The condition of the soil where the
temple was to be erected, originally was so bad, that the chief architect, Bishu
Maharana, who was entrusted with the work, became very much upset. But when there
was no other way but to build on the same place on account of its sanctity, he
with great difficulty managed to carry on the work. There was a contract between
the king and workers, that no one will be allowed to go away until the whole
work was completed.
Anyway the construction was going
on, and it was nearing its completion, suddenly they were to face a difficulty on
fixing up the Kalasa(finial) in its proper position. In the mean time the chief
architect's son 'Dharmapada' came to see his father, as he was away from home for a long
time. Dharmapada was born a month after his father's departure, and twelve years had gone by.
He proceeded to the site to meet his father and saw that the leading builders were beset with certain problem.
Though Bishu was glad to see his son, he could not conceal the fact of his
not being able to put the Kalasa properly. He said, 'my boy, though the
construction work is almost complete, we are experiencing some difficulties now
in putting the finial. If we fail to do it within a resonable time, the king will
detach our heads from our body'. On hearing this the boy immediately got up at
the top and discovered something wrong in the work. He immediatly rectified the
defect and made the Kalasa to go into its proper position. The work was done but
the masons were still thinking of their fate, that if the king comes to know all
about this, he will certainly think that the masons were not doing their job
properly, which a little boy had done in such a short time. The boy was very much
shocked and just to hush up the matter, got up and committed suicide, from the
top. Many such stories whose accuracy, it is doubtful to assert, are in vogue.
Had he suddenly come under the spell of an uncontrollable ecstasy and a desire to be lost in the infinite after
having fulfilled his life's mission? The popular legend says that he shirked the possibility of posterity crediting him for an achievement which was truly due to his father and his kinsmen.
During 1527, Kalapahada, the rebel Hindu turned islam, in his endeavoure to demolish all the temples of Hindu worship bomb blashed the temple and removed
the arch stones, as a result of which the temple collapsed. The Jagamohana which stood close to the temple also lost its 'Kalasha' the top decorative dome and has
been reduced to 130 feet only.
