Suka Temple, Bhubaneswar: History, Timings & Visitor Guide

Suka Temple is open every day, usually from early morning to late evening with a break in the afternoon. Darshan and aarti timings change with the season and on festival days.

• MorningOpens early morning (around 5 to 6 AM)
• AfternoonShort break around midday at many temples
• EveningEvening aarti around sunset, closes by about 8 to 9 PM

Ask the temple office on arrival for the day's aarti schedule.

Dress Code & Temple Rules

• DressModest, traditional clothes covering shoulders and knees
• FootwearRemove before entering; use the shoe stand
• PhotographyNot allowed inside the sanctum
• Not AllowedLeather items, tobacco, alcohol, non-veg food
• QueueFollow queue lines and staff instructions on festival days

Suka temple is located in the Sankarananda Street, Uttaradaraja Badu Sahi, Old Town, Bhubaneswar. It is situated on the southern embankment of Bindusagar tank at a distance of 50 metres. The temple is facing towards west. The temple is not in use but sculptural embellishments on the exterior walls of the temple suggest that the temple was originally dedicated to Lord Siva. Though the temple is architecturally and sculpturally sound, it is abandoned and not in use. The temple is 1.80 metres below the present ground level.

Surrounding: The temple is surrounded by Bhabanisankara temple in east at a distance of 50 metres, Sankarananda Street in the right side of the compound wall, Sari deul in north and residential buildings in the south.

Architectural features (Plan & Elevation): On plan, the temple has a vimana and a renovated frontal porch. The vimana is saptaratha having a central raha which is flanked bypairs of anuraha, anuratha and kanika pagas on either sides. The vimana measures 5.80 square metres and the frontal porch measures 0.90 metres in length. The cella measures 2.40 square metres. On elevation, the vimana is in rekha order that measures 11 metres in height from bottom to the top. With fivefold divisions, the bada measures 3.50 metres. At the base the pabhaga, measuring 0.87 metres in height has five base mouldings of khura, kumbha, pata, kani and basanta. Tala jangha and upara jangha measure 0.72 metres each is being separated by three moulded bandhana measuring 0.32 metres. The baranda comprising ten mouldings measures 0.87 metres. The gandi and mastaka measures 5.00 metres and 2.50 meters respectively.