Introduction:

Nirṛti also spelled as Nirruti or Nirriti, is a Hindu deity, personifying death, decay, and sorrow. Nirrti is regarded as a Dikapala (“guardian of the directions”) of the southwest.

Sculpture Information:

Dikapala (the guardians of directions) sculptures are the prominent feature of Rajarani Temple of Bhubaneshwar.

God Nirrti’s image is located on the southwest direction of Rajarani Temple’s outer walls. The idol is standing on a padma (lotus) along with two assistants – male on the right and female on the lft.

Nirrti is standing with munda (head of either human or demon) in his left hand. Though the second is damaged, we can assume that it must have either holding a danda (staff) – weapon of Nirrti or is in abhay mudra.

A Nara (man) is a mount of Nirrti. We can see a man figure below Nirrti. There are two flying gandharvas above Nirrti.

Rajarani temple dates back to 1100th Century CE and is a best example of Kalinga Architecture (Kalinga Panchratha Style). It is built in a Rekha Deul format.