English: Kalinga was one of the influential regions in ancient India in the area that is now a part of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, east Telangana and northeast Andhra Pradesh. Various dynasties between the c. 4th century BCE to about the c. 8th-century CE ruled it. Almost all of these were Hindu dynasties and they built some distinctive, spectacular temples as well patronized Buddhist and Jain monuments. The more lasting impact of Kalinga artwork and monuments is found in Southeast Asia, through trade and migration of religious ideas. From design ideas on lions/elephants/symbolic icons to floor plans, Kalinga exported these to many parts of Asia. There influence was so extensive, that in parts of SE Asia during the medieval centuries, Indians were broadly called "klings" no matter which part of India they came from.

• Mukhalingam was an ancient city, likely the or a capital of Kalinga kingdom. It is now a small town on the eastern bank of the navigable Vamsadara river, closer to Odisha border, a bit upstream from Bay of Bengal and the ancient port of Kalingapatnam. It is about 50 kilometers north of Srikakulam, and 150 kilometers northeast from modern city of Visakhapatnam.

• The temples in Mukhalingam are among the approximately dozen, earliest and most important early Kalinga era temples that have survived into the modern era. These temples are partly damaged, their lower level artwork show signs of deliberate mutilation (chopped faces, chopped limbs, chopped sexual organs). However, their remote and somewhat abandoned location, the Kalinga unusual architecture and their use of hard stone made injuring the artwork difficult. Thus, these are some of the best preserved Hindu temples to be found in much of India.

• The Mukhalingeswara temples complex is a major Hindu temple complex. It includes Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism temples in the same complex. The main temple here has a Nataraja and Shaiva themes to its left side and a Narasimha and Vaishnava themes on the right. Their is dedicated Shakti shrine, whise doorway is decorated with one of the most notable sakha with saptamatrika (seven mother goddesses). It also includes fusion deities such as Harihara and Ardhanarishwara, along with Vedic deities such as Brahma, Surya, Saraswati, Vayu and others.

• The Kalinga artwork is notable for its simplicity, yet one that beautifully expresses all the iconographic details recommended in Sanskrit texts, jewelry like finish and exquisite execution.

• For a scholarly discussion of this and other Kalinga temples, see Mary Linda (1990), The Kalinga Temple Form, JSTOR 4629402