Bhawanipatna is a city, and district headquarters of the Kalahandi district, in the Indian state of Odisha. Bhawanipatna is a city of numerous temples dedicated to different deities of Hindu pantheon. It is named after the presiding deity, Bhawani-Shankar and Patna which means place in Odia like "Padaa". Bhawanipatna municipality is the administrative head of the city, which is divided into twenty wards with different sub-areas called pada (pronounced "padaa"). Originally, these padaas were inhabited by people of different communities, but over the last few decades, these padaas have become homogeneous. Bhawanipatna has more than forty padaas.