Lion

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Lion

The front portion of a colossal lion that displayed in the entrance hall of the Museum building was dug out of a pit about 40 feet from northern door of the Bhaskaresvara temple where it had been buried with four pieces of stones on four sides of it. Its weather-beaten surface, that visible above the ground clearly reveals that it is made of coarse grained sand stone, a material commonly found at the vicinity of Bhubaneswar. The manes on the left side of this figure have been partially chisselled smooth for two lines of inscriptions in characters of the 5th century A. D. One line is perfectly preserved and read as "Shi Simhabandha" a lion figure usually serves as a capital of an Asokan pillar and this fragmentary lion figure represents perhaps the remains of the capital of the Asokan pillar, the remnant of which probably converted into the colossal lingam of the Bhaskereswar temple.