BATESHWAR TEMPLE
• The Bateshwar Hindu temples (romanised: baṭeśvar;
/bəʈeːɕvər/) are a group of nearly 200 sandstone Hindu
temples and their ruins in north Madhya Pradesh in post-
Gupta, early Gurjara-Pratihara style of North Indian
temple architecture.[1] It is about 35 kilometres (22 mi)
north of Gwalior and about 30 kilometres (19 mi) east of
Morena town. The temples are mostly small and spread
over about 25 acres (10 ha) site. They are dedicated to
Shiva, Vishnu and Shakti - representing the three major
traditions within Hinduism. The site is within the Chambal
River valley ravines, on the north-western slope of a hill
near Padavali known for its major medieval era Vishnu
temple. The Bateshwar temples were built between the
8th and the 10th-century.[1] The site is likely named after
the Bhuteshvar Temple, the largest Shiva temple at the
site. It is also referred to as Batesvar temples site or
Batesara temples site.
• The site was visited and its ruins reported by
Alexander Cunningham in 1882 as a
"collection of more than 100 temples large
and small to the southeast of Paravali
Padavali", the latter with a "very fine old
temple".[6] Bateshwar was notified by
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) as a
protected site in 1920. Limited recovery,
standardized temple numbering, ruins
isolation with photography, and site
conservation effort was initiated during the
colonial British era. Several scholars studied
the site and included them in their reports.
For example, the French archeologist Odette
Viennot published a paper in 1968 that
included a discussion and photographs of the
numbered Batesvar temples.[
• The site is mentioned in historical literature as Dharon or
Paravali, later as Padavali. The local name for the group of
temples is Batesvar or Bateshwar temples.[1][6]
• According to the Cunningham's report of 1882, the site
was a "confused assemblage of more than one hundred
temples of various sizes, but mostly small". The largest
standing temple was of Shiva, wrote Cunningham, and the
temple was locally called Bhutesvara. However, to his
surprise the temple had a relief of Garuda on top, leading
him to speculate that the temple may have been a Vishnu
temple before it was damaged and reused. The Bhutesvara
temple had a square sanctum with a 6.75 feet (2.06 m)
side, with a relatively small 20 square feet mahamandapa.
The sanctum doorway was flanked by river goddesses
Ganga and Yamuna. The tower superstructure was a
pyramidal square starting off from a 15.33 feet (4.67 m)
sided square seated on a flat roof, then rhythmically
tapering off
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