Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c13: Temples in Berar

Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c13

Language: English

c13.s1 Bārsi Täkli — 5 parts
c13.s2 Śirpur — 1 part
c13.s3 Mehkar — 3 parts
c13.s4 Lonār — 6 parts
c13.s5 Lonār Crater and its Temples — 16 parts
c13.s6 Sātgāon — 4 parts
c13.s7 Sākegāon — 4 parts
c13.s8 Kothali — 2 parts
c13.s9 Dhotra — 24 parts

Temples in Berar

Bārsi Täkli

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THE few Hindu remains in Berār may be included in the temples of the Dakhan, since they are well within the limits of the Dakhan as the term was understood in mediæval times, and are of the same nature and style as those to be found further west. It is only, however, in the southern districts of the province that they are found in any numbers, the northern districts being remarkably bare of remains.

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On the outskirts of the town of Bārsi Tākli, twelve miles to the south-east of Akolā, the famous cotton centre, is the compact little black-stone temple of Bhavānī. It consists of a *maṇḍapa* and shrine, both being freely decorated upon the exterior with bands of mouldings and images. The *maṇḍapa* is curiously arranged with regard to the shrine, being attached, as it were, sideways to it, or, in other words, the hall may be described as having its entrance on one side instead of at the end opposite the shrine as is usual. The entrance to the hall is thus at right-angles to that of the shrine. The plan of the hall is rectangular while that of the shrine is star-shaped, which is carried out in the plans of the four decorated pillars which support the central ceiling. A broad band of images runs round the outer walls, the principal ones in which, excepting Ganapati, being females, Mahākālī and Mahiṣāsuramardanī occupying important positions. This is what might be expected in a temple dedicated to a *devī* or goddess, and shows that Bhavānī is not a recent installation in the shrine. The walls are not free from indecent representations. The ceiling is particularly well decorated, the marginal panels being very much like those of temple No. 1 at Balsāne in Khāndesh. The *śikhara* of the shrine and the roof of the hall have disappeared. (Plates XCIX—CI.)

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Fig 14—Pillar in Kālikā Devī's temple.

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Within the temple, engraved upon the back wall, is a long Sanskrit inscription which is, unfortunately, very much damaged by the peeling of the surface of the stone. It is dated in *Śaka* 1098 (A. D. 1176), which, from the style of the temple, may be taken as about the date of its construction.

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There is a second temple at Bārsi Tākli, that of Śrī Koleśvara Mahādeva, of comparatively late work, in the debased mixed Muhammadan style. Its interior is much below ground level and is always full of water, which percolates through from the adjacent rivulet.

Śirpur

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Śirpur is twelve miles west by north of Bāsim. A short distance outside the village, on the west, stands the old temple of Antariksha Pārśvanātha belonging to the Digambara Jaina community. At present, their principal temple is a very modern one in the village, but the other was the original one from which, according to tradition, the image was transferred, probably about the time of the Muhammadan invasion of the country. In the new temple they have the usual underground chambers in which to conceal their images in the event of a repetition of the treatment they once received at the hands of those iconoclasts. The old temple has an abraded inscription which seems to read *Samvat* 1334 (A. D. 1412), and the name Antariksha Pārśvanātha. The plan of the shrine is star-shaped, and the walls are decorated with bands of arabesque, no images being present except what were in the three principal niches. The temple gives one the impression of being unfinished, and it was probably erected quite a hundred years before the date of the inscription. Its erection was possibly interrupted during the early incursions of the Muhammadans into the Dakhan. The hybrid style of *śikhara*, which was commenced, but left unfinished, is manifestly later than the stone sculptured walls. It is of brick and mortar. The entrance doorway of the hall is elaborately carved and has images at the bottom on either side; but these would have been more or less hidden from outside observation by the covering porch when completed. Among these are nude Jaina figures, and above the lintel, upon the dedicatory block is a small seated Jina. There are now, in the shrine, two small marble Jinas, but neither of them is Pārśvanātha. They are much neglected and receive little attention. (Plate CII.)

Mehkar

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Mehkar is about forty-five miles to the south-east of Buldāna. At the north-west corner of the town, overlooking the river, and enclosed within a mud-walled enclosure, is a partly ruined old *dharmaśālā* or travellers' rest-house, which, in the past, has been badly used. Much of the building has fallen since it was photographed by Major Gill over fifty years ago, and many of its pillar shafts are scattered about the town, several being near the market place. This *dharmaśālā* was, perhaps, a subsidiary building to an important temple, possibly Jaina, which stood near and above it, but which has now disappeared. The foundation or retaining walls of the site upon which the temple stood can be seen running round the *dharmaśālā*, and from it right up to the town gate, a little way to the east of it. At first sight, the wall here looks like a portion of the town wall, but it is not so, though it may have done duty for such in later times. A town wall would not have a series of horizontal offsets forming ledges all the way up its outer side, by which an enemy could easily climb up. Moreover the wall is of the Hindu period, while the present gate is of the Muhammadan. (Plate CIII and CIX.)

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The *dharmaśālā* is about 72 feet square inside, and is formed by a deep covered colonnade, with two rows of pillars, surrounding a small central square courtyard 23 feet square, which is open to the sky, and whose pavement is sunk a few feet below the floor of the colonnade. There were sixty pillars in all, of which twenty-five still stand. The central courtyard has been filled up with earth to bring it to a level with the rest. All the pillars around the north and east side of the court, with the enclosing wall, have gone, but many of their bases still remain. There is a marked absence of figure sculpture upon the building, the decoration on the pillars being almost entirely confined to geometric and conventional leaf designs. The building is of a comparatively late date.

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There is a new temple of Bālāji, higher up in the town, which was built not many years ago, to enshrine a finely carved blackstone image of Vishnu which was dug up close by. The image is full life-size, and is now enveloped in tawdry petticoats, but does not seem to be very old notwithstanding its elaborate detail. At the same time were found a quantity of old corroded and fragmentary copper-plate grants. Among the loose sculptured stones lying near the temple is the lower part of the body of a life-sized Jina, while inside Bālāji's temple is a broken Jaina image with the date *Samvat* 1272 (A. D. 1350) upon it in a short inscription.

Lonār

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One of the best remaining examples in Berār of these old mediæval temples is that at Lonār in the south-east corner of the Buldāna District, known as the temple of Daitya-Sūdana. It is a Vaishnava shrine and receives its name from its connection with the story of the demon Lavaṇāsura or Loṇāsura who used to dwell in the crater close by, and who was eventually slain by Viṣṇu in his incarnation of Daitya-Sūdana. The temple measures 105 feet long by 84½ feet broad. It faces east, and is built of black stone, profusely carved all over the exterior with images and other ornament. The work, however, is comparatively late as may be seen in the inferior workmanship of the images, the style of mouldings, particularly those in the basement, and the indiscriminate spreading of ornament over every available surface. The building seems never to have been finished, the roof and some parts of the top of the walls with the top of the three doorways of the hall, not having been completed. There is a total absence of sculptured stone lying about, and some fragments would surely have remained had the building been finished and subsequently ruined. The four principal pillars, that would have supported the dome of the hall, together with part of the inside masonry lining of the walls, were never erected; but, at a very much later date, the building was again taken in hand and finished off in a rough and ready manner, with coarse brickwork, and brick arching was thrown over the unfinished tops of the three doorways. The moulded basements for the porches before the doorways were laid, but the porches were not put up. The work was probably cut short by the inroads of the Muḥammadans about the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century. When the temple was again taken in hand and the brickwork was added, a modern and very poor image of Viṣṇu, said to have been brought from Nāgpur at great cost, was set up in the shrine, and this is now the object of worship. The plan of both the hall and shrine is star-shaped. (Plates CI and CIII.)

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Occupying the principal niche on the back of the temple, outside, is a standing image of Sūrya; and, as this is the position of the leading image on the exterior, and usually has direct connection with the image in the shrine, it is just possible that the temple may have been intended as a temple to Sūrya. Of the other two principal niches, that on the south has an image of a devī, but which one it is impossible to say, owing to its mutilated state. The north niche is empty. One of the side shrines of the modern temple at the head of the descent into the crater, close by, near the tank and gaumukha, contains some old loose images of Sūrya and Narasimha which may have come from this temple.

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The three niches mentioned are very prominent features, inasmuch as they project like miniature porches, a deep heavy cornice, supported upon two forward pillarettes, protecting them. The basement, with its lines of mouldings projecting like great square buttresses, supports them. Among the images on the exterior are Viṣṇu, Narasimha, Varāha, Gaṇapati, Brahmā, Bhairava, Sarasvatī, Paraśurāma, Rāma, Kaliya-mardanī and the Regents of the eight points of the compass in their respective positions.

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Out in front of the temple, at a short distance from the main entrance, is the basement of a pavilion, but the upper portion of it was never built. When the later brickwork was added to the main building, a square mas was built here with a niche on each of its four sides. In that facing the temple was placed a rough image of Garuḍa, the vāhana of Vishnu. One or two small pillars stand in the courtyard, which were, perhaps, intended for this pavilion or the temple porches.

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In the south-east corner of the courtyard of the temple is a small plain temple facing the north. Its exterior is built in with mud walls. Within it are three old images brought from elsewhere, the principal one of which is of Vishnu, supported upon one side by Brahmā.

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At a short distance to the west of the town is an old dharmaśālā, or travellers' rest-house, composed of corridors of cut-stone pillars. It is in rather a dilapidated condition.

Lonār Crater and its Temples

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At a short distance to the west of the town is what is supposed to be the crater of an extinct volcano, the only one known in the Dakhan. It is a great bowl-shaped hollow, five miles around at the top, and about three miles five hundred feet below, where a salt lake occupies the centre, surrounded by a wide margin of land between the bottom of the slope and the edge of the lake. The inner walls of the crater, which differ in nothing from ordinary hill-side covered with jungle and grass, slope down from the upper rim at an abrupt angle of 75° to 80° to the level belt around the lake. In the outer ring of this belt tamarind trees and date palms thrive, while the inner, nearest the lake, supports the bābul tree only. On the northern margin of the lake, where this belt of land is widest, are kitchen gardens and fruit trees watered by the stream which descends from the gaumukha above. The water of the lake is impregnated with a salt which is extracted and sold as a marketable article for use in washing and dying cloth. Although the water is so saturated with this salt, which causes it to give off a very offensive smell, yet in a well, sunk quite close to its edge on the south side, the water is perfectly fresh and is used for drinking purposes.

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Down in the bottom of the crater, around the margin of the lake, are a number of old temples, and there are others in the descent to the lake from the gaumukha temple. From this temple, down to the lake, extends a ravine which is the only break in the continuity of the circular walls of the crater, and it is down the sides of this cleft that the pathway leads to the bottom. The head of the ravine bifurcates near the top, and it is at the head of the western branch that the spring is located from which the water is led through a gaumukha, or cow's mouth, cut in stone, into a small square tank in which Hindu pilgrims of both sexes, old and young, bathe promiscuously. The water is supposed to come from the Ganges, in proof of which it is said that a marked stick thrown into that river was found to emerge at the spring! A temple, and an accumulation of small cell-shrines, all of more or less modern growth, have sprung up around the tank. The Muhammadans had the audacity to invade this snuggery of the Hindus, and they actually began to build a mosque right in their midst, upon the western side of the sacred tank, but Were eventually stopped in their rash venture and were warned off. The foundation of the building still remains.

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As most of the temples in the crater are in disuse, and have lost their names, I have numbered them, starting with this group as No. 1. About a third of the way down, standing upon the point of a spur between the two branches of the ravine, is another Śaiva temple, No. 2, partly rebuilt, but of no special interest. A short distance below this, on a low knoll, is the site of another temple, but the building has disappeared.

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Beyond the last temple is No. 3, the most ornate of all. It stands at the bottom of the ravine on the outer edge of the gardens. It faces west, and consists of an open pillared *maṇḍapa* and shrine, but is in a sadly dilapidated condition, and the shrine is in ruins. The *maṇḍapa* had three porches. When intact it must have been as pretty a temple as any in the neighbourhood.

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On the north margin of the lake, the gardens separating it from it, is No. 4. It is similar to Nos. 5 and 6, and is in ruins. It faces east and has a *liṅga* in the shrine.

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No. 5 is a small plain temple to the north-west of the lake. It consists of a shrine and *maṇḍapa*, the outer walls being built in the plain block-in-course of the late "Hemāḍpanti" style, but it is much ruined. Beside it are the ruins of a small square cistern.

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No. 6, a little further round towards the west, is a facsimile of the last, even to its ruinous state, and like it, it faces the east. The lower portion of the walls and the whole surface of the pillars are much weatherworn and corroded, but the beams, which are protected by the roof, are sharp and clean. The temple measures 40 by 20 feet, roughly. The roofing seems to have been of concrete and brickwork.

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Almost due west of the lake is No. 7. It is of the same style as the last two, but almost twice as large and equally ruined. The temple faces east and has a *liṅga* in the shrine. During a late famine one or two rough pits were dug near by for water, which now contain a quantity, so foul-smelling and stagnant, that it is almost impossible to stand within fifty yards of them. This is probably due to the salt in the water that has percolated through from the lake, and which is supposed to be the blood and decomposed flesh of the giant Lavaṇāsura who was slain and buried in this den of his. The smell is strong corroboration of the story! Around the temple is a fine grove of banyan, tamarind, and custard apple trees, and palm tree stumps.

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No. 9 is the more modern temple of Bhavānī Devī, which is due south of the lake and faces the north as most Devī temples do, such as that at Bārsi Tākli. It consists of a shrine and *maṇḍapa* with three doorways, and is conspicuous from afar by its coat of whitewash. In front of the main entrance is a small *yoni-kuṇḍa*, but the shape of the fire-pit, instead of being that of the *yoni*, is perfectly heart-shaped, with its point towards the east. Just behind the temple is a very small one, No. 8, in ruins, in which is a *liṅga*.

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Temple No. 10 is on the south-east margin of the lake, and is much like Nos. 5 and 6, but not quite so much ruined, and is a trifle larger It faces the east. The roof of the *maṇḍapa* has been covered with concrete and brickwork in which an abundance of broken rock crystal has been used. The pillars are of the same pattern as those of the *dharmaśālā* at Mehkar.

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About two hundred yards further on from the last is No. 11, a temple about as large as No. 7. It faces the north, and consists of a shrine with three porches, two of which are in ruins. Against the back wall of the shrine is a seat or throne for an image which is absent. It is possible that this was a *devī's* temple and it may have been the one that preceded the later one now in use, No. 9. The outer walls of the shrine are plain, in late “Hemādpanti” style, being in block-in-course with simple broad projecting bands.

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Temples Nos. 12 and 13, together with a square *kuṇḍa*, form a group a little way up the hillside on the east of the lake. The two temples face the west. No. 12 being a Vaishṇava temple. It consists of a shrine and *maṇḍapa* with three porches, and is in a fairly good state of repair. The *maṇḍapa*, which was open all around, has been closed up with rough walling between the pillars. Above the shrine doorway is Garuda, and in the shrine is the ruined altar for an image. The pillars of the hall are much like those at Mehkar, plainly blocked out but without ornament. Upon the side of the west doorway is inscribed the name Vāsugī, which is the same name found upon the Mehkar building, and is, perhaps, that of a mason.

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Temple No. 13 is slightly to the back and north of the last and is a Śaiva shrine in ruins. It has three porches, and the pillars are like those at Mehkar. In front of this, and to the side of No. 12, is a well built *kuṇḍa* or reservoir.

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No. 14 is situated between the last and the lake, and is about the same size as Nos. 5 and 6. The exterior is plain, but the shrine is star-shaped in plan. The pillared *maṇḍapa* is in ruins, the pillars being slightly more ornate than at Mehkar. The temple faces the north and the shrine is half filled with earth.

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Still nearer to the margin of the lake is the site of temple No. 15.

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This completes the ring of temples around the lake in the bottom of the crater. Ascending, again, by the same ravine, but taking the eastern branch at the top, we come to the ruins of a small temple, No. 16. It faces the east and consists of a shrine, the remains of a pavilion in front of it, and a *kuṇḍa* beside it. It has plain undecorated walls, but the shrine door-frame is particularly well carved. The pavilion is supported upon four well-carved pillars which look like earlier work than anything else at the lake; and the ceiling is also well decorated with cusped ornament of the style of the work found in Tejaḥpāla’s temple at Mt. Ābu. The outer part of the roof has fallen.

Sātgāon

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At Sātgāon, four miles to the north by west of Chikhli in the Buldānā District, there is a rather fine old temple of Vishṇu. It faces the west. In the shrine, against the back wall, is a seat, or throne, in three tiers. In the centre of the face of the upper is Garuda, and in the centre of the middle one is a *devī* or goddess. Standing upright upon the seat is a slotted stone intended to hold a standing image, a small fragment of which, with the feet only, is in position, the rest being destroyed. The ceilings of the *maṇḍapa* are very well decorated, and, in style, seem to stand half way between the later temples of the 13th and 14th centuries and those of the 11th. The pillars, too, are of an intermediate type. The *maṇḍapa* is in a very shattered condition, many of the pillars being canted over at very dangerous angles and threatening to collapse. The exterior walls of the shrine are decorated with the usual basement mouldings, which are surmounted by bands and panels of arabesque in place of images, excepting for the three empty niches which held loose ones. A portion of the *śikhara* stands, and it rises in the style of that of Goṇḍeśvara at Sinnar, which it closely resembles. There are small niches and images around the base of the *śikhara* and on the *maṇḍapa* roof. The dwarf wall around the *maṇḍapa* is decorated, on the outside, with little pilasters and images alternately. There are brackets, half way up the shafts of the pillars of the porches, which, it is clear, were adorned, as at Goṇḍeśvara, with bracket images. (Plates CVI–CIX.)

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Beside this temple, on the north, is a smaller one which is now a wreck. A photograph taken about fifty years ago shows that very much more was then standing.

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At a short distance to the east of the larger temple, and between it and the village, is a portion of an old building which, with the addition of some mud walls, has been converted into a temple by the villagers, and a *liṅga* has been placed within it. The building looks like the gateway and porch of an enclosure that once went round the big temple and its subsidiary buildings. A seat ran round the inside porch, where the Nandi now is, and within the doorway was an open hall with a seat around the sides. The doorway is elaborately carved, and has the usual Gaṇeśa on the dedicatory block. Above this, in a row of niches, are Vaiṣṇavī, Brahmī, and Pārvatī in a row, Brahmī occupying the centre. As in the big temple, there are no male deities upon the doorway save Gaṇeśa; they are all *devīs*. Nor are there any images on either side at the bottom, or upon that of the shrine of the main temple; the latter, too, has no images above the cornice over Gaṇeśa, the usual place for them being taken up by a band of lozenge-shaped ornament. Round the beams of the central dome of the main temple there is nothing but a row of *devīs* with attendants, and the only images on the main pillars of the hall are four small ones on each base, one on each side, all being *devīs*.

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A little way to the north of the large temple are four standing pillars, all that remain of a small temple. A short distance to the north-west of this is a large *pippala* tree with a high platform around it, on which are some fragments of old images. Among them is the lower portion of an image of Pārśvanātha with an inscription of two lines beneath dated *Śaka* 1173 (A.D. 1251). It is Digambara, its nakedness being distinctly indicated. Another image, that of a *devī*, is in two pieces—the bust, and the legs with the seat. She is two-armed, has necklaces and earrings, and her hair is done up in a big chignon at the back. The left hand rests upon the knee and holds a fruit; the right hand has gone. Above her head is a wreath of flowers, over which is seated a little Jina, and beneath her seat are three panels, in the centre one of which are three heads in a row, each with a pyramidal coiled head-dress. Under the *devi's* left knee is a small tiger or lion. It is probably intended to represent Ambikā (Ambājī, Ambādevī or Ambā Bhavānī), a favourite Jaina goddess.

Sākegāon

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FIG. 15.—A broken image at Sātgāon.

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Another temple of the same style and age as that at Sātgāon, and in an equally ruinous state, is that of Mahādeva at the village of Sākegāon, six miles west of Chikhli. It faces the east, and consists of a shrine, an antechamber and a hall, with a porch in front of the entrance on the east. It was surrounded by a heavily-built wall enclosing a courtyard, the entrance to which is on the north side. To the south of the main building is a small subsidiary temple facing the north, against which the surrounding wall abuts on either side, from which it is evident that the wall was built after the shrine. The masonry of the walls, and the pillars of the courtyard gateway, are of the same style and age as those of the temple at Mehkar, and therefore later than the temple itself. (Plate CX.)

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The walls of the *mandapa* and shrine are quite free of images, save for those in two of the three large niches round the shrine, and are decorated with the usual basement mouldings and bands of geometric ornament. The back wall of the shrine, or rather its outer casing, has fallen, carrying with it a great part of the spire on that side. The back niche has gone with it. In the niche on the south side is an image of Nateśa, or the *tāṇḍava* of Śiva, and in that on the north side is an image of Mahākālī. The front of the tower is decorated with the trifoliated *chaitya* arch, and, under it, are the images of the *tāṇḍava* and of Śiva and Pārvatī, while upon the sides of the same are those of Bhairava, Mahiśāsura-mardanī and Gaṇapati. Within the shrine is the *liṅga*.

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In the small temple, on the south side of the main building, against the back wall, is a seat for an image, but it is now absent, and it is not known to what deity the shrine was dedicated.

Kothali

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At Kothali, twelve miles south-east of Pimpalgāon-Rājā in the Buldānā District, are two old temples of the "Hemādpanti" class. The largest—the temple of Mahādeva—is in the town, and has three shrines with one common hall. It faces the east and has Gaṇeśa over the shrine doorways, all of which are elaborately carved. In the main shrine is an old square śaluṅka with a circular hole for a liṅga; but the latter has gone. In the side shrine, on the north, is a liṅga, but the shrine on the south is empty. The hall has no pillars. The porch before the entrance has fallen, the platform, only, remaining. Out in front of this porch stand the ruins of what was once, perhaps, the Nandi pavilion, but it is ruined. Beyond this, again, are the remains of the main entrance to the temple courtyard with its steps. The śikhara was probably built of brickwork, since some brick masonry remains upon the roof and no carved śikhara stones lie about. (Plate CXI.)

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The second temple is outside the village to the south-east. It is dedicated to Chintāmaṇi, and faces west. It is made up of a shrine and a maṇḍapa, the latter being supported upon four pillars. Gaṇeśa presides upon the lintel. The shrine doorway is carved, but not so elaborately as in the first temple.

Dhotra

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At Dhotra, eighteen miles south of Chikhli, are three old temples, the one about a quarter of a mile south of the village, in the fields, being the most important. It is a temple of Śiva, faces the east, and consists of a shrine and a closed maṇḍapa. The entrance is in the east end of the hall, opposite the shrine, while, off each of the two sides of the hall, is a deep recess like a shallow shrine without a doorway. A most unusual thing with the pilasters in this temple is that their shafts are built in sections, with the courses of the wall masonry, and are not, as in earlier work, a single stone built into the wall. The bracket capitals of the pillars have the cobra ornament upon them. Within the shrine is a liṅga. The dedicatory blocks above the shrine doorways have been left plain without images. (Plate CXII.)

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FIG. 16.—Pillar in the old temple at Dhotra.

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The exterior of the temple is fully moulded in horizontal bands of mouldings running round the whole of the walls, but there are no images, not even those three in a big chignon at the back. The left hand rests upon the knee and holds a fruit; the right hand has gone. Above her head is a wreath of flowers, over which is seated a little Jina, and beneath her seat are three panels, in the centre one of which are three heads in a row, each with a pyramidal coiled head-dress. Under the devī's left knee is a small tiger or lion. It is probably intended to represent Ambikā (Ambājī, Ambādevī or Ambā Bhavānī), a favourite Jaina goddess.

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FIG. 15.—A broken image at Sātgaon.

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SĀKEGĀON.

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Another temple of the same style and age as that at Sātgaon, and in an equally ruinous state, is that of Mahādeva at the village of Sākegāon, six miles west of Chikhli. It faces the east, and consists of a shrine, an antechamber and a hall, with a porch in front of the entrance on the east. It was surrounded by a heavily-built wall enclosing a courtyard, the entrance to which is on the north side. To the south of the main building is a small subsidiary temple facing the north, against which the surrounding wall abuts on either side, from which it is evident that the wall was built after the shrine. The masonry of the walls, and the pillars of the courtyard gateway, are of the same style and age as those of the temple at Mehkar, and therefore later than the temple itself. (Plate CX.)

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The walls of the *maṇḍapa* and shrine are quite free of images, save for those in two of the three large niches round the shrine, and are decorated with the usual basement mouldings and bands of geometric ornament. The back wall of the shrine, or rather its outer casing, has fallen, carrying with it a great part of the spire on that side. The back niche has gone with it. In the niche on the south side is an image of Naṭeśa, or the *tāṇḍava* of Śiva, and in that on the north side is an image of Mahākālī. The front of the tower is decorated with the trifoliated *chaitya* arch, and, under it, are the images of the *tāṇḍava* and of Śiva and Pārvatī, while upon the sides of the same are those of Bhairava, Mahiṣāsura-mardanī and Gaṇapati. Within the shrine is the *liṅga*.

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In the small temple, on the south side of the main building, against the back wall, is a seat for an image, but it is now absent, and it is not known to what deity the shrine was dedicated.

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KOTHALI.

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At Kothali, twelve miles south-east of Pimpalgāon-Rājā in the Buldānā District, are two old temples of the "Hemāḍpanti" class. The largest the temple of Mahādeva—is in the town, and has three shrines with one common hall. It faces the east and has Gaṇeśa over the shrine doorways, all of which are elaborately carved. In the main shrine is an old square *śālunka* with a circular hole for a *liṅga*; but the latter has gone. In the side shrine, on the north, is a *liṅga*, but the shrine on the south is empty. The hall has no pillars. The porch before the entrance has fallen, the platform, only, remaining. Out in front of this porch stand the ruins of what was once, perhaps, the Nandi pavilion, but it is ruined. Beyond this, again, are the remains of the main entrance to the temple courtyard with its steps. The *śikhara* was probably built of brickwork, since some brick masonry remains upon the roof and no carved *śikhara* stones lie about. (Plate CXI.)

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The second temple is outside the village to the south-east. It is dedicated to Chintāmaṇi, and faces west. It is made up of a shrine and *maṇḍapa*, the latter being supported upon four pillars. Gaṇeśa presides upon the lintel. The shrine doorway is carved, but not so elaborately as in the first temple.

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At Dhotra, eighteen miles south of Chikhli, are three old temples, the one about a quarter of a mile south of the village, in the fields, being the most important. It is a temple of Śiva, faces the east, and consists of a shrine and a closed *maṇḍapa*. The entrance is in the east end of the hall, opposite the shrine, while, off each of the two sides of the hall, is a deep recess like a shallow shrine without a doorway. A most unusual thing with the pilasters in this temple is that their shafts are built in sections, with the courses of the wall masonry, and are not, as in earlier work, a single stone built into the wall. The bracket capitals of the pillars have the cobra ornament upon them. Within the shrine is a *liṅga*. The dedicatory blocks above the shrine doorways have been left plain without images. (Plate CXII.)

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FIG. 16.—Pillar in the old temple at Dhotra.

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The exterior of the temple is fully moulded in horizontal bands of mouldings running round the whole of the walls, but there are no images, not even those three principal ones usually found upon the walls of the shrine. In this, as well as in temple No. 11 at Lonar, we find bands of chequered squares used in the ornament. That is, the surface of the stone is marked out into one inch squares, every alternate one being sunk. This was a favourite, and often characteristic ornament in very early temples, such as those of the Gupta period, but seems to have fallen out of use, in Western India at least, and not to have been used again until resuscitated in these very late shrines.

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On the west of the village is another old temple, but it is very much dilapidated. It has a shrine and hall with a porch and entrance on the east. The whole of the *mandapa* has fallen with the roofing of the porch. The exterior is severely plain.

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On the north-west of the village is another old ruined shrine with a closed *mandapa*, from which the outer casing of the walls has gone. The shrine is empty; the temple faces the east. In a row, over the shrine door, are nine faces, the third from each end having a curved tusk in the two corners of the mouth, otherwise the faces are alike.

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TEMPLE IN H. E. H. THE NIZAM'S TERRITORY.

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AUNDHA.

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A T Aundha, some forty miles to the south of Bāsim, in Haidarābād territory, is one of the twelve famous *jyotirliṅgas* of India in the temple of Nāganātha. The town is of some importance and considerable trade, standing, as it does, at the crossing of the trade routes from Nirmal and the Sirpur forests to Jālna and Aurangābād, and from Haidarābād to the Berārs. A very heavily-built stone wall originally surrounded the town, portions of which still exist. It is very pleasantly situated in a level and well cultivated plain surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills. Upon the east and south it is approached by rather steep and rough passes which ascend from the lower country on those sides. It has the appearance of being an ancient place, for parts of very old walls still exist, which are far older than the crumbling ones which now partly surround the town. Ancient Jaina temples, as well as Hindu ones, once flourished here, their remains now being the foul-smelling abodes of the bat and owl.

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The temple of Nāganātha is a building of two periods, the older portions of which, from the ground level to the eaves, being probably thirteenth century work carried out in the style of the Hindu work of North Gujarāt of the same period. When compared with the work of the temple of Ambarnātha, it is seen to be not quite so crisp and delicate of execution, and this is most noticeable in the figure sculpture. In the basement mouldings, as in the temple of Lakshmī-Nārāyaṇa at Pedgāon, occurs the horse-moulding above that of the elephants, and, thus, it contains the full complement of mouldings provided in the canons of architecture as followed in North Gujarāt. There is a double row of images which could only be introduced upon the larger buildings of this class. The whole of the whitewashed roof is of much later work. (Plates CXIII—CXV.)

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The half lotus band, just above the band of little figures at the top of the basement, is unusual, and although a regular Gujarāt ornament, it is seldom found in that province upon old buildings before the Hindu architects introduced it largely into the decoration of the mosques and tombs which they raised for their Muhammadan conquerors.¹ The pillars remind one much of some of those in the thirteenth century temple of Tejahpāla at Dilwārā on Mount Ābu. They have lost the more graceful outline of those of the eleventh century.

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¹ It occurs on the old temple at the Hīrā Gate at Dabhoi, of A.D. 1253.

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The floor of the shrine is considerably sunk below that of the hall, and the *liṅga* is thus not seen from the hall doorway.

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There is at Aundha the ruins of an old brick temple, in which the bricks have been carefully moulded to the contour of the ornamental bands which run round the building. The bricks are exceptionally well made and their edges are sharp and crisp. A small amount of stone masonry has been used in the entrance doorway and the beams, as well as in a low moulded plinth upon which the temple stands.