Sirpur Group of Monuments is situated in Sirpur a village in Mahasamund district in the state of Chhattisgarh which is around 35 km away from Mahasamund city and 78 km from the capital city of Raipur on the banks of the river Mahanadi. These monuments consist of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temples and monasteries which were built during the 5th to 12th century. Cunningham visited this place in 1872 and wrote about the Laxman Temple and its carvings and published it. Recently the historians have discovered 12 Buddhist Viharas, 1 Jain Vihara, monolithic statues of Buddha and Mahavira, 22 Shiva temples and 5 Vishnu temples, underground granary market and a sixth century ‘snaan kund’ (public bath). In this place.

 

Other famous attractions of Sirpur are the Gandheshwar Temple and the Buddha Vihara. Sirpur is also famous for paper industry.