Places to visit

Harishankar

The foaming waters sparkle vibrantly, acting as a delightful contrast to the unmelting hardness of the granite bed from which it cascades through the sun-dappled jungle. Echoing its joyful song, birds and bathers thronging the pool created by the swirling waters seem to give thanks to Hari and Shankar, the reigning deities of Harishankar Temple perched on the southern slope of Gandhamardan hills, the hill side is famed for medicinal plants. It is about 81 km from Balangir.

Sonepur

Set astride the confluence of the Mahanadi and Tel rivers, Sonepur, 48 km from Balangir, is an antique land with the recovery of ancient gold coins from different parts of the town underscoring its antiquity. Amongst the numerous temples breaking the town's skyline, the shrine of Suvarnameru Lingam holds precedence over all. The Nrusinghanath temple is the highest among them, which is 24.38 meters high. Sonepur is also called `The City of Gold'. Another temple of interest for visitors is the doorless temple of Gnyanadei Maluni, with slightly Tantric overtones which indicates that Tantrism flourished in this region for sometime. There are numerous villages around Sonepur where scores of weavers work on no less than 23,000 looms to produce exquisite textiles.

Ranipur Jharial

Located in the verdant environs of the Titilagarh sub-division in Balangir district, the twin villages of Ranipur Jharial bear strong traces of their ancient heritage. This is primarily evident in the numerous ancient temples discovered by visiting pilgrims to `Somatirtha' (as they called this region). Saivism, Vaisnavism, Buddhism and Tantrism obviously enjoyed a great deal of influence in the region. Situated on the rocky outcrops of this region are a number of temples that are of great interest to tourists. Located here is the hypaethral temple of the 64 yoginis. It is one of the four famous Yogini temples in India. The other three are located at Hirapur (near Bhubaneswar), Khajuraho and Bheraghat (near Jabalpur). The finest specimen of a brick temple is the 20 meters high Indralath temple. It is one of the -tallest brick temples of ancient India.