Appendix 3d - Shaiva temples at Bundelkhand and Baghelkhand

From Malava we may pass on to Bundelkhand which was an important centre of Saivism during the rule of the Chandel kings in the tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries. The Chandel Kingdom included Khajuraho (now a village in Chhatarpur State, Central India), Kalanjar in Banda Dt., U. P. and Mahoba (in Hamirpur Dt., U.P.). Khajuraho is famous for its group of magnificent temples second in importance only to the Bhuvanesvar group in Northern India. The splendour of Khajuraho reached its climax in the tenth century during the reign of Dhanga (c. 950-1000 A. D.), who was a devout Saiva, and died, according to an inscription, at Prayaga, 'fixing his thoughts on Rudra, and muttering holy prayers.' The northern style of temple architecture found its most perfect expression in the edifices at Khajuraho, which were designed on a grand scale, executed in a fine sandstone, and richly adorned with sculpture. Dhanga's father Yasovarman (c. 930-50 A. D.) built the magnificent Caturbhuj temple completed in 954 A. D.; but the largest building of the Khajuraho group is the great Siva temple called Kandariya Mahadeo, believed to have been erected during the tenth century. It is 109 feet in length and 59 feet in width with a height as Visvanatha is of 116 feet above the ground. The temple known no less grand, the steeple being about 100 feet high, and was, according to an inscription, built during Dhanga's reign. The temple of Mrtanga A temple of Narayana was built by queen Citralekha in 955 A. D. at Bayana in Bharatpur State The relevant inscription recording the fact is incised on a slab in the pavement of the Ukha mosque at Bayana, now transformed into the Ukha mandir. A portion of an old Hindu temple found inside the Ukha mandir might represent the remains of the temple of Narayana erected by queen Citralekha. Progress Report of the Archaeological Survey of India, Western Circle, 1919, p. 43; 1920, p. 109. 2 The temple contains a marble linga 4 feet in girth. Cunningham counted no less than 226 statues inside the temple, and 646 outside, or 872 statues altogether, of which the greater number are from 2 to nearly 3 feet in height. "The richness of the carvings is rivalled by the profusion of the sculptures.' 'The general effect of this gorgeous luxury of embellishment is extremely pleasing, although the eye is often distracted by the multiplicity of the details.' 3 The Visvanatha temple is 87 feet long by 46 feet broad. Its plan is similar to that of the Kandariya temple, 'but it is altogether in better preservation itself, and its five subordinate temples are still standing or traceable at the four corners of its terrace, and in front of the entrance.' Cunningham counted 602 statues of from 2 to 2 feet in height 'in the different ranges of sculpture of this gorgeous temple.' Inside the shrine there is a linga. 'Inside the entrance portico of this temple, there are two large inscribed slabs which are dated respectively, in the Samvat years 1056 and 1058 or A. D. 999 and 1001.' The earlier inscription records the building of the temple to Siva and the dedication of a linga made of emerald (marakatamayam) by Raja Dhanga. The temple itself is said to have been called Pramathanatha, but the emerald linga no longer exists. Facing the entrance of the Visvanatha temple is a small open temple which contains a colossal recumbent figure of the bull Nandi. In plan it is a square of 16 feet with 12 pillars and a small open porch of two pillars on each of the four sides, thus forming an open temple of 20 pillars'. 'It evidently forms part of the Visvanatha temple, and must be of the same date,'

Mahadeo is remarkable for its large dome of overlapping stones, with a diameter of 22 feet, without extraneous support'. The temples are in more or less satisfactory preservation, which is largely due to the fact that Khajuraho luckily escaped the fury of Muslim vandalism. There are two more temples on the Kurar Nala to the south The former of the village, called Nilkanth Mahadeo and Kunwar Math. is a mass of ruins; but inside the sanctum there still exists the argha or pedestal of a linga. A pilgrim's inscription carved on the wall of the sanctum bears the date Samvat 1174 (A. D. 1117), and refers to the deity as Gaura or the White God. The temple seems to have been erected in the tenth or eleventh century. The Kunwar Math is also dedicated to Siva, whose figure occupies the central position over the doorway of the sanctum, between Brahma and Visnu. It is one of the finest temples There is at Khajuraho, and 66 feet long and 33 feet broad outside. no inscription to fix the date of the temple; but as the word Vasala, a mason's mark, is repeated several times on the stones of both of the Kurar Nala temples, Cunningham infers that they are of the same age, that is, the tenth or eleventh century. At Jatkari, 1 1/2 miles to the south of Khajuraho, there are two dilapidated temples, one of which is dedicated to Siva whose linga of marble is enshrined within. Kalanjar, with its strong fortress, was the military stronghold of the Chandel kings; and from early times the hill was famous as a favourite resort of Saiva ascetics. The buildings at Kalanjar are not, however, important as architecture. The upper gate, leading to the outwork in the middle of the west face, where the great lingam of Nilakantha stands, is attributed by local tradition to king Parmal or Paramardi (1165-1203 A. D.). A hymn of praise to Siva composed by Paramardi is inscribed on a slab at Kalanjar bearing the date 1201 A. D. At Mahoba there is the Madan Sagar lake associated with the Chandel king Madanavarman (1128-1165 A. D.). A fairly well-preserved granite temple, equal in size to the largest of the sandstone temples at Khajuraho, stands on a rocky island in the north west corner of the lake. The shrine is known as Kakra Marh and was dedicated to Siva. The ruins of a second temple dedicated to Visnu, called Madari, exist on another islet in the lake. Both the temples are ascribed to the reign of Madanavarman. The Devi cult is almost everywhere associated with Saivism; and it is noteworthy that a tribal goddess called Maniya Deo (Devi) was the tutelary deity of the Chandels. Maniya Devi appears to be akin to the Gond deities, and reminds one of Vindhyavasini, who was worshipped by the hill tribes of the Vindhya region, as described by Vakpati in his Gaudavaho. There are temple enshrining a colossal 'It is 24 feet square inside feet long and 9 feet broad 1 Called also Mrtyunjaya Mahadeva. It is a large square linga, 8 feet in height and 3 feet 8 inches in diameter. and 35 feet square outside, with a projecting porch 18 on each side.' 'It is situated 30 feet to the south of the Caturbhuj temple, and is most probably of the same age' (i. e. the middle of the tenth century A. D.).

three known shrines of the goddess, at Mahoba, at Maniyagarh, a large ruined fort, situated on a hill overlooking the town of Rajgarh in Chhatarpur State, and at the village of Barel in Hamirpur District. The Devi Jagadambi temple at Khajuraho is among the best, and like the others, has been assigned to the tenth century. There is no doubt that Saivism was the prevailing religion in Bundelkhand, and the architectural grandeur of Khajuraho rests on the great temples dedicated to Siva: but the cult of Visnu had also a recognised place, as shown The Baghari inscription by some of the temples dedicated to that deity.1 found near Mahoba commemorates the building of temples to both Visnu and Siva by the ministers of Parmal or Paramardi in 1195 A. D. We may refer in this connection to the allegorical play Prabodhacandrodaya, which was produced during the reign, of the Chandel king Kirtivarman, about the year 1065 A. D.: it refers to shrines of Visnu (v. 5) and glorifies Visnubhakti (Faith in may, however, be noted Visnu), one of the prominent characters in the play. It may, that Siva is glorified in the second verse of the prologue; and we are told in v. 9 that the Absolute is variously designated as Brahma, Visnu or Siva.* Saivism was prevalent not only in Bundelkhand but in other areas of Central India. Jaso, the chief town of the tiny state of that name in Baghelkhand, seems to have been an important place in the middle ages. It contains an old temple of Siva and a large tank called the Rekra Talav. Two colossal images of Siva as Tripurari and Natesa were found close to the Rekra Talav. The temple of Kumhra Mahadeva is a building in the Khajuraho style of about the eleventh or twelfth century. 1 The most important is the Caturbhuj completed in 954 A. D. (see above). 'The temple is 85 feet 4 inches in length and 44 feet in breadth, or almost exactly the same size as Visvanatha.' Immediately to the east of the Caturbhuj temple is a small open temple containing a colossal statue of the Varaha Avatara of Visnu No. 17 in Cunningham's list is a large temple situated close to the north end of the village. The temple is called Vamana or the Dwarf Incarnation of Visnu, a name which is certainly not correct; for, although there is a large statue of the dwarf god, 4 feet 8 inches high, enshrined inside, yet there is a small figure of Siva himself over the centre of the entrance to the sanctum, with Brahma and Visnu to the right and left.' One or two more temples of Visnu are mentioned by Cunningham. 2 For the Chandel kings and their monuments see Vincent Smith: History and Coinage of the Chandel dynasty in Indian Antiquary, 1908. The remains, more or less complete, of more than thirty temples are traceable at Khajuraho and the neighbouring village of Jatkari.' See also Cunningham: Archaeological Survey of India, Vol. II, pp. 412-39. Cunningham writing in 1865 says that Khajuraho is still frequented by pilgrims who assemble in thousands for the celebration of the Sivaratri in the month of Phalgun, at which time an annual fair is held. It may be noted . that a similar fair is held at Elephanta on the occasion of the Sivaratri festival every year in February when pilgrims visit the island in large numbers to worship the linga enshrined in the great cave temple in the western hill. Sastri: A Guide to Elephanta, p. 32. 3 Progress Report of the Archaeological Survey of India, Western Circle, for the year ending 31 st March, 1919, p. 60.

It be noted that the history of Saivism in this region goes may back to much earlier times. Seven miles to the south-east of Jaso are the ruins of the ancient city of Nachna Kuthara in Ajaygadh State in Bundelkhand. Some of the oldest known Hindu temples in India have been discovered at this place. The earliest of these is a flat-roofed temple surrounded by a narrow covered veranda on three sides. There was a very small mandapa or porch in front of the only door of the shrine, which has collapsed entirely.' Over the shrine is a small upper chamber instead of a sikhara, with a flat roof slightly raised at the centre. The temple is well-preserved, but without any idol, and has been assigned to the early Gupta period, i. e., 4 th 5 th century A. D. To the south-west of this temple there is a large stone-built temple of Siva with a tall spire, which has been assigned to the later Gupta, age. The mandapa in front has collapsed, and 'inside the temple there is a huge four-faced linga (Caturmukha Mahadeva) which is certainly earlier in date than the temple itself. To the east of the Gupta temple are the remains of another temple of Mahadeva of which only the foundations and the linga remain. The ground around is strewn with carved blocks of stone from which it appears that this temple was of the same date as the temple of the four-faced Mahadeva." 1 The Nagod State area, now included in the Baghelkhand Agency of Central India, appears to have been an early focus of Saivism, and continued as such till medieval times. An ancient temple of Siva exists at Bhumara, a village twelve miles to the west of the town of Unchehra in Nagod State. It is flat-roofed and similar in all respects to the early Gupta temple at Nachna except that there is no upper chamber over the shrine. The similarity in size and plan and the nature of the carvings indicates that both the temples belong to the same age, probably the middle of the fifth century A. D. As in the case of the temple at Nachna, the mandapa has collapsed, but inside the shrine was found a huge ekamukha linga measuring a little more than six feet in height." In the small hamlet of Sankargadh, in Nagod State, there is, at the oot of a small conical hill, an ancient tank, now almost silted up, on the banks of which exist a very large collection of Saiva sculptures and a very small stone temple of the later Gupta period. Two paved foot-paths lead to the door of the temple which stands on a mound, and on both sides of the foot-paths an unusually large number of lingas have been arranged. The temple consists of a single chamber with one door; and the interior of the shrine is perfectly plain, and contains a very large linga. The sikhara of the temple was added at a later date, perhaps in the 10 th or 11 th century, sculptures of which period are found scattered around the edifice. 'No inscriptions were discovered at the place, but from the technique the lower part of the temple can be assigned to the sixth century A. D.'. The images gathered around the shrine 1 Ibid., pp. 53, 61. 2 R. D. Banerji: The temple of Siva at Bhumara (Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India. No. 16).

include a very fine image of Siva and Parvati; and it is apparent from the carving that the sculpture belongs to the later Gupta period, i. e. 6 th or 7 th century A. D. There is besides a very large collection of images of Siva and Parvati at this place, most of which belong to the 11 th and 12 th centuries A. D. Close by are the ruins of a large medieval temple of Siva of the 11 th or 12 th century A. D. 'There must have been other temples also at this place, as in all some 15 or 20 lingas were discovered within a short area, some of which belong to the earlier periods, as they are natural Phallic symbols of the God of Destruction.' The villages of Khoh and Majhgawan, in Nagod State, contain ruins extending over three miles in length, in which the remains of a large and once populous city lie buried. The biggest mound is the Ataria Khera where the remains of a Vaisnava temple were partly excavated by Cunningham, who discovered at the same place a fine image of the Boar Incarnation of Visnu. This area, too, seems to have been a centre of the Saiva cult. A number of ekamukha lingas was found in the village and in the mounds surrounding it, and broken images of Mahisamardini were found both at Khoh and Majhgawan. More important is the neighbouring site known as Nakti-ka-Talai, which contains the remains of two fine stone-built temples of the early Gupta period. They are Siva temples and stand side by side, hidden from view by thick bamboo groves. Here was also found one of the finest known ekamukha lingas, well-preserved and bearing the bust of Siva on its western face. Siva is represented with three eyes, and his crescent is carved in relief on the fore part of the mass of matted hair on the head. The face of this bust is a masterpiece of the plastic art of the early Gupta period.'¹ The evidence of temples and sculptures shows that Saivism was firmly established in certain areas of Central India in the Gupta period. In the tenth century and after, Saivism was the prevailing religion in the area corresponding to Rewa State during the rule of the Cedi or Haihaya kings of Tripuri. Here are some important Saiva monuments which claim our attention. The territory of the Haihayas of Tripuri in the 10 th-12 th centuries was the Dahala country or the modern district of Jubbulpur; but under the more powerful princes the Cedi kingdom included that portion of Central India which lies to the south of the river Tons, consisting of the modern States of Nagod, Maihar, the eastern part of Panna and the western part of the northern division of Rewa State.' The existing monuments of the Cedi country consist chiefly of Saiva monasteries and temples, and are found for the most part in Rewa State and the district of Jubbulpur. We have already referred to 1 For Sankargadh, Khoh etc. see Progress Report of the Archaeological Survey of India, Western Circle, for the year ending 31 st March, 1920. 2 For details see R. D. Banerji: The Haihayas of Tripuri and their monuments (Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India, No. 23). All the monuments have 61 not been fully explored, and many of them are not in a good state of preservation.

the influence of the Saiva monks of the Mattamayura line and their monasteries in the Cedi country. As regards temples, the remains are found chiefly in Rewa State: at Chandrehe and Gurgi, not far from Rewa town, and at Bhirpur, Amarkantak and Sohagpur. The Siva temple at Chandrehe was built about the middle of the tenth century A. D. It is the earliest specimen of the circular type of temples which came into vogue in this part of the country during the tenth century. The ruins of another temple of the same type were found near the village of Masaun in the neighbourhood of Gurgi, twelve miles due east of Rewa Town. Temples of this kind, with circular garbhagrhas, are extremely rare; and it has been suggested that this type of temple architecture was designed by the builders employed by the Saiva monks of the Mattamayura sect in the Cedi country. The Gurgi temple appears to belong to the same period as the one at Chandrehe which it closely resembles; and it is probable that it might be the Siva temple which, according to the Gurgi inscription of Prabodhasiva, was built by the abbot Prasantasiva, close to the very high temple of Siva built by Yuvarajadeva I, who ruled in the first half of the tenth century. The latter temple seems to have been built on the Gurgaj mound, at Gurgi, where the sites of two large temples are now marked by deep pits and the overturned colossal figures which were once enshrined inside'. The figures in question refer to a four-armed Durga nine feet high, seated on a lion, and a still larger sculpture of Siva aad Parvati lying on its face, the slab being more than twelve feet long by more than five feet broad. 'If the temples which occupied this mound bore any proportion to the size of the colossal figures which they enshrined, they must have been of considerable size, certainly not less than 100 feet in height.' Among other temples of the Cedi region may be mentioned that of Viratesvara Siva at Sohagpur, the Karan Mandir at the sacred site of Amarkantak, and the temple of Vaidyanatha Mahadeva at Baijnath, all in Rewa State. The Karan Mandir is a Siva temple ascribed by local tradition to Karna Raja, the powerful Haihaya king who ruled in the third quarter of the eleventh century A. D. It is a temple of rare design having three separate shrines; but it never was completed. The superb magnificence of such a temple with its three tall and profusely sculptured lofty towers of graceful outline can only be realised by actual sight.' Lastly, the Bheraghat inscription of Alhanadevi, the widow of king Gayakarna, issued in 1155 A. D., records the foundation of a temple of Siva with a matha or monastery and a hall of study and gardens around them. This temple, or rather the lower part of its garbhagrha, still exists and is known by the name of the temple of Gaurisamkara.' It stands on the summit of a hillock at Bheraghat, better known as the Marble Rocks, thirteen miles from Jubbulpur. The temple is located within the circular enclosure of the shrine of the Sixty-four Yoginis of which we have spoken.¹ It will be thus seen that the early monuments of the Cedi country are almost exclusively devoted to the cult of Siva. It is evident that at the time 1 See Chap. XV.

when Somadeva wrote, Saivism was predominant in central India as in the south. We may now turn to Orissa.