The mini Khajuraho and other temples at Chattisgarh
Sudha and I had visited Madhya Pradesh last year for a holiday. We came away with some great memories from places like Shanti Stupa, Bhimbetka, Orchha and Khajuraho.
This year, we decided to visit a neighbouring state — Chattisgarh. For a change, we decided against travelling to multiple cities and instead, set up base in one and travel nearby.
We picked Jagdalpur which is an overnight train journey from Vizag, largely because it was close to many of the scenic spots, and also because Little Rey loves train journeys.
Jagdalpur is situated in the Bastar area of Chattisgarh. Before the demarcation of states along linguistic boundaries, the area spanned districts currently in Odisha like Koraput and Jeypore, which share a lot of common tribal heritage. Bastar was a princely state in the British empire and was founded in the early 14th century by a brother of the last ruler of the Kakatiyas.
Till about a decade ago, this area was also the hotbed for Naxal violence. Over the years, a lot of the Naxal activity has come down and other than a few marked locations, people travel freely around.
Beyond the violent history, there were a lot of stories to keep Sudha and me hooked.
As per legend, the Bastar area was part of the dreaded Dandakaranya forest zone in the Ramayana, where Rama, Sita and Lakshman spent 14 years in exile. It was reputed to be wild and home to many beasts and rakshasas, and Rama and Lakshmana are said to have killed many of them.
The current Bastar district abuts Dantewada, which is named after its patron deity Danteswari. The locals believe that a tooth of Sati, wife of Shiva fell here, and constructed the temple around it (‘dant’ is tooth in Hindi).
Dantewada hosts not just the Danteswari temple, but other interesting ones that were established in the 11th century. Many were lost over time, others were subject to dismantling as the local population took away stones for their own use.
One of the more interesting areas within the district is a place called Barsur, which is where we headed from Jagdalpur.
Let’s again dip into a bit of myth here. Barsur, a local priest claimed, owes its name to its erstwhile asura king — Banasura. Banasura is said to have had a thousand arms and had pleased Shiva by playing musical instruments when Shiva danced his tandava. As a boon he had both Shiva and his warrior son Karthikeya protect his kingdom. He believed it was impossible to defeat his kingdom in battle.
His daughter, though, fell in love with the grandson of Krishna and a friend magically had him captured and brought to her. When Krishna heard of this, he marched with his armies, put Shiva to sleep using his astras and humbled Banasura by chopping off all his arms but two.
Other sources put his kingdom in distant Assam, but it’s interesting to learn about the etymology of the place.
Barsur hosts the more popular Battisa temple (built around 32 pillars), the Dashinamurthi Ganesha (two Ganesha idols side by side — one 8 feet high, the other 5) and the oddly named Mama Bhanja temple (because it was believed to have been built by an uncle and nephew).
However, a temple that almost goes unnoticed is the Chandraditya temple, set up in the 11th century. We got to know of it from one of the local priests and discovered the hidden gem.
The Chandraditya temple is modelled like the Khajuraho temples, with intricate sculptures at the outside of the temple. Just like Khajuraho, the ensemble includes a variety of daily activities, including superhuman acts of coitus.
Many of the statues are broken, though no one knows who damaged them. It is a protected monument, but I wish there were more effort in preserving this interesting piece of history.
