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32
MAULIK HAJARNIS
SAMBODHI-PURĀTATTVA
temple, the river Galati, a tributary of Mahīsāgar meets Mahi just nearby (See Plate). One of the flows of the river-Galati touches the Linga of the temple and that is why the temple is named as Galateśvara.3
Present State of the temple
MAN OF GALATESVARA TEMPLE, SARNAL It was Prof. Dhaky who for the first time classified this temple as of the exotic Bhūmija-class. He has mentioned the temple as being of a rare variety of the Bhumija mode, the astśāla or astabhadra in plan. Dhaky opines that its lower structure is of a purely Māru-Gurjara manner, while its super-structure is Bhūmija presented in a regional style. The temple appears to have been constructed by someone who did not possess a first-hand knowledge of the Bhūmija-Variety deriving its information from the Samarānganasūtradhāra, a Mālavan text and casting it in a Gujarati Mode. Dhaky has dated this temple to the 12th century on the stylistic ground. Supporting Dhaky's statement, Krishna Deva opines-the Galateśvara temple at Sarnal, (Kheda District), corresponds to the saptabhūma aştaśāla type of the Bhūmija class described in the text, as it has a sanctum with eight Bhadras and shows two karnas between each pair of Bhadras. But for its peculiar plan and exotic śikhara design, the temple represents a normal example of an ornate Solanki temple of the late 12th century A.D. It has Kütastambhas as required on a Bhümija-śikhara, but the kūtas are of the regional Gujarati format. Similarly, the sürasenakas appearing at the bases of the latās present a variation of the Bhūmija-type (See plate).
