The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c31: Unkal
The Chālukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c31
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- c31.s1 The Temple of Chandramaulēśvara — 7 parts
Unkal
The Temple of Chandramaulēśvara
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THREE miles to the north of Hubli, a junction on the Southern Marāthā Railway, is the little village of Unkal, in the middle of which is the old temple of Chandramaulēśvara (Plate CXXVII). Like most of the old Chālukyan shrines, it has been appropriated by the Liṅgāyats; and, though in a very dilapidated condition, it is still used by them. The *maṇḍapa*, or hall, has entirely disappeared, but traces of its foundation show its position and size.
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The plan of the shrine is quite unlike that of any other temple met with in these districts. Instead of having a single entrance from the hall, it has four entrances, one on each of its four sides, each of which is provided with its own antechamber (Plate CXXV). On examining the little dedicatory images on the blocks above the doorways, it is seen that two of them are the usual Gaja-Lakshmī, the other two being Sarasvatī. This last image, placed above a shrine doorway, is very unusual, and I know of no other instance, save the case of one of the shrines in the temple at Degāmve in the Belgāum district. Sarasvatī is the consort of Brahmā, and coupling this fact with the arrangement of the four doors into the shrine, it seems possible that we have here an old temple originally dedicated to Brahmā, the four-faced deity, one of whose faces looks each way. If such an image occupied this shrine one face would look out through each doorway. In the shrine is now the ubiquitous *liṅga*, but in the west antechamber, placed upon a low pedestal on the floor, is a four-faced head which the villagers call *pañchānana* (the five-faced Śiva) notwithstanding the fact that there are only four faces.¹ It certainly looks more like a head of an image of Brahmā, and possibly of the image that once occupied the shrine. It has been asserted that Brahmā is never worshipped as the principal deity in a temple, but this is wrong, for there is the celebrated temple dedicated to his worship at Pushkar near Ajmer, and another old one at Kheḍ-Brahmā in Idar territory,² both in full use. Several old temples, originally dedicated to his worship, have lately been found in various parts of Rājputānā and Kāṭhiāwāḍ.³ In the Dhārwār district, alone, grants are still given to at least eight different modern temples for the worship of Brahmā.
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¹ We have already noticed a proper *pañchānana* liṅga, with five faces on it, in the tank at Mahākūṭēśvara.
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² Fully described in the Archaeological Survey of India *Annual Report*, 1906-07, 171.
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³ See the *Annual Progress Reports* of the Archaeological Survey of India, Western Circle, 1898-99, 19; 1904-5, 47; 1905-6, 51; also see the *Pioneer* of the 23rd July 1908, for an account of a temple at Koḍakal in Malabār.
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Upon the outer walls of the temple are found images of all the principal deities, among which are Brahmā, Viṣṇu with his incarnations, and Śiva in his different forms. The śikhara has disappeared. The outer doors of the antechambers are flanked with perforated screens, those of the north, south and west doors being a very prettily-chased grating with the alternate perforations filled with lozenge-shaped flowers. Each of the panels of the east doorway is filled with a beautiful scroll of arabesque with little musicians filling each of the whorls (Plates CXXVIII and CXXIX). Above this door is the usual sculptured architrave with three little niches for the images of Brahmā, Śiva and Viṣṇu. These appear to have been cut out, possibly because Brahmā occupied the centre and was thus objectionable to the Liṅgāyats, in this position.¹
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¹ Another old temple with four porches is that of Siddhēśvara on the hill at Māndhātā in the Central Provinces which now holds the liṅga. There is also a small ruined one in the village of Sinnar in the Nasik district. It was a favourite place with the Jains for their chaumukha temples, such as that at Gersāppā described further on.