English: Kalinga was one of the influential regions in ancient India in the region that is now Odisha, Chattisgarh, 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. There more lasting impact is found in Southeast Asia, through trade and migration of religious ideas. In parts of SE Asia, there influence was so extensive, that 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 Mukhalingam temples 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 artwork show signs of deliberate mutilation (chopped faces, limbs, sexual organs).

• The Someshwara temple is a Shiva temple, but like major Hindu temples in India, includes artwork of Vaishnavism and Shaktism. It also includes fusion deities such as Harihara and Ardhanarishwara, along with Vedic deities such as Brahma, Surya, Saraswati, Vayu and others.

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