Qualla: Leaning Temple of Huma

Leaning Temple of Huma: Introduction

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rajeshjena453, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Leaning Tower of Pisa tilts at about 3.97 degrees. The Leaning Temple of Huma tilts at 13.8. That is not a typo. On the banks of the Mahanadi River, twenty-three kilometers south of Sambalpur in the Indian state of Odisha, a Shiva temple dedicated to Lord Bimaleshwar leans at an angle that makes Pisa look plumb. What makes Huma stranger still is that its satellite temples -- the Bhairavi Devi shrine to the left, the Bhairo temple to the right -- lean in entirely different directions. The compound walls tilt too. Everything within the temple boundaries has shifted, yet according to the priests and villagers, the angle of inclination has not changed in the last forty or fifty years. The tilt is dramatic, stable, and unexplained.

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Image: Rajeshjena453 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Leaning Temple of Huma: The Milkman and the Hungry Rock

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rajeshjena453, CC BY-SA 4.0. Local legend offers the kind of origin story that temples accumulate over centuries. A milkman, the story goes, crossed the Mahanadi daily to a rocky outcrop on the far bank, where he poured out an offering of milk. The rock consumed it immediately -- absorbed it, swallowed it, l...

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Image: Rajeshjena453 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Leaning Temple of Huma: Kings and Rebuilders

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jnanaranjan sahu, CC BY-SA 4.0. Historical records attribute the temple's original construction to Ganga Vamsi Emperor Anangabhima Deva III, a 13th-century ruler whose dynasty built many of Odisha's most celebrated temples. By the 17th century, the temple required rebuilding. King Baliar Singh, the fifth Chauha...

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Image: Jnanaranjan sahu | CC BY-SA 4.0

Leaning Temple of Huma: Thirteen Point Eight Degrees

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jnanaranjan sahu, CC BY-SA 4.0. Geologists have proposed several explanations for the tilt, none entirely satisfying. The temple sits on a rocky bed above the Mahanadi, and interior displacement of this bedrock -- caused by centuries of flood currents or seismic activity -- may have shifted the foundation uneve...

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Image: Jnanaranjan sahu | CC BY-SA 4.0

Leaning Temple of Huma: Sacred Fish and Stone Curses

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY 3.0. The Mahanadi at Huma holds its own mystery. Large fish known locally as Kudo congregate near the temple bank, fed by visiting pilgrims who toss food into the shallows. The Kudo fish eat from visitors' hands with a boldness unusual for wild river fish, a tameness that the faithful...

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Leaning Temple of Huma: Shivratri on the Tilted Ground

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sujit33471999, CC BY-SA 4.0. Every March, on Maha Shivaratri, an annual fair fills the grounds below the temple. Pilgrims and tourists crowd the riverbank, and the Kudo fish receive more offerings than usual. The Government of Odisha has proposed building a hanging bridge to improve access to the temple, a s...

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Image: Sujit33471999 | CC BY-SA 4.0