Mahima Dharma

It is believed once Swami was invited to Puri Mukti Mandap and there he confirmed Brahm (not Brahmā) is nirguna ("attributeless") and sunya ("void.")

In 1838, Swami moved to Kapilash hill of Dhenkanal district of Orissa and spent twenty-one days in Atma Yoga Samadhi (unification of human mind) with balkal of the kumbhi tree (bark of careya arborea), leaving his clothes on a huge round stone.

The next twelve years Swami survived on cow's milk alone, rendered as service by the ruler of Dhenkanal, King Bhagirathi Bhramarbar Bahadur.

Both the king and the queen had the opportunity to witness Swami on top of Kapilash hill and would serve him milk in new earthen pots.

After spending twelve years in Kapilash hill, Mahima Prabhu travelled around for twenty-four years as Brahmabadhuta (wandering mendicant of supreme order) and spread Mahima Dharma in Odisha and the neighboring states, before taking Samadhi at Joranda, Dhenkanal, of Odisha on the 10th day after the new moon of 1876.

[8] Mahima Dharma teaches belief in a single God (parambrahma or the supreme-soul who is formless and omnipresent) named Alekha.

Mahima Dharma became a powerful force for liberation in India because, as a traditional Indian religion, it stood uncompromising in its rejection of the caste system.

The distinct and original teachings of Mahima Dharma are often conveyed using terms that may have an unrelated meaning in other Indian religious traditions.

They are sometimes misinterpreted as followers of Surya, the Sun god, which is not true; they characterize their worship as that of the Supreme Lord of the indescribable grace (Alekha).

The religion has a monastic order, whose members, like Buddhist monks, do not constitute a priestly class and have no control over lay practitioners.

They lead a life of poverty, celibacy, piety and constant movement, as the monks are not allowed to sleep in the same place on two consecutive nights nor take meals twice from the same house on any day.

In 1881, a large number of iconoclastic followers of mahima dharma, from Sambalpur and Raipur, gathered in Jagannath Puri, reportedly seizing the three murtis and setting them afire on the Grand Trunk Road.

To shed light on the Mahima as a sociocultural revolt against the Caste system, bearing a close resemblance to the Dalit Buddhist movement, Mayadhar Mansingh wrote in History of Oriya Literature: "This Mahima or Alekh religion does not recognise the caste system and is severely iconoclastic.

Gate of Mahima Gadi, Joranda , Dhenkanal , Odisha, India
A Mahima Alekha monk walking on a Bhubaneswar road