http://travelindiathroughmyeyes.com/forgotten-treasures-of-morena/
Revisiting the pages from the history of ancient India:
The
region around Gwalior is steeped in history with number of ancient
temples & monuments strewn all around it in a radius of 50 to 60
kms. A majority of tourists visit the well known fort, palaces, temples
& other tourist monuments of Gwalior but give a miss to these hidden
ancient treasures of Morena either due to paucity of time or lack of
awareness. But not for me, my wanderlust and my quest for exploring the
lesser known, less visited gems of India takes me to these locations,
tucked far away in the interiors !! The joy and pleasure that I
experience on exploring these places is like the excitement of a little
boy who finds a beautiful pebble or sea shell on the beach !!
A day of exploration:
It
was a pleasant morning in the first week of March 2017 when we left our
hotel at Gwalior at 7.30 a.m. in a cab with fruits, sandwiches &
tea packed by the courteous hotel staff. We were on a long day trip to
explore some of the ancient temples located in Morena district. There
was a time when mere mention of the names like Morena, Chambal or Bhind
would send a shiver down the spine because ‘dakus’ (dacoits) used to
rule the forests and ravines in these areas and people used to dread
going to these remote places!! As we were driving down through rugged
Morena region, the images of the famous ‘dakus’ with big moustaches on
horse back with guns in their hand from Hindi movies like ‘Jis Desh me
Ganga Bahti hey‘, ‘Mujhe Jeene Do’, ‘Mera Gaon Mera Desh, ‘Bandit Queen’
etc. conjured up before my eyes !!! The scene has totally changed today
– the dacoits in the form we knew of have vanished from the horizon in
the last 14 years, either eliminated or they have surrendered. It turned
out be such a wonderful day that the beautiful memories would remain
etched in my mind for a very long time.
Bateshwar:
Our
first stop was Bateshwar (35 kms from Gwalior) and we reached there by
8.40 a.m. Ours was the first car in the parking area and not a soul was
in sight. It was a breathtaking moment as the cluster of temples came in
view – not one or two but 60 of them !!! At a distance we could see the
pretty sight of two caretakers feeding few peacocks and as we
approached them they flew away. The caretakers informed us that had we
come 15 mins earlier we could have seen at least 50 of them. The
peacocks come everyday around 8 am from the nearby forest and leave
around 8.45 am after being fed.
History of Bateshwar
This
cluster of 200 temples were constructed between 8th to 10th century in
post Gupta era during the reign of the Gurjara-Pratihara Dynasty.
Majority of them were Shiva temples though few Vishnu and Shakti temples
have also been found. They show the early stages of development of
temple art in India. The earliest group of temples had sanctum proper
with flat roof while the later temples had conical sikhara over the
sanctum. One of the earliest temples dedicated to Shiva is known as
Bhuteshwar temple and many believe that the name Bateshwar was derived
from it. It is also believed that this place was sanctuary for tantric
studies. According to Michael Meister, an art historian and a professor
specializing in Indian temple architecture, the earliest temples in the
Bateshwar are likely from the 750-800 CE period. Historians believe that
this place was totally destroyed in an earthquake that hit in region in
the 14th century because no evidence has been found of it being
destroyed by invaders. For nearly 500 years the ruins remained hidden in
the dense forests. Alexander Cunningham, the founder of Archaeological
Survey of India discovered the site in 1882 and reported about the
ruins. In 1920, ASI took it under its control and declared it as a
protected site. Activities such as standardized temple numbering, ruins
isolation with photography and site conservation effort was initiated
during the colonial British era. Nothing much happened after that.
Bateshwar temples – rise from the ashes:
Mr.
K K Muhammad was appointed as Regional Superintendent of ASI, Bhopal
region in 2005 and after that sort of a miracle happened. The Bateshwar
cluster of temples that we see today is the result of the labour of love
of this gentleman. His passion and mission to restore the temples over a
period of 7 years from 2005 to 2012 saw a major part of Bateshwar
being restored to its old glory. But he had to face a lot of odds &
challenges. The first was the presence of the dreaded dacoit Nirbhay
Singh Gujjar and his gang who was a terror in the region. He had 239
cases of murder, kidnapping & dacoity registered against him!! Mr.
Muhammad without caring for his life, had a series of meetings with him
and convinced Nirbhay Singh Gujjar that these temples were originally
built by his forefathers the Gurjar Kings and by helping in rebuilding
the temples he would be doing a great honour & service to them.
Nirbhay Singh agreed and with him on his side the first challenge was
surmounted. Then came the bigger challenge of identifying the stone
slabs, collecting & segregating them and deciding on the design of
each temple. The site was a “massive mounds of rubble” of temple parts,
with “ruins lying everywhere”. According to Muhammed, the Bateshwar
complex was “built on the architectural principles enunciated in two
Sanskrit Hindu temple architecture texts, Manasara Shilpa Shastra composed in the 4th century CE, and Mayamata Vastu Shastra
written in the 7th century CE”. He followed these texts as his team of
over 50 workers collected pieces of the ruins from the site and like a
jigsaw puzzle tried to put them back together. Painstakingly in seven
years, 60 temples were fully restored. In the meantime Nirbhay Singh was
killed by police in an encounter and his gang members were either
killed by police or they surrendered. But his death brought a bigger
challenge. The powerful mine lobby entered the area which is rich in
minerals and started blasting the area near Bateshwar with dynamite and
this resulted in damage to the temples. Further restoration work had to
be stopped. His efforts to get the mining stopped, failed as the mining
lobby had political patronage. Finally Centre’s intervention brought an
end to the mining activity and restoration work restarted but not for
long as the allocated funds were scanty and as the mining lobby holding
Muhammad and his senior members responsible for the stoppage of mining
activity started issuing death threats to them. They also brought
political pressure and got Mr. Muhammad transferred. Mr. Muhammad’s
dream of restoring all the 200 temples in his ‘place of pilgrimage’
couldn’t be fulfilled. I understand that the restoration work has now
again started. Isn’t it amazing that a Muslim man studied Sanskrit and
Sanskrit texts and with such a zeal brought back a ruined place back to
life. For his yeoman service he was bestowed with Padmashri award. The
inspiring story of Muhammad and his team changed my perception about
ASI. Those interested can watch the video where Mr. Muhammad explains
how the temples were restored. Here is the link to the documentary:
https://lwww.youtube.com/watch?v=w3hT6PeUUVM.
Spread over an area of 25 acres, the cluster of temples present a
very pretty sight. We spent nearly 1.5 hours at the temple complex. As
we were the only visitors, it was truly an out of the world experience.
One of the caretakers became our guide for 30 mins and narrated the
history of the place as per his knowledge !!
We observed the following details in the temples:
The
sculpture of Shiva as Nataraja was carved on the ‘Kirtimukhas’ of some
of the temples. We came across a beautiful large slab that depicted the
marriage of Shiva and Parvati being solemnised in the presence of other
gods. There were reliefs depicting scenes of Krishna Leela from Bhagwat
Purana. There were sculptures of amorous couples. A large sculpture of
Hanuman of later date was found during excavation and it has been
painted saffron making it stand out among the stone coloured temples. We
also came across small unusual sculptures of women playing musical
instruments such as drum and string instruments. At the bottom of the
entrance of some of the temples, sculptures of Ganga and Yamuna with
attendants were carved on the two sides.
A little away from this
cluster was a comparatively larger Vishnu temple on a raised platform
reached after climbing a flight of stairs. It was under restoration and
had a large mandapa and an exquisitely carved entrance door to the
sanctum.
After finishing our sandwiches and well made tea we were off to our second site which was just about 15 mins away from Bateshwar.
Padavali
A beautiful Shiva temple existed here built around the 10th Century on a raised platform. It had a Mukhamandapa, Mandapa and the Sanctum Sanctorum. Today only the Mukhamandapa survives. Historical records about who built it and when are rather sketchy. The upper wall and ceiling of the Mukhamandapa has mind blowing array of hundreds or may be even more than 1000 designs & friezes with exquisite & intricate carvings on them squeezed in a very small space that it’s indeed an architectural marvel !!! The sculptures besides those of the Trinity are also of Ganesha, Mahisasurmardini, Surya and incarnations of Vishnu. The reliefs also narrate stories from the epics and Puranas. There are amorous couples & erotic sculptures too. All the sculptures are at such a height that it is difficult to closely observe and appreciate them. Photographing them was a challenge – probably a good camera with a powerful zoom lens could do better justice to the quality of the pics.
The fortress around the temple now known as Padavali Garhi was built much later in the late 18th or early 19th century by the Jat Rana rulers of Dhaulpur. A pair of lion sculptures stand guard at the entrance to the fortress. As you climb up the stairs and enter the fortress through a grill gate, the Mukhamandapa of the temple confronts & welcomes you. Behind it is an open courtyard where the main temple once existed. There is nothing of great interest to see in the fortress. I understand it was built more as a watch tower to keep check on any invaders.
We spent about 30 minutes at Padavalli before leaving for our next destination at Mitawali, 10 kms away.
Mitawali or Mitaoli
Mitawali is known for the Chausath Yogini Temple that is also known as Ekattarso Mahadeva Temple. According to an inscription dated to 1323 CE, the temple was built by the Kachchhapaghata King Devapala who was the ruler from 1055 to 1075 AD. It is said that the temple was the venue of providing education in astrology and mathematics based on the transit of the Sun. It is one of the few well-preserved Yogini temples in India. The temple is formed by a circular wall with a radius of 170 feet (52 feet). It has 65 chambers adjacent to each other with flat roof over them, apparently for 64 yoginis and one for goddess Devi and an open mandap in the centre of a circular courtyard which is open to sky with a circular shrine in the middle dedicated to Shiva. The temple is perched atop a hill. A climb of a 100 steps takes you to this unique temple, circular in shape. The Parliament House in New Delhi is believed to have been inspired from the circular design and architectural intricacies of the Mitawali temple though there are no records to prove that the architects of Parliament House – Edwin Lutyens or Herbert Baker ever visited this temple. Whether they decided the design of Parliament House based on a photograph of this temple is not known.
It was noon. I was a bit apprehensive about my wife making it to the top in the scorching sun. But she was a sport and all her fatigue disappeared once she came face to face with this awesome structure like of which is not there anywhere in India. It is believed that originally the 64 chambers each had the image of a Yogini but no one knows what happened to them – today there is a Shiv ling in each of them.
The perforated base at the central structure allows rain water to collect in a huge reservoir below which is not visible from the outside. The roof is also built in a way that rain water get stored smoothly. Studying the temple structure can be a wonderful lesson in rain-water harvesting and engineering. The temple has survived several earthquakes and is in excellent shape and state of preservation.
Shanichar temple of Morena
While on route to the above temples, we were rather intrigued to see several diversions at frequent intervals on the road with sign boards indicating the route to Shanichar temple. We were not aware of this temple. On enquiring with our cab driver we were told that this is a famous Shani dev temple on a hillock where thousands of devotees come on Saturdays and lakhs of devotees come on Shani Jayanti. As it has a very large following almost all the bigger villages in Morena district were connected with this temple by road. We decided to take a diversion of 10 kms to visit this temple and it turned out to be such an interesting trip.
Legend of Shanichar temple:
This temple is believed to be the oldest Shani temple in India dating
back to the Treta Yug. It is believed that once Shani dev was imprisoned
by Ravan in Lanka. Hanumanji went to Lanka in search of Sita and before
setting Lanka on fire he secured the release of Shani dev and threw him
on the ground from Lanka. Shani dev fell at the spot where this temple
stands. This is the mythological part of the story.
It is believed
that the idol of Lord Shani here is made out of a meteoroid that fell
from the sky during ancient times that created a hole at this place. It
exhibits magnetic powers. Even the Rock slab that is worshipped at the
famous Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra has been carved from this
rock and installed there.
As it was not a Saturday there was hardly
any crowd at the temple. We had darshan of Shani dev and of Hanumanji at
the nearby temple and on enquiring about the Puja timing at the Shani
temple we were told to meet Mahant Shri Shivramdas Tyagi ji whose
residence was in the temple premises. It was past 2 pm and we were
hungry but we thought of meeting Mahantji for few minutes and it turned
out to be a wise decision. Mahantji met us very cordially and on finding
out that we had come all the way from Nasik he insisted that we should
take prasad. He got fresh rotis prepared for us and ensured that we had
proper lunch which we enjoyed. There was a deer in Mahantji’s courtyard
and he told us that he found it as a baby abandoned in the forest as
either his mother had died or was killed. He rescued it and was treating
him like his own child !! He told us that after 3 days on Shanivari
Amavasya day at 6 pm he would call me and do Puja on our behalf and he
would make us listen to the puja mantra recitation. We gave him Rs
1100/- and left the place satisfied with our visit. He kept his word and
without reminder from us called us at the prefixed day & time for
the Puja.
Within 6 months of our visit, my 7 years old court case for
getting back my illegally occupied flat was decided in my favour. My
wife to this day believes that this was due to the ‘Krupa’ of Shanidev
!!!
Kakanmath
Our next destination Sihoniya (located at a distance of 80 kms from Gwalior via Morena town) was at an hour’s drive from Shani mandir. It was almost 4.30 pm by the time we reached the temple.
Sihoniya was the capital of the Khushwahas. There is a beautiful 11th century Shiva temple near Sihoniya known as Kakanmath temple. This was built by the Kachwaha ruler Raja Kirtiraj for his queen Kaknavati and most probably it is named after her. Originally, the site had a temple complex, with a central temple surrounded by four subsidiary shrines. Although much of the temple is in ruins now probably due to earthquake or lightning and majority of the figures have been defaced by invaders over centuries but yet the lofty spire of the temple attracts attention from kms away. The sculptures & artistic designs all around the temple speak volumes about the great heights reached by Indian architecture. There are majestic pillars with intricate carvings and a beautiful Kirti door. Only few sculptures are in good condition and I have depicted them in my pics.
Jain temple at Sihoniya : Sihoniya is also an important place for the followers of Jainism. In the east of the village are ruins from Jain temples dating from the 11th century A.D. The idols of the Tirthankars are housed in a temple that has been built in recent years. This temple has three statues: Shantinath, Kunthnath and Arhanath, each 10 to 15 feet (3.0 to 4.6 m) in height placed in glass enclosures.
By the time we returned to our hotel in Gwalior it was 8 pm. It was a long but satisfying day.
I hope this blog has given you insights into some lesser known but interesting temples of India. In case you have liked my blog please comment and share the link.
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