Located in the verdant environs of the Titilagarh sub-division in Balangir district, the twin villages of Ranipur-Jharial bear strong traces of their ancient heritage. This is primarily evident in the numerous ancient temples discovered by visiting pilgrims to ‘Somatirtha’ (as they called this region).

Saivism, Vaisnavism, Buddhism and Tantrism obviously enjoyed a great deal of influence in the region. Situated on the rocky outcrops of this region are a number of temples that are of great interest to tourists. Located here is the hypaethral temple of the 64 yoginis. It is one of the four famous Yogini temples in India. The other three are located at Hirapur (near Bhubaneswar), Khajuraho and Bheraghat (near Jabalpur).

The finest specimen of a brick temple is the 20 metres high Indralath temple. It is one of the tallest brick temples of ancient India.