About the Place & what to see:

Padmapur, a village in the Gunupur subdivision is 24 km from Gunupur town and 94 km from Raygada, the district headquarters of Raygada district. Five Siva Temples dedicated to Manikeswar, Dhavaleswar, Mallikeswar, Nilakantheswar and Podukeswar adorn the nearby Jagamanda hill . The little shrine of Mallikeswar at the top of the hill is peculiarly built by big blocks of stone without the use of mortar. The shrine contains an inscription in the characters of the 7th century A. D. which preserves a small genealogy of 3 Buddhist Acharyas, Chandralekha, Bhaddhakhan and Dharmakirtti. It appears that once the monastery of the famous Acharya Dharmakirtti flourished in this hill. It is known from Tibetan account that Dharmakirtti, the famous logician & philosopher, had his monastery in Kalinga and the inscription found in the Jagamanda hill clearly indicates the location of it.

The hill contains a cave which has a small opening to a spacious interior. It has a perennial water reservoir and many other relics suggesting an early monastic establishment. Padmapur is a Block headquarters and has a Revenue Bungalow located at the foot of the Jagamanda hill. The newly constructed State Highway from Berhampur to Rayagada passes through the village. Regular bus services are available from Rayagada.

How to go
Rayadada is connected by regular bus services from Berhampur, Koraput and Bhubaneswar(390 km). It is a railhead on the Raipur-Vizianagaram rail line of South Eastern Railway.