectural style where the main shrine is built on a raised platform with four smaller subsidiary shrines at the four corners and making it a total of five shrines.

Two of the four subsidiary shrines can be seen on the eastern side and the remaining two can be seen on the prakara wall. The shikara over these shrines are about 30 feet tall and 12 feet wide. All these shrines houses Lingas. The doorways are covered with designs of foliage scrolls, sculptures of a few erotic couples and other intricately carved designs. The Sanctum Sanctorum consists of a square deul and a rectangular Jagamohana.

It is triratha on plan. The Shikara over the sanctum is of Pidha deul style but has curvilinear exterior and crowned by a double amalaka. It is about 65 feet tall. The Jagamohana is flat roofed supported by six pillars. Presiding Deity is called as Mukhalingeshwara / Madhukeswara. He is housed in the sanctum in the form of Linga. The Linga is made of a trunk of a tree instead of stone. It has a natural formation similar to human face. Hence, the Linga came to be called as Mukhalingeshwara.

As the Linga was made from Madhuka (Palm) tree, the Linga also came to be called as Madhukeswara. The temple houses eight different idols of Lord Ganesha in various shrines in the temple premises. The niches in the outer wall of the temple contain beautifully sculpted images and perforated windows. The temple has around eleven shrines in the temple premises. The most prominent among them are of Saptamatrika and Kumarasvamy.