The Lingaraj dates from about the year 1000 AD and originally consisted only of the porch and shrine; the dancing hall and the hall of offering being added some hundred years later. The compound measures 520 by 465 feet, and its curvilinear tower (vimana) built entirely without mortar rises to a height of 127 feet. The tower is divided into vertical sections and at the top just below the lineal spire are the figures of a lion crushing an elephant. The tower is hollow and one can reach its top by an interior staircase hewn out of the 7 ft.-thick walls. The inner walls of the shrine are without any adornment at all and house the lingam symbol of Siva. Out outside the sculpture is profuse and lavish and represents a high point of Hindu decorative art. Here are gods and goddesses, nymphs and dryads and some of the ‘mithuna’ couples whose amorous poses seem sometimes to shock Western visitors to India. The carvings on the outer walls clearly represent the dexterity and imagination of the artists. All the designs are not only artistic but lively also. The way the artists have engraved the background of the images it can easily be inferred that they were alert in giving relief to the eyes of the visitors to appreciate the art fully. In the northeast corner of the compound (among sixty some other votive shrines) is a temple dedicated to Parvati which would shine as a small jewel in its own right if it were not in the shadow of the majestic Lingaraj. Along the eastern side of Bindu Sagar are several minor temples of the same shape as the great Lingaraj.