________________
CHAPTER 16]
CENTRAL INDÍA
the inscription of the Vikrama year 919 (A.D. 862) on the portico pillar of Temple 12, these structures are referable to circa A.D. 850-900. Numerous architectural fragments and images fround at the site attest that more shrines of the ninth century existed at the site.
To the tenth century belong hall-temples made of large blocks, viz. Temples 9, 13, 16 and 20, which contain early medieval images. Hall-temple 17 also contains early medieval images of the tenth century, though its walls have disappeared.
To the tenth-eleventh centuries belong the four hall-temples, viz. Temples 2, 3, 11 and 19, the walls of which consist of slabs and which contain medieval images. The dates are supplied by the inscriptions of Temple 2 (Vikrama years 1023, 1051 and 1052) and Temple 11 (Vikrama years 1105 and 1129). These hall-temples are reminiscent of the monastic architecture, familiar from such central-Indian sites as Ranod, Kadwaha and Surwaya. Temples 5, with a peculiar fikhara and a large sahasra-küta inside, bearing inscription of the Vikrama year 1120, also falls in the same period, besides Temple 31. Several pillars and architectural fragments, some of them clustering around Temple 12, are also attributable to the tenth-eleventh centuries.
To the twelfth century can be ascribed small temples built of smaller and thinner slabs. These are Temples 18 (plate 105), 21, 25, 26, 27(b) and 30. Temple 21 carries two inscriptions of the Gunanandin group, referable to the twelfth century, and has a few images inside (plate 106).
The remaining temples, characterized by the use of brick-like smaller stones, generally employ mortar. Temples 4, 6, 8, 12(c) and 14 pertain to this phase which is assignable to a period later than the twelfth century. The blocktemples 9, 13, 15-18 and 20 were repaired during this phase and porches to Temples 4 and 15 were added during the same time. Further, there is no doubt that the additions of cupolas, pseudo-fikharas, pavilions of the Akbar style and parapets were made to many of the shrines during the Bundela period.
Only two temples, viz. 10 and 15, both dating from the ninth century, show architectural embellishment. The remaining temples are largely plain except for their door-frames. Two temples, viz. Temples 12 and 28, carry curvilinear Bikharas; others are mostly flat-roofed hall-temples, or shrines with porches which are reminiscent of the flat-roofed Gupta temples comprising only sanctum and porch.
