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Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c10: Temples in the Ahmadnagar District

Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c10

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Temples in the Ahmadnagar District

Kokamthān

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THE village of Kokamthān, about fifty-six miles north of Ahmadnagar, is situated upon the right bank of the Godāverī, some three miles to the south-east of Kopargāon, a station on the railway. Built upon what appears to be an artificial embankment, projecting into the stream bed upon the north-east outskirts of the village, is a very interesting old temple. It consists of the usual shrine and *maṇḍapa* with two porches, one on the west side of the hall and one on the north, directly opposite the shrine. A small additional shrine takes the place of a porch upon the east side of the *maṇḍapa*. The building has been designed upon a star-shaped plan, which, however, is rather obscured by the three heavy square buttresses around the shrine, and by the porches and the square side shrine of the hall which break the star-planned corners. It is possible that the side shrine of the hall is a later addition, the outer walls, in their treatment, being so very unlike the rest. Had this been part of the original plan, it would, like temple No. 1 at Balsāne, have been carried out in precisely the same style, the same mouldings and panelling being carried around its walls. Like the temples at Jodghā and Devalānā, this shrine has taken the place of a porch which stood opposite the one on the west of the hall. Above the doorways of the two porches, as well as above that of the main shrine, is Garuḍa: which, coupled with the fact that the temple faces the north, shows clearly that it was originally a Vaishṇava temple. But above the doorway of this small shrine is Gaṇapati, which is in favour of it being built as a Śaiva shrine, probably when the temple fell into the hands of that sect. (Plates LXVII—LXIX.)

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Applied to the three sides of the shrine, outside, are three heavy buttresses, which, since they are not necessitated by any wall shrines within, must have been added in order to strengthen the walls under the great pressure of the lofty tower which rose above them. These are designed in keeping with the walls and tower of the temple itself. The mouldings are the same though on a miniature scale; and from these it can be seen what the top of the tower, which is now absent, must have been like. These are, without doubt, original work, and were provided for in the original plan. Perhaps the inferior quality of the stone used caused the builders to be doubtful of the ability of the walls to carry the weight of the superstructure.

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The lower part of the building, that is, the walls between the ground line and the cornice, is built of stone, but the tower above this, and the roof of the *maṇḍapa*, are built of brick, the whole of which, both stone and brick, having been plastered. The ornament and figures, which had been first carved in stone, have been overlaid with plaster, in which their outlines and forms have been reproduced. On the brickwork the whole of the decorative detail has been formed solely in the plaster, and, in this respect, differs from the older brick temples, such as that at Sirpur in the Central Provinces, where the ornament was first executed in the brick before being overlaid. It was a common thing in the Dakhan, in temples of this age and later, to build them partly in stone and partly in brick, and the plaster upon the stonework was probably intended to bring the whole to one uniform appearance. In the photograph the one is indistinguishable from the other.

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The front, or north, porch has a plain spiral ceiling similar to that in the porch in the north end of the *Jāmi‘ masjid* at Aḥmadābād, but with less decoration.¹ It is now a good deal the worse for weathering. In the west porch is a cusped ceiling somewhat similar to those in the *Jāmi‘ Masjid* at Broach,² but not so elaborate as the best of those.

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¹ *Aḥmadābād Architecture*, by Dr. Jas. Burgess, Part I, plate XXXVII.

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² *Gujarāt Architecture*, by Dr. Jas. Burgess, plates X—XVI.

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The principal object of worship in the shrine, at present, is the *liṅga*; but, behind it, resting against the wall, is a slab bearing an image of Vishnu reclining upon Śesha, which is set up on end. The beams which stand forward from the four walls of the shrine are supported upon intervening brackets or consoles, in addition to the walls and corner pilasters. The shrine floor is on the same level as the floor of the hall. The doorway is fairly well carved, and is of the usual style, with a little florid centre piece under the cornice, as at Pedgāon. Five *devīs* occupy as many small niches in a line above the door cornice.

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In the wall, on either side of the antechamber, is a niche for an image. The antechamber ceiling is domical, rising in plain concave and concentric mouldings to a central rosette, which falls again as a pendant in two tiers of cusped mouldings.

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The side shrine, off the hall, which is, smaller than the principal one, has a low altar at the back, upon which there is now a rather shapeless stone which may have been the slab which once bore an image. It is daubed with red paint and is called by the villagers Jagadambā Devī.

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The central hall has no free-standing pillars, the ceiling being worked up from the pilasters, which are generally square in plan. Heavy architraves form an octagon of unequal sides, from which the domical ceiling rises in rings of concave mouldings to a central pendent rosette, which again falls as a finial. Each group of cup-shaped cusped mouldings, in the three tiers of the pendant, has a separate drop or finial of its own. These drops, with the central one, were fitted in as separate stones, some of which are missing. There are eight figure brackets around the inside of the dome, six of which hold dancing figures, the little squat figures below being musicians.

Akolā

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The sleepy little town of Akolā, with its steep narrow streets paved with cobbles, and old vādās or mansions now falling into decay, is built upon the bank of the Pravarā river some sixty miles to the north-west of Ahmadnagar. To the east of the town, a little distance above the bank of the river, is the old temple of Siddheśvara. It is said that the temple was buried in the silt of the river, until about 1780, when a kunbi's plough struck against the kalaśa of the spire. If it had been buried, it must have been under the gradual accumulation of earth washed down by the rains from the hillocks that overtop it on the south. Its basement is at present buried to a depth of about four feet on the side of the hillocks and some two feet on the opposite.

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FIG. 11.—Pillar in the temple of Siddheśvara.

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The style of the temple is that of the temple of Baleśvara at Pedgaon, the walls being comparatively plain when compared with the more highly sculptured shrine. But the most interesting feature of this temple are the two doorways to the sanctum—the usual one leading from the hall, and a second opposite to it in the back wall, leading out into the open. This is peculiar and very unusual.¹ It is a Śaiva temple dedicated to the worship of the liṅga, and appears always to have been so. It faces the west. (Plates LXX—LXXIII.)

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¹ Further up this valley, at the village of Ratanvāḍi, is an old temple which, like this, has an extra door to the shrine through the back wall. At Sinnar, in the village, is another old temple with four doors to the shrine, which has already been noticed. The old temple of Siddhanātha at Mandlātā, in the Narmadā, has a shrine with four doors, but, in this case, the shrine is the central feature of the general plan, which is that of a Greek cross, the arms being the porches in front of the doors. One other shrine, with four doors, is that in the village of Unkal, in the Dhārwār District, described in my volume on Chālukyan architecture. This last is of the same plan as that at Sinnar.

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The general plan consists of the maṇḍapa or hall, entered through a porch on the west, with an antechamber and shrine on the east of it, and a porch, again, before the eastern, or back door, of the shrine. On the north and south sides of the hall, forming wings to it, are porch-like extensions, but having no exit. They are walled in all around with a low dwarf wall, from which rise dwarf pillars supporting the overhanging cornice above, and leaving the space between the wall and the cornice open.

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The whole of the roofing of the temple, excepting the ceiling of the eastern porch, is of late work from the beams upwards. When these repairs were carried out the walls were "pointed" with mortar where no mortar existed before; and these raw white lines do not improve the appearance of the building. Five roughly-shaped columns, shewn in the plan in hatched lines, have been inserted to support cracked beams. The small pillars, placed between the four large ones, and in the middle of the sides of the north and south extensions, are seemingly original and in their original positions. The inner faces of the beams, in the central bay of the hall ceiling, are sculptured with bands of figures in relief. Upon the east beam the churning of the ocean is portrayed. Holding on to the tail of the serpent are twelve male figures, while but one male figure holds the head, beyond which are three female figures seated, and a horse and an elephant, the products of the churning. Between the three female figures and the man who holds the elephant, is an unoccupied stool towards which the female figures turn in an attitude of supplication. Over the west beam is Vishnu on Sesha, with four Nāga figures on one side and five on the other, while, beyond them, stand men in rows holding garlands. On the south beam is a battle scene with horses and elephants and camels.¹ Upon the north beam is a procession, in which the principal figure is carried in a pālki, with horsemen and elephant before, and a file of men with swords and shields behind. On either side of the antechamber is a deep framed niche, now empty. Except for these the walls of the temple inside are quite plain.

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¹ The camel is very rarely seen represented upon early Hindu temples. It occurs upon the temple at the Hira gateway at Dabhoi, and on two of the later temples at Chitorgarh.

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The shrine doorways are fairly well decorated, both being alike; upon the block above the doorways is Ganapati. The entrance doorway to the hall on the west, together with its porch, have been entirely rebuilt, the side jambs and threshold, only, of the original being included in the new work. The shrine floor is lower than the rest, and a step from the doorway leads down to it, where, in the centre, and sunk within it, is the linga. The Nandi, instead of being in front of the temple on the west, is placed in front of the back, or east doorway, of the shrine.

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Upon the outside of the shrine walls, on the north and the south, is a niche. In the south one is a representation of the tandava of Siva, while in the north one is Kālikā-Mātā, or Mahākālī, as a skeleton dancing upon a prostrate figure, but both are much mutilated. Round the outside of the low walls of the porches are little figures in recesses between miniature pilasters. These are not well carved, having large heads and goggle eyes. Two of these, on the east side of the north porch, have been enclosed in a little arched masonry recess, and have been well smeared with red paint. They are Ganesa and Mahākālī.

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There are four much worn viragals, or hero stones, on the south, and one on the north side of the temple, and not far from it.

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The portion of a pillar bearing an inscription, mentioned in the *Indian Antiquary*,¹ is in the old *kacheri* enclosure before the Subordinate Judge's court. The letters are almost entirely obliterated. Above the writing are represented the sun and the moon. The stone, which is a pilaster, does not appear to have belonged to this temple. Mr. Sinclair, writing of this temple, said, “unfortunately the front porch has been restored, by some pious blockhead in the Saracenic style of a handsome modern temple in the village, so that it is not available for purposes of comparison. More than that the Vandal threw away the ruins of the old porch, on one of which was a long Sanskrit inscription observed, but not copied, by Dr. Gibson twenty-five years ago. After long search I found that the fragment, on which it was, had been turned face-up under a *nim* tree, and used as a seat by the idlers of the village, who had with their barbarous hinder parts obliterated the inscription (never very deep or clear cut) beyond all hope of transcription or estampage, though it is possible that a competent Sanskrit scholar, with time and the stone before him, might decipher a few words.”

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¹ Vol. V, page 8.

Ratanvādi

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At the small village, of Ratanvādi, twenty miles further up the Pravarā valley from Akolā, is the almost complete old temple of Amriteśvara, measuring sixty-one feet by thirty feet. It is built upon very nearly the same plan as that of Siddheśvara at Akolā, and, like it, has a back entrance into the shrine. Instead of the porch-like wings to the hall, we find here shallow recesses in which are perforated windows. Possibly this was necessary as a precaution against the intrusion of wild beasts, as the temple is so close to the forests and defiles of the *ghāts*, the hamlet not being itself large enough to inspire fear and respect. (Plate LXX.)

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The roof of the *maṇḍapa* has disappeared, leaving the inner lining or shell of the ceiling, but the *śikhara*, over the shrine, is almost entire, and is a very ornamental one. It is of the same style as that of Gondeśvara at Sinnar.

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The walls are decorated in the same manner as those of the Akolā temple, but slightly varied in detail. There were no images on the walls of the temple excepting what were in the two niches, one on either side of the shrine outside.

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The temple faces the west and is dedicated to Śiva, his *liṅga* being installed in the shrine. The Nandi, as at Akolā, is placed outside, facing the back door of the shrine.

Tahākāri

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The temple of Bhavānī or Devī at Tahākāri, ten miles to the north-west of Akolā, is a three-shrined temple, in the principal shrine of which is an image of Mahālakṣmī, whilst above the door is a *devī*. There are images in the three principal niches and the recesses around the shrine. The *śikharas* over the shrines, which are very dilapidated, are built of brick like that of the temple at Kokamthān. The rest of the building, below the cornice, is of stone. Plates LXXI and (LXXIII—LXXV.)

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The pillars, within the temple, are rather plain. In the central *maṇḍapa* which is common to all three shrines, there are twelve pillars in the square, namely, four principal corner ones and eight smaller, introduced as intermediate supports between them, as the span of beam is rather long between the corner pillars.

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The ceiling of the *maṇḍapa* is particularly fine, it being most elaborately chiselled. It is almost hemispherical, and rises in the usual manner by concentric rings of cusped mouldings to the central pendant. The ceiling of the porch is also good. There are eight dancing bracket figures in the former, and there were six in the latter but two have disappeared.

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There is an old Sanskrit inscription of *Śaka* 1050 (A. D. 1128) on a pillar of the *maṇḍapa* of a small ruined shrine between this temple and the river.

Pedgāon

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Pedgāon, eight miles south of Śrīgunda, stands in rather a commanding position on the high bank of the Bhīmā. The village occupies a long strip of land which, with the river on the other side, hems in an old Musalmān enclosure which is roughly a quarter of a mile square, almost completely overrun with prickly pear. The fort is said to have been built by the Dakhan viceroy Khān Jahān who was in camp here during the monsoon of 1672 when in pursuit of Sivājī. He gave the place the name of Bahādurgadh which has not been retained. The Muhammadan buildings which, judging from the great amount of debris, must have been very extensive, have almost entirely disappeared, the most complete being the Bībī Maḥall, occupying a delightful position upon the ramparts overlooking the river. But, although nearly three times the age of the Musalmān remains, and despite the devastating effect of the spoiler's hand, there still remain, within the precincts of the fort, the ruins of five old temples, one of which, that of Lakshmī-Nārāyaṇa, is a perfect little gem. Pedgāon must have been a place of importance long before the advent of the Muhammadans, and, perhaps, this was due, in great measure, to its favourable position on the Bhīmā. At this point the Sarasvatī river, upon which Śrīgunda stands, joins the Bhīmā, the junction of rivers being generally considered more or less sacred places. (Plates LXXIV and LXXVI—LXXXIV.)

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The temple of Lakshmī-Nārāyaṇa, measuring about 54 by 35 feet when complete, is most profusely decorated both within and without, and its outer walls are thickly covered with image sculpture, which has come in for a certain amount of delicate attention from Musalmān iconoclasts. It is a Vaishṇava temple, facing west, built upon a high part of the bank above the river. Its tower, now absent, was, probably, like many of this class, constructed in brickwork. The basement mouldings are crowded with little figures of horses, elephants and men: the *aśvathara* or horse moulding, just above the elephants, being very rarely found in these temples. The walls, pillars and door frames are all richly wrought, but by no means so minutely as in the temple of Ambarnātha.

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The pillars are of a different type to those at Ambarnātha and Balsāne, having a new feature introduced which is found in most of the mediæval temples of North Gujarāt, namely, the water pot and foliage element.¹ It occurs in the temples at Jodghā and Kokamthān already described. In this case, however, the waterpot is rather masked by an ornamental ribbing of lotus buds and stalks which are bound around it by a narrow band or fillet. The foliage, very much conventionalised, hangs over the lip of the jar or pot and forms four corners upon which rests a thin square slab.² The waterpot, with and without foliage, enters very largely into the designs of the pillars in the cave-temples, where, as in the Kārli cave, it forms, without foliage, the greater part of the base and, inverted, the capital of the pillar.

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¹ See *The Architectural Antiquities of Northern Gujarāt*, by Dr. Jas. Burgess and Mr. H. Cousens.

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² This carries out the same idea as in Corinthian capitals, where the upward growing foliage, meeting the under surface of the flat tile or abacus, curls back upon itself, and, in the Indian examples, hangs down in more pendent masses. Good examples of this, occurring in early work in the cave-temples, may be seen in the plates LVIII, LXIII, LXVI (ribbed somewhat like the Pedgāon pillars) and LXXXIV in the *Cave-temples of India* (Fergusson and Burgess).

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The large band of images, around the walls, is not cut with the same delicacy of touch as in the earlier work; but the figures stand out boldly from the walls and are very effective.

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The hall, which had three porches, is enclosed by perforated screen walls, as may be seen in the elevation on Plate LXXXI, which allowed more light and air into the interior than in the older temples. This perforated panelling, like that in the side shrine at Kokamthān, is very plain when compared with the decoration of the shrine walls, and is an effective foil to the latter. Nor is it anything so rich as that found in Chālukyan temples, such as that of Trikuteśvara at Gadag in the Dhārwār District. It is here, perhaps, more the result of economy than any special purpose of design, for it is very evident that, for these later temples, not so much money was forthcoming as for the earlier. This, too, may account for the brick and plaster towers as found in the Kokamthān example.

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In the photograph, Plate LXXVIII, is seen the rough method of laying the foundations of the building with rough boulders upon the ground surface, already noticed in the Architectural Note.

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Standing out in front of this temple, and facing it, is the ruined temple of Bāleśvara. It is a picturesque pile of ruins, and looks particularly fine in the evening, backed up with the setting sun and the far-away windings of the Bhīmā. Besides these, the other temples here are those of Rāmeśvara, Kholeśvara (called also Malikārjuna) and Bhairavnātha, originally a Jaina temple. There is nothing particularly striking about these. They are sadly ruined and dismantled, the shrine only, in each case, standing, the rest being heaps of ruins.

Karjat

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Karjat is twenty-one miles east by south of Śrīgunda. The temple of Mahādeva, though old, is of no particular merit. On the front of the shrine of Malikārjuna, outside the north gate of the town, is a row of very indecent figures. The temple of Nāgeśvara or Nāgoba, across the stream from this, has a shrine whose floor is six feet below the floor of the hall, which is approached by a flight of steps, leading down to it, from inside the shrine doorway. The antechamber to the shrine is about two feet lower than the hall floor. (Plate LXXXV.)

Māndugāon and Limpangāon

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The temples at these two places are fair examples of the later temples which may be more correctly called "Hemadpanti" than most of those already described, built subsequently to the middle of the thirteenth century. They are conspicuous by the absence of image sculpture on the outside of their walls, the decoration being confined to mouldings in string courses and geometrical designs. As already surmised, this may be due to want of funds for a more elaborate building, or to the presence of the Muhammadans in the country, who were sworn enemies to all forms of idolatry. Images displayed openly upon the exterior would only excite their fanaticism and be an invitation to their iconoclastic tendencies. The Hindus were beginning to find that their idols were safer stowed away within their shrines.

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On either side of the main porch of the temple of Siddheśvara at Limpangāon is a large perforated screen wall which is neatly designed in imitation of cross bars, and slightly decorated. The building looks heavy and massive. The pillars of the hall are very well proportioned. The temple is, in every respect, a much better one than any of those at Śrīgunda. (Plates LXXXV—LXXXVII.)

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Fig. 12.—Pillar in the temple at Limpangāon.

Śrīgunda

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The temples of Vitobā, Rakhamāi, Hatkeśvara and Mahālakshmī, though old, are very plain and uninteresting structures. They are examples of a decadent class which is very widespread, and probably built when funds were not available to erect them in the more ornate style. The walls are perfectly plain and the only sculpture about them is poor, it being principally confined to the pillars and door frames. (Plate LXXXVI.)

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Some very good wood-carving decorates the façades of two houses at Śrīgunda, of the style, though not so old, as that found in such abundance in many of the old towns of North Gujarāt.¹ It is very similar to that upon some of the old Marāthā palaces in the city of Poona, and that which was brought from Kittur, in the Dhārwār District, when the Desāī’s palace was demolished in the insurrection of 1824, of which a beautifully carved doorway was preserved in the local Magistrate’s office at Hubli. In plate LXXXVI the brackets remind one much of those, in stone, under the cornices of the old mosques and tombs at Bijāpur. The application of the decoration on the door frames is particularly well carried out. The blank square in the middle of the lower lintel probably had a painted picture of Ganapati or some other favourite deity.

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¹ See The Architectural Antiquities of North Gujarāt, by Dr. Jas. Burgess, C.I.E., and Henry Cousens, Plates IV, XX, XXI, XXII, XXXVI and XLVI.

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