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The Structural Temples of Gujarat Among several unnoticed temples of this hilly tract the most noteworthy are the temples of Sāraṇeśvara, Lakheņā and Navaderā popularly known as temples of Sadavanta Šāvalingā near Abhapur and Āstika pancayatana Kenyātā Mahadeva. The other noteworthy temples in this group are Siva temples at Mathachhada, the temple of Vadjāvira at Vadiavir, the Sobheśvara Mahadeva and Vagheśvari Māta temple at Shobharada. 107
Recently in a paper, 'The Chronology of the Solanki Temples of Gujarat’108 Shri M. A. Dhaky has at length discussed the chronology of the Solanki temples in Gujarat on the basis of epigraphic, literary and architectural materials that exist for the study of the temples.
On scrutinising the extant monuments of Gujarat he feels that the early architectural style in Gujarat was not quite homogeneous but showed two parallel, though kindered, traditions. From the Gupta period the tradition in Northern together with Central Gujarat differed from the one that was current in Saurastra. Further he states that the tradition current in Saurastra bespeaks of architects working on a lower acsthetic plane. His statement regarding this tradition prevalent in Saurastra is vague, rather controvertial, in as much as. he says, “Although this tradition is not ancestral to the Solanki style, it did evolve at one stage the Nagara śikhara of an inferior variety in the last century of the Maitraka rule (p. 3). It is well-known, and accepted by the auther of this statement too, that the Solanki style was one of the branches of the Nāgara version prevalent especially in North India. Further the canonical works like Sm. Su. have dealt with the two main śikhara styles; viz, Temples with pyramidal flat-roofed superstructure (Chadya prāsādas ) and temples with curvilinear superstructure (śikharānvita ). Both the varieties were prevalent in Gujarat 107. For the description of these temples Vide Appendix 'A'. 108. Published in the Journal of the Madhya Pradesh Itihasa Parishad No 3, 1961, (Bhopal )
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