The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
“Everything here is massive!” was the recurrent thought as we explored
Gwalior fort. First the colossal Jaina sculptures, then the monuments within the fort, and now the temples. They are impressive at first glance by their
sheer size, but looking closer, there are so many intricate details on the
smallest scale that amazement turns to awe at the talent and artisan-ship of
those who built them. There are two such huge temples on the hill, both part of
the Gwalior fort – the so-called Sas-Bahu temples and the Teli ka Mandir, both
of which have interesting sources for their names!
The Sas-Bahu
or Sahastra-bahu Temples
The Sas-Bahu temples are so called, because in local lore, they were
built by mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. However, the name is believed to be
a corruption of the word “Sahastra-bahu”, the original name for the bigger
temple. The deity inside the temple is also disputed. While most believe that
the idol depicted Vishnu with a thousand arms (Sahastra – thousand, bahu –
arms), it has also been suggested that it might have been the temple of a local
cult, deifying Kartyaveerarjuna (from the story of Parasurama), who was called
Sahastrabahu since he had a thousand arms. There are also suggestions that the
temple might originally have been a Jain one!
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| The temple, as seen from the side. |
The temple is said to have been built in 1092 by King Mahipala of the Kacchapaghata dynasty. It is believed that his wife was an ardent devotee of Vishnu, and that she initiated the construction of the temple. Later, her daughter-in-law, who was a devotee of Shiva, built a smaller replica of the temple by its side, with the only difference being the deity in the sanctum! Thus, the temples came to be known as those built by mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and the name ‘Sas-bahu’ soon replaced ‘Sahastrabahu’ in collective memory!
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| The smaller temple, built by the daughter-in-law |
We were tired by the time we arrived at these temples, and were only
able to explore the bigger one. While the temple is still intact, most of the
sculptures are broken, and their faces hacked off. According to what I read,
only a part of the defacement has been willful, and the rest is due to
weathering. Also, the temple has been heavily restored at some point of time.
For Samhith, the best part of the temple was the curved decoration at
the entrance, flanking the steps. It was just perfect for him to slide down,
and a lot more interesting than the sculptures, with their faces destroyed and
empty sanctum.
I was, however, stunned by the detail and elegance of the figures on the
pillars, and on the lintels.
These are the figures on the pillars flanking the entrance.
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| On the pillar to the left of the entrance are these three figures. The one in the centre is certainly female, and she could be Saraswati, since she holds a scroll, kamandalu and flower in three of her hands. The other two figures appear to be male, and could be Brahma and Shiva. |
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| On the pillar to the right side of the entrance, the figures are mutilated, so difficult to identify. The figure on the left holds a spear. Could it be Kartikeya? |
This is the lintel of the main entrance, where the figures are easier to
identify.
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| Lintel of main doorway: Top left is Brahma, with his consort (either Savitri or Gayatri), Top right is Shiva, with Parvati, and in the centre are Vishnu and Lakshmi. Below them is Garuda. The panel between the three main figures on the top depicts the Navagrahas |
The positions of these figures clearly indicate that this must have been
a temple of Vishnu. More interesting however, is the manner in which all three
deities have been depicted, with their consorts on their laps, in the position
Uma and Maheshwara are usually seen in!
Every inch of stone seems to have been carved, like the base of the door frame....
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| Notice the Ganesha (left) and Bhairava (right) carved into the base of this doorway! |
The lintels over the doorways of the main sanctum as well as other smaller shrines have the most interesting depictions!!
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| Lintel of sanctum doorway.It is almost a replica of the main doorway, except that the gods are without their consorts! The Navagrahas are also clearer here. Notice the panel above it, which depicts the Saptamaktrikas |
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| A panel of Navagrahas over another shrine. Notice the detailing of the seven planets, starting with the sun on the left. On the right are Rahu - the snake (above) and Ketu - the head (below) |
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| A Saptamatrika panel over the doorway of another shrine. The goddesses are identifiable only by their vehicles, shown near their feet. Interestingly, the last, eighth figure on the right could be a feminine form of Ganesha, in which case this panel depicts Ashtamatrikas! |
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| Another Saptamatrika panel, this time with the Chamunda and Ganesha seen clearly. |
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| A Vamana figure (the dwarfish form of Lord Vishnu ) over the lintel of one shrine. |
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| A shrine with Brahma with his consort depicted on the lintel. |
It is
extremely interesting to see how the temple had shrines to multiple deities set
on the sides of the main sanctum, and the deities seen here.
The pillars are covered with interesting depictions too. Sadly, they are so badly defaced that we can barely identify a few.
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| One of the many Naga figures on the pillars. This one is a 5 hooded figure, seen with two female Naga figures. Could be Nagaraja, or even Adishesha! |
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| An identifiable figure of Vishnu, with his ayudha purushas |
And the central hall, bound by pillars is impressive at first glance by
its sheer size….
The ceiling is even more impressive. Look closer, and you can see many
figures, some flying, and one deity with his consort. Sadly, it is too damaged
to get any more details.
The outer walls are also covered with sculptures, though they are even
more damaged than the ones inside.
It would be an understatement to say that we were impressed by this
temple. As I came out, I wondered what the temple would have looked like, in
its heyday. If it was so impressive now, can you imagine what it must have been
like, then?
Anyway…. Moving on, we headed to the Teli-ka-mandir, our last stop on
the hill.
Teli-ka-Mandir
No one really knows why this temple is called “Teli-ka-Mandir”. There
are many theories, some as plausible as the others are far-fetched. While the
most common belief is that the temple was built by the oil merchants, who were
called Telis (tel = oil), there is also a belief that the name comes from the Telang
Brahmins who worshipped here during the Rashtrakuta period, and even that the
name comes from the Telengana region due to the southern influence seen in the
architecture!
The architectural style of this temple is unlike anything else in Gwalior,
which is why there are suggestions that this was built by someone from the
south, or at least someone inspired by the style of southern India. The plain
rectangular sanctum is topped by a wagon vaulted superstructure, which rises to
a height of about 24.4 m, and makes this the tallest structure in the fort.
The doorway is elaborate, with river goddesses carved on the lower
portion, flanked by attendants and dwarapalakas.
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| The elaborate doorway... lower panels of river goddesses, lintel with Ganesha and Garuda on top |
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| River goddess on the right side of the doorway.. She might be Ganga, going by the animal below her, resembling a crocodile or Makara, and also take a closer look at the small figures on top., which depict the story of her descent on earth. Notice Bhagiratha performing penance? |
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| River goddess on the left side of the doorway.. Might be Yamuna. Notice the smaller figures of the gods above her, which are not as mutilated as in the previous sculpture. You can see Brahma, with his three heads, flanked by two women, and above him, Vishnu seated on Garuda. |
On the lintel is Ganesha, and above the doorway is a carving of Garuda. Interestingly
the dwarapalakas flanking the river goddesses are Shaiva (the one on the left
which is less mutilated resembles Bhairava), which suggests a Shaiva shrine,
whereas the Garuda above suggests a Vishnu shrine. However, the interior of the
shrine is completely bare, with no trace of carvings or idol, home only to bats
today, and does not give a hint about the deity it once housed.
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| Entrance to a smaller shrine on another side... Note the river goddesses, with attendants, but without dwarapalakas. |
The outer walls of the temple are covered with detailed carvings and
sculptures in the niches, though most are destroyed or unrecognizable. Here are
two interesting panels….
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| Brahma, seated on a lotus, with three heads, and the figure next to him could be Bhairava. |
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| Another panel, with a sculpture of Kartikeya in one of the inner niches, seated on a peacock. The other sculptures are too mutilated for me to identify |
Very little is known of this temple, though the style and some short
inscriptions suggest that it was built around the year 850 A.D., during the
reign of Mihira Bhoja (836-88), the most powerful among the Pratihara kings to
rule Gwalior. This also makes the Teli-ka-Mandir one of the oldest structures
in the Gwalior Fort!
Isnt it fascinating to think that the oldest structure in the fort is
also the tallest?
On that note, we complete our tour of Gwalior Fort. There is more to
Gwalior though, so look out for my next post!
Information on Gwalior Fort:
- Timings: The Gwalior fort is open from sunrise to sunset. However, the State protected monuments are open from 9 AM to 5 PM.
- Note: There are separate tickets for the two set of monuments, and the tickets are repeatedly checked at various points. Keep them safe till you are done with the fort, as well as all the temples on the hill.
- Suggestions:
- Keep a whole day, preferably starting at 9 AM, for the fort, including all its monuments, temples, the ASI museum and Jain sculptures, if you want to see them in detail, and at your leisure. We managed to combine all these, along with the Gurjari Mahal museum, in a day, but were rushed towards the end, since all monuments, including the museums, close at 5 PM.
- Do attend the Sound and Light Show. It is worth staying overnight at Gwalior for this. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend it, so I have no details of the timings or the rates.
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Though not a traveller; but always loved to travel all alone...hope to do that soon..You have some beautiful pictures in here...keep going!!!
ReplyDeleteFascinating! All the detail, even today when it is so badly damaged, is incredible. Like you, I was trying to imagine what it looked like when it was intact. I've really enjoyed this series of posts about Gwalior! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely detailed sculptures and your narration is spot on.. Beautiful temple.
ReplyDelete