An impact crater, a temple ruin and some discoveries

It was supposed to be just a visit to the ruins of the Bhand Devra or Bhand Deora Temple, a 10th century CE temple enroute to Kota from Jhalawar. My friend Shubhra aka Historywali had told me that this was a place I should not miss, especially since I would be in the area. Little did I know it would turn out to be much more than just a visit to a temple ruin.

The day had begun with us (my friend Niti and I) bidding goodbye to Jhalawar and our fabulous host, Mahijit ji, before setting off on a 2.5-hour journey by road to the temple. Though Manoj, our car driver, wasn’t sure of the temple’s exact location, he knew the area and assured us that he would get us to the temple. All we had to do was to sit back and enjoy the drive that initially passed though a hilly and forested section, before the landscape flattened out.

About 2 hours into the journey, we saw a strange, flat-topped elevation rising in the distance. On asking Manoj if he knew anything about it, he just shrugged and said that it was a hill and the Bhand Devra Temple was close to it. I was intrigued for the hill didn’t look like any that I had seen before and I decided to check Google Maps to see if it could tell me what it was.

What came up had me rubbing my eyes in disbelief; Niti’s reaction was no different. We were looking at (see the screenshot I took below) what appeared to be a hollow hill or a a crater. An impact crater.

Do you know the name of this crater, asks Niti. Just as I am about to reply in the negative, I see a signboard which says that we are about 10 km from Ramgarh. And just like that I remember an undergraduate class in Geology and a mention of this crater, the Ramgarh Crater. I also recall my friend Doulose posting this rather fuzzy picture of the crater from an airplane.

According to the Geological Survey of India, the Ramgarh Crater is known by various names — ‘Ramgarh structure’, ‘Ramgarh meteoritic structure’, ‘Ramgarh ring structure’, and ‘Ramgarh dome’, among others. At its highest, the Ramgarh Crater rises about 200 m from its surroundings and has a diameter of about 3.2 km. Though it looks like and is assumed to be an impact crater, there has been no conclusive study to prove that the Ramgarh Crater was created as a result of a meteorite impact. 

Niti and I alternate between watching the crater on the live map and looking out of the window at the ‘real’ crater as we move closer to it. Manoj stops briefly to ask for directions to the temple and is pointed towards the crater. Is the temple near the crater or inside it, I wonder. Just when I think that the car would swing around the crater, it turns sharply towards the narrow road leading into it and soon we are passing a small pond located just past the entrance to the Ramgarh Crater.

The Bhand Devra Temple is located about a kilometre inside, and a short and rather bumpy ride later we are alighting from the car to have our first look at the temple and its location. I am torn between wanting to explore the temple and explore the crater, whose “walls” surround the temple on all sides.

One of the first things I notice from where I stand at the entrance to the Bhand Devra Temple, is a flight of whitewashed steps leading up to the very top of what would be the crater rim. I ask Manoj if he knows anything about it and he has a very interesting story to share.

The steps lead to a natural cave where two temples — one dedicated to Kisnai (a local deity) and the other to Annapurna Devi — are located. The offerings for both the deities are uniquely different — while Kisnai is offered meat and alcohol, Annapurna Devi is offered sweets. A curtain is always drawn between the two deities only to be raised during distribution of the prasad.

Manoj is not sure about how old the cave temples are, except that they are very old ! There is, however, no such confusion regarding the age of the Bhand Devra Temple. According to the information board outside, inscriptions were found on the site which indicate that the temple was built in the 10th century CE by Raja Malaya Verma of Nag dynasty from Malwa, and was renovated in 1162 CE by Raja Trisna Verma of the Med dynasty.

Looking at the temple’s advanced state of ruin in front of me, it appears that the Bhand Devra Temple was never renovated after that. In fact, it looks like the temple will fall any minute — the spire is broken, there is vegetation growing profusely, some of the original pillars have received a patch up job with concrete, sculptures in the niches are missing, while many others are broken, etc. The ground around the temple is littered with broken and unrecognisable fragments of sculptures and other temple parts. I can see a couple of smaller structures, probably subsidiary shrines, some distance from the temple.

Clicking on any of the photographs below will start a slide show on the exterior portion of the Bhand Devra Temple. You can use the arrow keys to navigate through the set, and once done, do come back to read the rest of the post.

The Bhand Devra Temple as viewed from one of its 3 shrines. Originally, there would have been 4 shrines, but there is no trace of that one.

One of the 3 subsidiary shrines. Note how the spire is nothing but a pile of stones, ready to fall down any minute.

The massive pillars of the audience hall or sabha mandap of the Bhand Devra Temple. Note the precarious condition that they are in.

Another view of the sabha mandap

In the foreground, is the sabha mandap and in the background towards the right, is one of the 3 standing shrines.

Vegetation growing out of the gaps in the temple structure. These further weaken the temple construction.

While the rear of the temple shikhara or spire can still be identified as one, the front portion has been reduced to this

Carvings on the external wall of the Bhand Devara Temple.

I am surprised at how small the Bhand Devra Temple is. Maybe the broken condition of the temple makes it look smaller than it actually is, but I don’t think so. The information board mentions that the Temple is dedicated to the “Tantric tradition of Saivism“. Could that be the reason for the size, I wonder? And what is the deity worshipped inside — the aniconic shiva lingam or an iconic form of Shiva?

Almost on cue, as if to answer my question, a man dressed in black comes out of the temple and beckons us in. He is the temple priest and leads us straight to the garbha griha or the sanctum, which has a rather new shiva lingam and a collection of relief sculptures that don’t appear to belong to the temple. For one, the stone is different, and for another the style is different — more folksy, than classical. I don’t know what used to be worshipped in the sanctum, but it was definitely not any of these. What was worshipped here originally is long gone.

The priest appoints himself as our guide and takes us around, but we soon realise that he’s only interested in showing us the erotic sculptures stating that the Bhand Devra Temple is the “Khajuraho” of Rajasthan. I guess people love to hear such things for it gives them a context. But I’m not one of them and if you were to refer to a temple as the “Khajuraho of fill-in-the-blanks” or an Islāmic tomb as the “Taj Mahal of fill-in-the-blanks“, in front of me I get really, really annoyed. But I digress. We ignore him after this and explore the temple on our own and when the priest realises that we are not interested, he goes away.

There is a very impressive sabha mandap or audience hall with massive, ornately carved pillars that depict everyday life, erotica, music, dance, as well as the usual sculptures that one comes across in temples like these — the ashta dikpalas, the sapta matrikas, Ganesha, some avatars of Vishnu, etc. But there is something unique to the Bhand Devra Temple, something that I have not seen in other temples — it is filled with sculptures of Shiva in the form of Bhairava.

No two Bhairava sculptures are alike and I stop counting after 12 Bhairava sculptures. The number of Bhairava sculptures in the sabha mandap and the fact that the Bhand Devra is a  tantric temple, makes me wonder if the main deity installed in the sanctum was also a Bhairava.

According to the priest, the Bhand Devra Temple is no ordinary tantric temple, but is a yogini temple. There used to be sculptures of the 64 yoginis at the temple, but none remain today except one. When that sculpture is pointed to me, all I can see are the remains of what would have been a beautiful sculpture when whole. But whether it is a yogini sculpture or something else, I cannot say with any degree of certainty.

When I mention as much and ask him how he knows if this is a yogini temple or sculpture, he is quite offended and says, “Hamein sab pataa hai is mandir ke baare mein (I know everything about this temple)”.

Clicking on any of the photographs below will start a slide show on the interior portion of the Bhand Devra Temple. You can use the arrow keys to navigate through the set, and once done, do come back to read the rest of the post.

View from the sabha mandap towards the garbha griha or a sanctum

The massive and intricately carved pillars of the sabha mandap

Carvings on the lintel at the entrance to the garbha griha

Detail of carvings from one of pillars at the sabha mandap depicting activities like dancing and sex

Detail of carving from another pillar. This one depicts dance and worship of a shiva lingam.

Detail of the previous panel. A turbanned and bearded man is seated on a low, presumably, wooden stool, offerring worship to a shiva lingam

Keechakas are decorational figures on top of the columns/pillars who appear to hold up the ceiling. Here, they do appear on top of the columns, but instead of holding up the ceiling they are busy making music. Here, this Keechaka is playing a flute.

A dancing form of Bhairava. Note the damru or kettle drum, and the skull cup in his hands.

A seated Bhairava this time with more iconographical details visible. In addition to the damru and skull cup, a human head and part of a sword/dagger is visible as well.

A standing Bhairava with all the usual attributes – damru, skull cup, human head and a dagger (which is broken – only the hilt is visible)

This broken figure is so graceful and delicate, that one can only imagine how beautiful she must have looked like when whole. This is believed to have been a sculpture of a yogini and is the only one that survives of 64 such sculptures that used to adorn the interior walls and ceilings of the Bhand Devra Temple.

Chamunda with her trademark little-finger-to-the-mouth gesture

Vaishnavi, one of the saptamatrikas or seven mother goddesses, with all the attributes of Vishnu

Kubera, one of the ashta dikpalas or guardian of the eight directions, on the northeren face of a fillar at the temple

The Hadoti Trip Series: Dear Hadoti | Discovering Jhalawar | The painted rooms in Garh Mahal  of Jhalawar | Bhawani Natyashala: The Opera House of Jhalawar | An evening in Jhalrapatan | The Buddhist rock-cut caves at Kolvi | The Gagron Fort at Jhalawar | An impact crater, a temple ruin and some discoveries | A fun evening in Kota | A safari on the River Chambal | The painted rooms of Kota Garh | The Shiva temples of Bijolia | The temples at Badoli | That and this in Bundi | The painted rooms of Bundi Palace | The stepwells of Bundi | The Hadoti Trip Planner |

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