Kualo was the ancient capital of Dhenkanal.

Kualo is situated in north of Dhenkanal town at a distance

of 32 km on the right side of river Brahmani. The kingdom was ruled by the shulki kings who hold
"stamba" epithets. They were the feudatories of the Bahmukar kings. Their deity was Lord Shiva. Hence
we see eight Siva temples at Kualo known as "Ashta Sambhu". These eight shiva lingas are known as -
Kanakeswar, Swapneswar, Aisneswar, Kapileswar, Baidyanatheswar, Bane and Lokanatheswar.

Astasambhu Shiva Temples is a collection of eight (8) Hindu temple dedicated to Lord

Shiva.The 8 main Shiva lingams that are found in these 8 temples are “Kanakeswar”,
“Swapneswar”, “Aisneswar”, “Kapileswar”, “Baidhyanatheswar”, “Baneswar” and
“Lokanatheswar”. “Astasambhu Temple” is one of the 8 temples that are within the area of the
Uttareswara Temple. In the Uttareswara Shiva Temple complex there are 8 temples of identical
size and dimension locally known as “Astasambhu”. “Asta” means eight and “Sambhu” refers to
another name of Lord Shiva. Five of them are arranged in one alignment are also known as
“Panch Pandava”.

Astasambhu Temple houses a cluster of 8 Shiva lingams made of precious stones. Each one of
them is of a different colour. Some are white while some are red and black. Thus they are very
appealing to devotees. The Shiva Lingas appear to be in different colours when looked at from
different directions due to the reflection of the Sun, their colour changes.

Astasambhu temple was constructed in the 10th century AD. Dhenekal, the town in which the
temple is situated currently, had the capital of Kualo or Karmula in the earlier days. The Kualo
kingdom was then ruled by the shulki kings, who were the descendants of the Bahmukar
generation of kings. Lord Shiva was the main deity of the Bahmukar kings; hence these temples
came to be addressed as the Astasambhu temples. Astasambhu Temple belongs to
the Kalinga architectural style. The basic material used for building is grey sandstone and dry
masonry was the technique used in this temple. The Astasambhu Temple contains a vimana and
a porch facing the front side. The vimana is 4.15m tall. The highlight of this temple is that, here,
the deities and the architectural style is simple and has no ornaments on it, making it look all the
more serene and ancient.

The road of Dhenekal is very well connected to all other parts of the state. The nearest airport to
this temple is Bhubaneshwar Airport which has direct and connecting flights to and from all
major cities in the country. Again, Bhubaneshwar railway station is the nearest railhead from
where the temple is just 2km away from the station.