Padmapur is a village in the

Rayagada district Rayagada district is a district in the southern Odisha States and union territories of India, state in India. Rayagada became a separate district in October 1992. Its population consists mainly of Adivasi, tribes, primarily the Khonds and t ...

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

, India. It is the most populated village and one of the identified tourist centers of Rayagada district. A hillock adjoins the village to its northern side. A 7th century inscription found here, in the Nilakantheswar Temple (a religious place i.e. the shrine of Lord Manikeswar Shiva), indicates that the Jagamanda hill, located close by, once housed the monastery of the famous Buddhist logician-philosopher

Dharmakirti Dharmakīrti (fl. ;), was an influential Indian Buddhist philosopher who worked at Nālandā.Tom Tillemans (2011)Dharmakirti Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy He was one of the key scholars of epistemology ( pramāṇa) in Buddhist philo ...

Demography

Padmapur is a populated village in

Rayagada Rayagada is a municipality in Rayagada district in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the administrative headquarters of Rayagada district. History The city of Rayagada was founded by King Vishwanath Dev Gajapati (1527-1531 CE) of the Suryava ...

district situated about 67 km away from the district headquarters. India

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, Padmapur village had a population of 6530.The total population of the village as per the 2011 Census of India was 6654 out of which the male population is 3411 and the female population is 3243. The postal Index Number (PIN) of padmapur is 765025.

Geography

Padmapur is located at . It has a mixed

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

of mountain and coastal plain.

Transport

There is no direct rail or air communication to Padmapur. The nearest airport is in

Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...

(240 km) and the nearest railway station is in Gunupur. One can reach Padmapur via

Odisha State Road Transport Corporation Odisha State Road Transport Corporation or OSRTC is the state owned road transport corporation in the eastern Indian state of Odisha. It is a wholly owned public sector enterprise of the Government of Odisha founded in 1971. It serves major town ...

buses or private buses.

Temples

A number of old and new temples in and around Padmapur, as detailed below, attract the nearby mass during festive seasons. * The seventh century-old Nilakantheswar temple at Padmapur (a shrine to

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

) on the top of the hillock adjoining the village. This temple is also believed to be the Mallikeshwara temple * The temple of Mallikeswar at the foot of the hillock, which is built of red rocks * The temple of Dhabaleswar beside the temple of Mallikeswar *Baba Akhandala mani divine presence also adds charm of spiritual enhancement. * Another temple of Pudukeswar close to these temples at the foot of the hillock, * The Radhakrushna temple in New Street * The Giridhari temple in the Badasahi * The Gopinatha temple or Dasima Matha * The Trinath temple beside the road leading to Gunupur * The Gramadevati temple at the heart of the village * The Gayatri temple on the hillock area * The temple of Hanumana and the temple of Sai Baba on the hillock * Another small temple of Trinath at Jhumuruguda beside the main road

Education

Padmapur has a number of educational institutions. Some of them are: * The Govt. Bijayananda High School * The Govt. Boys' Upper Primary School near Markama street * The Primary school at Medical Colony in the village * The Primary School at Hatapada in the village * The Girls' High School * The R.G.(Junior) College * Triveni +2 Science College * The Ideal Public School * The Aryan English Medium School at Padmapur * The Gajanana Vidya Niketana (Odia medium) * The Saraswati Sishu Mandir (Odia medium)

Notable people

* Nagbhushan Patnaik, a Communist leader, was born at Padmapur in 1934

References

External links

Official website of Rayagada district
{{Rayagada district Villages in Rayagada district