Gadarmal Devi Temple

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Gadarmal temple
Gadarmal Temple Badoh.jpg
Religion
Affiliation Hinduism, Jainism
Deity Gadarmal devi, Krishna [1]
Location
Location Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh
Gadarmal Devi Temple
Interactive map of Gadarmal temple
Coordinates 23°55′06″N78°13′21″E / 23.9182813°N 78.2224866°E / 23.9182813; 78.2224866 (Gadarmal Devi Temple)
Architecture
Style Pratihara, Māru-Gurjara
Creator Gadaria Caste [1]
Established7th to 8th century [1]
Completed9th century
Temple1

Gadarmal Devi temple is a Hindu and Jain temple at Badoh village of Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh. [1] Also called Gadarmal Temple of the Mothers, it is one of India's yogini temples. It has 42 niches for yogini statues, unusually arranged in a rectangle; it must originally have been hypaethral.

Contents

Description

Gadarmal Devi temple dates back to the 7 - 8th century, it was built by the Gadaria caste [1] . The architecture of this yogini temple is a fusion of Pratihara and Parmara styles. It is built similar to Teli ka Mandir in Gwalior fort. This temple houses both Hindu and Jain idols. [2] The temple is made of sandstone with seven small shrines surrounding the main shrine. [3]

It is a 42-niche yogini temple. 18 broken images of the goddesses that once fitted into grooves in the temple platform are preserved from the waist down. It is composed of a rectangular shrine and a tall and massive Shikhara. Vidya Dehejia writes that as a yogini temple, it must once have been hypaethral, open to the sky. [4] The temple was supposedly built by shepherds (gadariya), and is therefore called Gadarmal Devi Temple among locals. [5]

The archaeologist Joseph David Beglar photographed a colossal bas-relief sculpture of a mother and child inside the temple in 1871–2. He called it a figure of Maya Devi and the infant Buddha. [5]

See also

Gadaria Caste.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Ayyar, Sulochana (1987). Costumes and Ornaments as Depicted in the Sculptures of Gwalior Museum. Mittal Publications. p. 10. ISBN   978-81-7099-002-4. The Gadarmal temple is the most important monument in the twin villages. The temple is not preserved in its original form. ... ["According to a popular legend current in the locality, the temple is said to have been built by a shepherd (gadaria) and hence its name Gadarmal."]
  2. ↑ ASI & Gadarmal Temple.
  3. ↑ Mitra 2012, p. 26.
  4. ↑ Dehejia 1986, pp. 141–145.
  5. 1 2 Beglar, Joseph David (1878). Report of a tour in Bundelkhand and Malwa, 1871-72. Vol. VII. Calcutta: Archaeological Survey of India. p. 70.

Sources

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