Bateshwar Hindu temple, Madhya Pradesh 

By Mr DIGVIJAY SINGH


's Morena district Gujjar Hindu temple about 200 sandstone built by kings, the temple north Indian temple early architecture Gujjar-Portal -style temple. This GwaliorIs about 35 kilometers (22 mi) to the north and about 30 kilometers (19 mi) from the town of Morena. The temples are mostly small and are spread over about 25 acres (10 hectares). They are dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Shakti - representing three major traditions within Hinduism. The site is within the fort of the Chambal river valley, on the northwest slope of a hill near the pedestal known for its prominent medieval era Vishnu temple. Bateshwar temples were built between the 8th and 10th centuries. The temples as they now appear have been reconstructed in many cases from ruins in 2005, in a project commissioned by the Archaeological Survey of India.



 According to the Directorate of Archeology of Madhya Pradesh, this group of 200 temples was built during the reign of Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty . According to Michael Meister, an art historian and a professor specializing in Indian temple architecture, the earliest temples of the Batsarva group near Gwalior are likely to be around 450–400 AD. 


These temples were destroyed after the 13th century; It is not clear whether this was done by the earthquake or by Muslim forces. The site was visited by Alexander Cunningham in 172 and its ruins are mentioned, with the latter being "a very old temple" as "a collection of 100 large and small temples to the southeast of Parvali (Pāvali)". Bateshwar was nominated by the Archaeological Survey of India as a protected site in 1920. During the colonial British era limited recovery, standardized temple numbers, ruin segregation with photography, and site preservation efforts were initiated. Many scholars studied the site and included them in their reports. For example, French archaeologist Odette Vion published a paper in 1919 which included discussions and pictures of numbered Bateshwar temples.


In 2005, ASI embarked on an ambitious project to collect all the blocks, reassemble them and restore as many temples as possible, led by ASI Bhopal Region Superintendent Archaeologist KK Mohammed, some 40 temples. Was restored. Muhammad has continued the campaign for further restoration of the site and calls it "my place of pilgrimage. I am coming here once every three months. I am passionate about this temple complex."


According to Muhammad, the Bateshwar complex was built on the basis of "Sanskrit Hindu temple architectural texts, Mansara Shilpa Shastra, architectural principles composed in the fourth century and Mayamat Vastu Shastra written in the 7th century CE". [1] He followed these texts as his team of over 50 workers collected pieces of ruins from the site and tried to put it back together like a puzzle.