Heritage Gwalior - 8th Century - Temples of Bateshwar

Around 8th century, after the demise of the Pal dynasty, Gwalior was ruled for a couple of centuries by Gurjar-Pratihara dynasty from Kannauj (an area close to present day Kanpur, UP).

Around 30kms from Gwalior, in the distrcit of Morena, on the north-western slope of a range of Vindhyachal hills near the village Padavali, an archaeological site comprising of about 200 ancient shrines is found, called Bateshwar. It’s a surreal sight to see the temple ruins emerging from the jungle when you first visit them. I was at a special advantage since I didn’t know what to expect, whereas you now know what it is going to be like :)

This temple complex, which is spread over an area of 10 hectares, is determined to be from 8th-10th century. These temple shrines, which are mostly of Shiva and some of Vishnu, were built by the Gurjara-Pratihara kings who ruled Gwalior at that time. To get an idea of timeline, that is about 300 years before Khajuraho temples were built.

These ruins comprise not only of temple remains, but gateways, stepped tanks, architectural elements - amalaks, brahmanical icons etc which can be stylistically ascribed to post Gupta to early Pratihara period ranging from 6th to 9th Centuries. the earliest group of temples are having Sanctum proper with flat roof, while temples of later phases are possessed with curvilinear shikhar over the Sanctums. One of the surviving temple, ddedicated to Lord Shiva, known as Bhuteshwara Temple, shows all the features of Pratihara art.

The temples are made of sandstone and in the typical Pratihara style of temple with open pavilions. The Pratihara art and temple building culminated in its finest form a few centuries later at the world famous temples of Khajuraho. So in a way the temple art found at Bateshwara and around are a precursor to it, and show the early stages of development of temple art. 

I observed that the little historic shrine made at the Suraj Kund has same design as the shrines excavated in Bateshwar. There are a few specimen of these little shrines kept in Gujari Mahal(the archeological museum at Fort) as well.

The shrines, that may be for monastic purposes, are surrounded by mounds of invaluable ancient sculptures, its really an unbelievable sight! Looking closely you can find innumerable statues which have exquisite form and expressions.

Lord Shiva lovingly holding Parvati's hand in a possible scene from their wedding

Beautiful expressions of a mother holding her baby

Female figure in a lyrical pose

Intricate carving for the clothes and ornaments on the body

What makes Bateshwar exceptional is that the temples are still being excavated by a team led by K.K. Muhammed,, The Archaeological Survey of India . He started the excavation work in 2005 when initially he had to face resistance from the dacoits of Chambal, who had a strong hold at that time. The workers helping in the excavation and the team had to leave the site several times for their safety in the earlier years of the effort. Gradually, the dacoits understood the value of the temples as their cultural heritage, and left. Also, that was the time when the dacoit situation was controlled to a large extent anyway. Since the excavation work is still on, it is quite fascinating to see the ancient temples emerging,  as the mud is dug out very carefully and painstakingly.

The traditional dacoits left but the new age dacoits did not. There are stone quarries owned and run by the strong men of the area, just about 3-5 km from this amazing site, where fragile historic temples are being excavated! It is easy to imagine what kind of harm the constant blast of explosives are bringing to these valuable and fragile ancient structures. The archeological workers who are so lovingly bringing these out are very sad about this and expect citizens who care for our national heritage to create some pressure on the powerful rogues who are doing the quarrying.