Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c9.s4: Devalānā

c9.s4.1

The village of Devalānā is fifty-six miles north-east of Nāsik. There is here an old three-shrined temple dedicated to Jāgeśvara; but the three shrines, like the side ones at Jhodgā, have been rebuilt in a very plain manner. A few courses of the basement of the old building remain below the later work, which show that, like the porch, it was elaborately decorated. As will be seen from the plan, the front of the hall is open, its eaves and corners being supported upon dwarf pillars which stand upon the low parapet wall, An image of Śiva is placed in a niche on either side of the entrance, and, among the smaller ones round the parapet wall, are some very indecent pairs. The hall has a central circular panel of sculpture portraying Kṛishṇa and the *gopīs*, like the one in the Mānbhāvū temple at Vāghlī. There is also a panel of three medallions, the centre one of which is worked into a design of *Nāgas* whose rope-like tails are intertwined and knotted in a most complicated manner. The pillars are somewhat like those at Añjanerī. (Plates LXII and LXIII.)