Chausathi Jogini at Hirapur: A Roofless Circle of Sixty Four Goddesses

The yoginis are a category of goddess, and understanding them requires setting aside the usual model of a single deity in a sanctum.

What they are:

• A group, usually sixty four, sometimes eighty one, worshipped together rather than individually
• Understood as attendants, emanations or aspects of the Devi, particularly in her fierce forms
• Associated with specific powers, and in some traditions with the elements, directions and states
• Depicted with animal heads in a number of cases, and with vahanas, weapons and distinct attributes
• Connected with tantric practice, in which the yogini circle has a defined ritual role

At Hirapur the images vary widely. Some are serene, some fierce, some with animal heads, each with her own vahana beneath her feet and her own attributes.

The key point about the form is the circle. In a standard temple you approach a deity. In a yogini temple you stand at the centre of a ring of them, and every one of them is looking at you.

That inversion is the whole architectural argument. The devotee is not outside looking in. The devotee is inside, surrounded, and the circle is closed.

Very few yogini temples survive, and the ones that do are concentrated in central and eastern India.

The principal ones:

• Hirapur near Bhubaneswar, Odisha, circular, the best preserved
• Ranipur Jharial in Balangir district, Odisha, also circular and roofless, in a striking landscape
• Bhedaghat near Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, a large circular temple above the Narmada, with a later Shiva shrine at the centre
• Mitaoli in Morena district, Madhya Pradesh, circular, on a hilltop, often noted for its resemblance to a certain parliamentary building
• Khajuraho, where the yogini temple is rectangular rather than circular and is the oldest structure at the site
• Dudhai, Naresar and other sites with partial remains

What happened to the rest is not fully known. Yogini worship was a significant tradition and then largely ceased as an organised practice, with the temples abandoned, the images dispersed and in many cases removed.

A number of yogini images from Indian sites are now in museums abroad, and some have been the subject of repatriation efforts in recent years, with pieces returned to India.

What survives is enough to establish that this was a serious and widespread tradition with a distinct architecture, and Hirapur is where you can still see it whole.

The absence of a roof at Hirapur is deliberate, and several explanations are offered.

What is proposed:

• The yoginis are associated with flight, and an open structure suits deities understood to move through the air
• The rites conducted in such temples were nocturnal, performed under the open sky, and the form serves that
• The circle open to the sky corresponds to the yogini chakra as described in tantric texts, which is a circle rather than an enclosure
• Practical explanations regarding the structure's size have also been suggested

What can be said with confidence is that the form is consistent. Hirapur, Ranipur Jharial, Bhedaghat and Mitaoli are all circular and all open, which rules out accident.

How to approach the site as a visitor:

• The tradition that built it is a tantric one, with its own texts, practices and lineages
• Much of what was done here is not publicly documented, and speculation about it is common and usually unreliable
• The images themselves are the primary evidence, and looking at them carefully is more useful than any theory
• The site is protected and is treated with respect by local devotees, who continue to make offerings

What is not in doubt is the quality of the sculpture. Sixty four distinct figures, each individually conceived, is a considerable artistic undertaking, and the fact that they survive together is the reason Hirapur matters.

Hirapur sits at the edge of one of India's greatest concentrations of temple architecture.

What Bhubaneswar holds:

• Lingaraj, the great eleventh century temple, the city's principal shrine and still very much in worship
• Mukteswar, small, tenth century, with its carved torana, often described as the gem of Odia architecture
• Rajarani, known for its sculpture and its distinctive tower, no longer in worship
• Parasurameswar, among the oldest surviving temples in the city
• Ananta Vasudeva, the major Vishnu temple of old Bhubaneswar
• Bindusagar, the tank around which the old temple city is arranged
• Chausathi Jogini at Hirapur, outside the city
• Udayagiri and Khandagiri caves, of Jain association, on the city's edge

Odia temple architecture developed as a distinct regional style, the Kalinga style, with its own vocabulary: the rekha deul with its curved tower, the pidha deul with its stepped roof, and the khakhara deul with its barrel roof used particularly for Devi shrines.

A visitor with two or three days can cover the principal temples of Bhubaneswar, Hirapur, and Konark and Puri on the coast, which together constitute one of the most rewarding architectural circuits in India.

Practical notes.

Getting there

• Hirapur is about 15 km from Bhubaneswar, reached by road in half an hour
• Bhubaneswar has an airport and a major railway station, so access is easy
• Taxis and autos run from the city, and the site is well signposted
• The temple sits in a village setting, with fields around

When to go

• Morning, when the light falls into the open circle and the site is quiet
• October to March for comfortable weather
• Navratri, when local devotees observe the occasion at the site
• Avoid the middle of the day in summer, since the shrine is entirely unshaded

At the site

• Entry is at ground level through a low passage, and the interior is open
• Take time with the individual yogini figures, since each is distinct
• Remove footwear before entering, as this is a shrine and not only a monument
• Photography rules may apply, so check on arrival
• Local devotees make offerings here, and visitors should behave accordingly

Combining the visit

• Lingaraj, Mukteswar, Rajarani and Parasurameswar in Bhubaneswar
• Ananta Vasudeva and Bindusagar
• Udayagiri and Khandagiri caves
• Konark and Puri on the coast
• Dhauli, the Ashokan edict site, on the way south

A closing suggestion. Go early, and stand in the middle for a while before looking at anything closely. The building was designed to produce exactly that experience, of being at the centre of a closed circle of sixty four watching figures, and it still works.