Maladevi Temple

Maladevi temple
Maladevi Temple
Religion
Affiliation	Jainism
Deity	Adinatha
Festival	Mahavir Jayanti
Location
Location	Gyaraspur, Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh
Interactive map of Maladevi temple
Coordinates	23°39′32.1″N 78°06′49.1″E
Architecture
Style	Māru-Gurjara
Creator	Pratihara dynasty Kalachuris of Tripuri
Established	850-900 CE
Temple	1

Maladevi Temple is a Jain temple located in Gyaraspur town of Vidisha in state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is a rock-cut temple built in Gurjara Pratihara style and dates back to the 850–900 CE worship site.

History

Maladevi Temple dates back to the 850–900 CE worship site. Epigraphist Richard G. Salomon suggests that temple was originally built as Jaina-Brahmanical hybrid. An Kalachuri inscription dating back to 850-885 CE, records the foundation of the temple during the reign of Valleka is preserved in British Museum.

Temple

Maladevi Temple is the largest and finest temple of Gyaraspur. It is famous for carvings and craftmanship, that are representative of post-Gupta architecture. It is a rock-cut temple built in Gurjara Pratihara style. The temple was a constructed around a sanctified natural cavern as the garbhagriha. The temple is rich with carvings of tirthankaras, yakshi, and yaksha. The temple consists of an entrance porch, mandapa garbhagriha and lofty shikhara bearing rich carvings. The temple houses a number of Jain idols, yet the figures of Goddesses on the outer door-frame and the name of the temple indicates that it was originally a Brahmical temple. The temple is dedicated to Adinatha.

The temple is considered one of the best examples of collections of varied Jain sculptures. The temple houses a carved idol of Shantinatha in lotus position with a symbol of deer and four armed yaksha and yakshi. There is image of Goddess Chakreshvari carved on the lalata-bimba. An idol of Parshvanatha dated 9th century is also enshrined inside the temple. The presence of images of 24 yaksha and yakshi inside the temple indicates the worship of each yaksha and yakshi during the 9th century.

The temple records various pilgrim sites such as Sobhasapranamati, Baswanapranamati, and Ambadevapranamati. It also houses an eigh-handed idol of Goddess with Tarapati engraved on leaves of lotus throne.

Gallery

• 
  Entrance
• 
  Carving of a yaksha
• 
  Carving of a yakshi
• 
  Tirthankar carved on shikhara
• 
  Carving of kalasha on pillars
• 
  Richly carved courtyard
• 
  Richly carved window
• 

Restoration

In 1930, Gwalior state stepped up to conserve Maladevi temple. Maladevi temple in Vidisha is protected by Archaeological Survey of India.

See also

• Jain temples, Vidisha
• Bajramath temple
• Gadarmal Devi temple
• Udayagiri Caves

References

Sources

Books

• Ayyar, Sulochana (1987). Costumes and Ornaments as Depicted in the Sculptures of Gwalior Museum. New Delhi: Mittal Publications. ISBN 9788170990024.
• Cohen, Saul Bernard; Cohen, Saul (2008). The Columbia Gazetteer of the World: A to G. The Columbia Gazetteer of the World. Vol. 1. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-14554-1.
• Cunningham, Alexander (1880). Report of Tours in Bundelkhand and Malwa in 1874-75 and 1876-77. Reports: Old series, India Archaeological Survey. Vol. 10. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing.
• Ghurye, G.S. (2005). Rajput Architecture. Popular Prakashan. ISBN 9788171544462.
• Kooij, Karen R. Van (2018). Abia South & Southeast Asian Art. Studies from the International Institute for Asian Studies. Vol. 1. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7103-0625-8.
• Mitra, Swati (2010). Buddhist Circuit in Central India: Sanchi, Satdhara, Sonari, Andher. Goodearth Publications. ISBN 9789380262055.
• Mitra, Swati (2012). Temples of Madhya Pradesh (1 ed.). Goodearth Publications. ISBN 9789380262499.
• Shah, Umakant Premanand (1987). Jaina-Rupa Mandana: Jaina Iconography. Vol. 1. India: Shakti Malik Abhinav Publications. ISBN 81-7017-208-X.
• Titze, Kurt; Bruhn, Klaus (1998). Jainism: A Pictorial Guide to the Religion of Non-Violence (2 ed.). Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-1534-6.

Web

• Salomon, Richard (1996). "British Museum stone inscription of the Tripurī Kalacuri prince Valleka". Indo-Iranian Journal. 39 (2): 133–161. doi:10.1163/000000096790084999. JSTOR 24662062. S2CID 161228898.
• Kumar, Arjun (20 October 2010). "Gyaraspur a small town which takes you back in time". India Times. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
• Saxena, Saurabh (29 April 2022). "The sculptural marvels of MP's Gyaraspur". The New Indian Express.
• "Maladevi Temple". Archaeological Survey of India.
• "Vidisha". Archaeological Survey of India.

External links

• Media related to Maladevi Temple, Gyaraspur at Wikimedia Commons