Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c13.s6: Sātgāon
Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c13.s6
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Sātgāon
c13.s6.1
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.)
c13.s6.2
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.
c13.s6.3
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*.
c13.s6.4
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.