Indian Antiquary Vol 52

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 391

DECEMBER, 1923 ]
THE RUINS OF KAJLI KANOJA
361
of that name, within which Kanoja is included. There are several heaps of temple ruins belonging to the mediæval Brahmanio style, and although many statues and images have been removed to distant places, such as Nagpur, there still remain several fragments which bespeak the glory of the ancient town. The architecture appears to belong to about the tenth century A.D.At that time the city appears to have extended for more than three miles from west to east, including the present villages of Kedarakhôda and Deogaon, and its breadth north to south was about two miles. The western and southern sides of the town seem to have bson occupied by Saivas, as in this part the ruins belong to Saiva temples. The heap in the south-eastern corner of Kanoja village was a Saiva temple. There two massive door jambe with three figures on each may be still seen. They are carved on two sides, one showing Siva and Parvati and the other a female figure carrying a water jar. In one door jamb the váhana is a makara and in the other a tortoise, and these clearly represent the Ganga and Yamuna respectively. They are very important, as indicating the age of the temple, which belonged to the period when the representations of these rivers had crept down from the tops of the door to the bottom. In this heap there is a figure of a lion overpowering an elephant, which local historians have put down as a special sign-manual of the Gonds, but this is clearly a mistake. I have seen the same representation in the temples of Bhuvaneswara in Orissa, and in other ancient temples which were built long before the Gonds came into power. Of course the Chanda Gond rulers seem to have taken a fancy to that figure and had it carved on the walls of the rampart they built round Chånda city, and also adopted it as their crest; but it was not their own invention and was an adaptation in & cruder form than the original from which they copied. On the bank of the Bel river to the south of Kanoja there are ruins of a big shrine with remains of similar door jumbs, as degaribed above, together with a headless Nandi, indicating that that temple was also Saiva. There still lio many beautiful carved stones with friezes, inscribed with figures of a lion overpowering an elephant. There used to be an embankment in the river in front of the temple, which apparently faced north. Close to this place lies Kedårakheda, whose name is signi. ficant. It is apparently named after Siva, one of whose other names is Kedara.
The centre of Kanoja town was oocupied by the Jains, who had & shrine built near the place now known as Bota, where stood a small fortress, marks of whose bestions are still clearly visible. It was not long ago that the fortress was dismantled and stones removed for use in the Betul and Multai tanks. Fragments of Jain imagos lie in a field just outside the boundary of the Kota. These consist of a solid stone with figures of four Jain Tirthan. karas, one on each faco, and a soparate broken statue. Two colossal naked images of the Tirthankaras were removed to the Nagpur museuin some years ago. The local story about these figures is that they represent the two masons, Nangar and Bhongar, who built the təmples at Kanoja. The execution of these required special sanctity, and therefore to avoid any chhůl or pollution they had to put off their clothing and work in a state of nudity. They had a sister who used to bring them food, and when she entered the enclosure she was
3 The Betul district contains a most sacred place of Jains named Muktagiri, an account of which I have already contributed in anto, vol. XLII, pp. 220 et seq.. Curiously in this jungly district there is also a Buddhist shrine at Salbardi, about 35 miles west of Muktagiri. The head of Buddba's image has been broken and it is now being worshipped 88 & Devi. This appears to be the work of gaktas who enshrined Mahadeva in & cave approached through a somewhat difficult and narrow Pagnage, recently widened and provided with steps by the Amraoti District Council. About dozen years ago, I discovered two vihdras in this place, one of which contains the headless imago referred to above (vide Anaoti District Gazeltcer, p. 425).