Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c13.s4: Lonār
Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c13.s4
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Lonār
c13.s4.1
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.)
c13.s4.2
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.
c13.s4.3
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.
c13.s4.4
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.
c13.s4.5
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.
c13.s4.6
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.