Bateshwar temple

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The Bateshwar temples or Batesara temples ( Hindi : बटेश्वर मंदिर समूह) are a complex of over 100 small to medium-sized Hindu temples in the Morena district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, which is almost unknown in India .

Bateshwar Temple (detail)

location

The temple complex of Bateshwar is located in the north of the Morena district approx. 8 km (driving distance) west of the Chausath Yogini temple of Mitaoli and approx. 2 km southwest of the village of Padhawali at an altitude of approx. 200 m above sea level. d. M. The city of Morena is a good 30 km to the west; the city of Gwalior is just 40 km south.

history

The complex is assigned to the reign of the Gurjara Pratiharas , who controlled the area from the 8th to 10th centuries; However, the names of the donors or clients have not been preserved. The ruin site, which was probably destroyed in Islamic times or by natural forces, was almost forgotten and was only restored by the Archaeological Survey of India since 2005 .

architecture

Bateshwar temple

The temples, mostly consisting of a cella ( garbhagriha ) and a small anteroom ( antarala ), are dedicated to the Hindu deities Shiva and Vishnu and stand on smaller base plates or larger platforms ( jagatis ). While the mostly square, approx. 2.40 m high and approx. 1.50 m × 1.50 m large, dark cellae are always undivided inside and are only sometimes adorned by an open stone lotus flower on the ceiling, their exterior is quite more structured (mostly pancharatha type) and merges into a convex curved Shikhara tower, which regularly ended with a ribbed ring stone ( amalaka ) and originally also in a vase ( kalasha ), of which, however, quite a few have disappeared.

The niches of the outer walls present figures of gods and guardians; More often, however, the motif of a leaf jar that is characteristic of early Indian temple architecture is to be found. The curved surfaces of most Shikharas show ribbed amalaka motifs as well as small decorative panels ( udgamas ) with small crescent windows ( chandrasalas ). More opulent figurative jewelry can be found on the portal walls .

Several artificially created temple ponds ( kunds ) with step-shaped stairs ( ghats ) enrich the overall appearance of the complex.

See also

literature

  • Michael W. Meister u. a. (Ed.): Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture. North India - Period of Early Maturity. Princeton University Press, Princeton 1991, pp. 19ff ISBN 0-691-04053-2

Web links

Commons : Bateshwar Temple  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bateshwar Temple - Map with elevation information
  2. ↑ Bateshwar Temple - Information (English)

Coordinates: 26 ° 25 ′ 35 ″  N , 78 ° 11 ′ 48 ″  E