Appendix 3a - Shaiva temples at Gujarat

[Full title: Shaiva temples and their geographical distribution (1) Gujarat]

The power and influence of Saivism is reflected in the numerous old temples dedicated to Siva, which exist in various parts of India, and in many cases, go back far beyond the limits of the tenth century A. D. We may commence our survey with the celebrated temple of Somanatha on the seashore, in south-western Kathiawar, at Somanathapattana, close to the modern port of Veraval. Somanatha was no doubt earlier than the tenth century, and

may have been as early as the Maitrakas of Valabhi (the modern Vala, near Bhavnagar), who held sway over Gujarat and Kathiawar during the sixth, seventh and eighth centuries of the Christian era, and call themselves parama-mahesvara or devout worshippers of Siva in their inscriptions. The great Saiva temple was built upon fifty-six pillars of teak wood covered with lead, and the glory of its wealth and splendour lives in the pages of Muslim historians. It was sacked and desecrated by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1026 A. D., and subsequently destroyed by a lieutenant of Mahmud; but soon after, it was rebuilt of stone by Bhimadeva I, the Solanki king of Gujarat (1022-64 A. D.). It was again restored and rebuilt by Kumarapala in the third quarter of the twelfth century, evidently in consequence of its being again attacked, or of having fallen into ruin. The present ruin represents the rebuilding by Kumarapala.³ Saivism was paramount in Gujarat during the rule of the Solanki kings who were great builders of temples dedicated to Siva. Their capital was at Anahillapura (Anahilavada or Patan), and other important places during their reign were Siddhapur and Vadnagar, now included in Baroda State, to the north of Ahmedabad. The first king Mularaja (942-96 A. D.) was a fervent devotee of Siva in the form of Somanatha or Somesvara; and the temple of Mulesvara and the Tripurusaprasada appear to have been built by him in honour of Somanatha. Siddharaja (1094-1143), whose name is still familiar everywhere in Gujarat, built the great Sahasralinga tank which derived its name from the numerous linga shrines on its banks. In the centre of the tank was an island on which stood the temple of Rudresvara." 1 Exceptions are Dhruvasena I (526 A. D.) who is called parama-bhagavata, and his brother and successor Dharapatta who is styled paramaditya-bhakta or a great devotee of the Sun. Guhasena, who was a worshipper of Siva (558-564), calls himself paramopasaka or a great devotee of Buddha in his grant of 566 A. D. Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. I, pt. I, p. 83; Poussin: Dynasties et Histoire de L'Inde, pp. 133-139. 2 See Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. I, pt. I, p. 165. The ancient temple is stated to have been thirteen storeys high, with its top surmounted by fourteen cupolas of gold which glittered in the sun and were visible from a long distance. The original edifice was built of brick and its floor was made of planks of teak wood with the interstices filled with lead. See Commissariat: History of Gujarat, Vol. I, lx. and Nazim: The Life and Times of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna, p. 212. 3 Cousens: Architectural Antiquities of Western India, p. 40. Kumarapala's temple suffered in every subsequent Muhammadan invasion of the place, though it was repaired and restored from time to time. In 1395 it was destroyed by Muzaffar Khan, and again by Ahmad 1, after his war with the Rav of Junagadh in 1414. Commissariat (op. cit.), p. lxxiv. 4 ' tatha nityam nityam ... sri somesvarapattane yatrayam sivabhaktitaya vrajamstadbhaktiparitustah somanatha upadesadanapurvam mandalinagaramagatah | tena rajna tatra mulesvara iti prasadah karitah | tatra namascikirsa harsena pratidinamagacchatastasya nrpatestadbhaktiparitustah sri somesvarah aham sasagara eva bhavannagare samesyamityabhidhaya srimadanahilapure'vataramakarot| ' See Prabandhacintamani, p. 17 (Singhi ed.). 5 Hardly a vestige now remains of the Sahasralinga tank, the theme of so much legend and song. Its site is still pointed out to the north-west of modern Patan.' Commissariat (op. cit), p. lxvi.

Siddharaja restored and rebuilt also the great temple of Rudramahalaya, which had been founded by Mularaja at Siddhapur on the north bank of the Sarasvati, seventeen miles to the east of Patan, In or around the court were eleven other shrines in honour of the Rudras. This magnificent temple was destroyed by the Muslim conquerors of Gujarat; but the stupendous fragments that still exist give an adequate idea of the grandiose design of the original structure." Vadnagar (the ancient Anandapura), situated 19 miles southeast from Siddhapur, was a great religious centre in Gujarat, and noted as the home of the Nagara Brahmanas who worshipped Siva. An inscription engraved on a stone slab records the building of the walls of the town by Kumarapala, the equally famous successor of Siddharaja, in Samvat 1208 or 1151 A. D. The town had at one time an unusually large number of temples, but the number 3000 mentioned by Abul Fazl at the end of the sixteenth century is no doubt an exaggeration. The chief temple, that of Hatakesvara Mahadeva, is a lofty structure to the west of the town." It is sad to think that few temples in Gujarat have survived intact; and the only remains now of the Solankis and the Vaghelas are but fragments. Fortunately, the great temples of the Deccan, Bundelkhand , Orissa and South India are still in existence; and we shall in the course of our study enumerate the more important examples as far as they illustrate the progress and influence of the Saiva faith in those regions. From Gujarat we may turn to Mount Abu which was a flourishing centre of Saivism at an early age. The Prabhasakhanda of the Skandapurana has a section on Arbuda or mount Abu, which gives an account of its sacred sites and the legends associated with them. In medieval times the Abu region was ruled by a branch of the Paramara dynasty of Malava from the end of the tenth century to the end of the thirteenth under the suzerainty of the Caulukyas of Gujarat. It may be noted that Bhima I of Gujarat (1022-64 A. D.) brought for a time the Abu territory under his direct control in the second quarter of the eleventh century; and the Jaina Vimala Saha was deputed as the governor of Abu, who built the famous marble temple of Adinatha in 1031 A. D. Among the lingas worshipped at Abu, Acalesvara was the most famous. An inscription of Yasodhavala, one of the Paramara kings of Abu, dated 1150 A. D., was found in the temple of Acalesvara . Early in the thirteenth century we hear of the prince Prahladana, the founder of Palanpur, melting down a Jaina brass image for making a metal bull for Acalesvara Mahadeva. 1 Commissariat, p. lxvii. 2 Ibid. lxxii. It may be noted that, while the main temples in Gujarat were dedicated to Siva, there were ancient temples devoted to the cult of Krsna or Visnu at Dvaraka and the adjoining island of Bet or Sankhoddhara. They were destroyed by Mahmud Shah I in his expedition of 1473. The existing temples are later structures. Ibid. p. 174. 3 Ganguly: History of the Paramara Dynasty, pp. 304, 319.

The sacred sites of Mount Abu mentioned in the Arbudakhanda of the Skandapurana include Kanakhala (chap. 26) and Candikasrama (chap. 36), or the hermitage of Candika, which appears to have been a shrine of the goddess with an attached monastery. Both Kanakhala and Candikasrama are mentioned in the Abu inscription of the Saiva ascetic Kedararasi, which gives a detailed account of his building activities at Kanakhala. The inscription was incised in 1208 A. D. during the reign of Dharavarsa at Abu under the suzerainty of Bhima II of Gujarat. The record opens with verses in praise of Siva and Ujjain, and enumerates the succession of teachers of the Capala or Capaliya sect which seems to have been an order of Saiva monks in Malava. Altogether eight teachers are mentioned; and the first teacher Tapasa, a great devotee of Candisa or Siva, came from the New Monastery (Nutanamatha) at Ujjain, and became the head of the Candikasrama which was, as we have seen, located at Mount Abu. Kedararasi, the last teacher to be mentioned must have lived in the last quarter of the twelfth century; and to judge from the succession of teachers and disciples, Tapasa may have become the head of the Candikasrama about the middle of the eleventh century. As regards Kedararasi, he carried out an extensive building programme, according to his inscription. He renovated the entire site of Kanakhala with stoneslabs (uttana patta), and provided it with an enclosure with lofty walls. He repaired also the temple of Atulanatha, built two new massive temples of Siva in front of the shrine of Kanakhalanatha, and erected a row of pillars of black stone, in the mandapa of the temple of Kanakhalasambhu. His sister Moksesvari also built a beautiful temple of Siva at the place." The capital of the Paramara Chiefs of Abu until about the beginning of the 14 th century was at Candravati, now a small village at the junction of the Sivalan with the Banas river near the south end of Mount Abu and in the Sirohi State. Here the numerous temples were constructed of white marble, a rare phenomenon in the history of Hindu architecture; and many of them must have been dedicated to Siva, as Saivism was the prevailing religion in this area. The evidence of sculptures, scanty though it is, points to the same conclusion. In one of the marble edifices, for instance, the principal figures were a three-headed statue with a female seated on his knee, sitting on a car, with a large goose in front (i. e. Brahma); Siva with twenty arms; Bhairava with twenty arms, one holding a human head by the hair, a victim lying beneath, and a female on each side; one drinking the blood falling from the head. Unfortunately Candravati is in ruins, and no idea can be formed of the cults practised in its beautiful temples.³ 1 An Abu inscription of the reign of Bhimadeva II, Indian Antiquary, Vol. XI, p. 220. 2 Candravati is one of the tragedies of Indian archaeology. Twenty marble edifices of different sizes were still in existence when the spot was first visited by Sir Charles Colville and his party in 1824. Nevertheless, about this time, the petty Chief of Girwar, a few miles to the, northwest of Candravati, who regularly sold the marble materials, was called by Colonel Tod 'the depredator and salesman