________________
480
YAŠASTILAKA AND INDIAN CULTURE
It may be noted that the history of Saivism in this region goes back to much earlier times. Seven miles to the south-east of Jaso are the ruins of the ancient city of Nachna Kuthara in Ajaygadh State in Bundelkhand. Some of the oldest known Hindu temples in India have been discovered at this place. The earliest of these is a flat-roofed temple surrounded by a narrow covered veranda on three sides. There was a very small mandapa or porch in front of the only door of the shrine, which has collapsed entirely.' Over the shrine is a small upper chamber instead of a sikhara, with a flat roof slightly raised at the centre. The temple is well-preserved, but without any idol, and has been assigned to the early Gupta period, i. e., 4th - 5th century A. D. To the south-west of this temple there is a large stone-built temple of Śiva with a tall spire, which has been assigned to the later Gupta age. The mandapa in front has collapsed, and inside the temple there is a huge four-faced linga (Caturmukha Mahādeva) which is certainly earlier in date than the temple itself.' To the east of the Gupta temple are the remains of another temple of Mahadeva of which only the foundations and the linga remain. The ground around is strewn with carved blocks of stone from which it appears that this temple was of the same date as the temple of the four-faced Mahādeva.''
The Nāgod State area, now included in the Baghelkhand Agency of Central India, appears to have been an early focus of Saivism, and continued as such till medieval times. An ancient temple of Siva exists at Bhumara, a village twelve miles to the west of the town of Unchehra in Nāgod State. It is flat-roofed and similar in all respects to the early Gupta temple at Nachna except that there is no upper chamber over the shrine. The similarity in size and plan and the nature of the carvings indicates that both the temples belong to the same age, probably the middle of the fifth century A. D. As in the case of the temple at Nachna, the mandapa has collapsed, but inside the shrine was found a huge ekamukha linga measuring a little more than six feet in height.'
In the small hamlet of Sankargadh, in Nāgod State, there is, at the oot of a small conical hill, an ancient tank, now almost silted up, on the banks of which exist a very large collection of Saiva sculptures and a very small stone temple of the later Gupta period. Two paved foot-paths lead to the door of the temple which stands on a mound, and on both sides of the foot-paths an unusually large number of lingas have been arranged. The temple consists of a single chamber with one door; and the interior of the shrine is perfectly plain, and contains a very large linga. The sikhara of the temple was added at a later date, perhaps in the 10th or 11th century, sculptures of which period are found scattered around the edifice. "No inscriptions were discovered at the place, but from the technique the lower part of the temple can be assigned to the sixth century A. D.'. The images gathered around the shrine
1 Ibid., pp. 53, 61. 2 R. D. Banerji: The temple of Śiva at Bhumara (Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey
of India. No. 16).
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
