The Structural Temples of Gujarat
by Kantilal F. Sompura | 1968 | 163,360 words
This essay studies the Structural Temples of Gujarat (Up to 1600 A.D.)....
4.27. Temples at Bhuvad (Kaccha)
Bhuvad, the temple of Bhuvadesvara Mahadeva is much ruined; the roof of the shrine is entirely fallen. The mandapa measures 9.6*12 ms. inside and is supported by 34 pillars 269. Kacchanum Sanskriti Darshana pp. 78, 276: also Kumar. No. 301, plt. opp. p. 91. 270. Sarabhai Nawab : Kumar No. 301. 271. JSI. p. 406. Pethod was contemporary to famous minister Hemadri of Deogiri with whose consent he built a Jain temple at Deogiri known as 'Amulya Prasada' which was completed in V. S. 1335 (i.e. A. D. 1279). Ratnamandirgani, Upadesatarangini. pp. 97-98. 272. Bombay Gazetter Vol. V. p. 225, also Kacchanum Sanskriti Darshana pp. 108-109 Plts. on pp. 107, 108, 109. � near Patan, on Kakosi-Maitrana Rly. line. 273. Jain Tirtha Sarva Sangraha Vol. 1. Pt. p. 45.
192 The Structural Temples of Gujarat and four pilasters, 18 on the screen wall and 12 of them round the dome, which covers 7 ms. sqaure inside the columns. The pillars are square to about one third their height, then octagon, and lastly round. The shrine has been a larger one, fully 7 ms. square, domed on 12 pilasters, 0.5*0.3 m. with four armed figures on the brackets. The brackets on the columns of the mandapa are plain, but a plinth of 0.2 meter deep above the bracket is carved with a raised geometrical pattern. The front of the brackets are also carved as in those of the Bhadresvar temple. The temple has been built of stones. Over the shrine door is a Devi probably Bhavani, There is an inscription on the pilaster to the right of the shrine door, dated S. 1346 (A. D. 1289-90). 274 The stone inscription of Cintamani Parsvanatha at Cambay records that the temple was built in the time of Ramadeva, son of Arjunadeva of the Vaghela dynasty in V. S. 1352 (A. D. 1296). The inscription records that one Badala built a temple of Parsvanatha and her son Vikala built a mandapa in front of the temple of Surya. 275 The present temple of Cintamani Parsvanatha seems erected on the old site, but it does not retain its original form and design. The next temple mentioned in the inscription does not survive. The existence of a Sun temple in V. S. 1354 (A. D. 1298) is shown by the Murlidhara inscription of that year, in which mangala verses are in praise of Sun as two verses (vv. 20-21) refer to the attainment of Suryaloka by a warrior, so that it is evident that the prasasti was composed in connection with the erection of a sun temple. The aforesaid inscription has been found at the Murlidhara temple at Bhiloda (near Idar). 276 274. Antiquities of Kaccha and Kathiawada p. 209-10 275. BPSI. 227, vv. 14 & 16. 276. Budhiprakasa, 1710,79 ff.
Structural Temples of the Caulukyan Period 193 Bhavanatha or Bhuvanesvara Mahadeva temple at Desan* is an old one. It was many times rebuilt in the past as the existence of temple and Kunda, 277 is mentioned in the inscription 278 of V. S. 1354 (A. D. 1298) in the Sun 279 (now Ramaji temple in the compound which, according to above inscription was built in the time of Karna Vaghela. There is a large image of bull of grey stone marble 1.5 m. long, lying in the compound, which must surely have been belonged to an earlier temple.280 Sculpture and panels present various forms of Visnu and depict several scenes from Krisna's life. Some of the stray sculptures may represent the temples of Visnu or Krisna having been erected during the rule of Caulukyan and Vaghela danasty in Gujarat. The Anavada stone inscriptiion 281 of Sarangadeva of V. S. 1348 (A. D. 1296) attests to the existence of Krisna worship in Gujarat