Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c10.s2: Akolā
Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c10.s2
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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.