Kiradu: Another Khajuraho
In the ancient times as the legend has it that when
King Daksha decided to conduct the great Brihaspati yagna{sacrifice}, he
excluded his Shiva and Sati, his son in law and daughter respectively, from the
ceremony, as Daksha hated Shiva. But his daughter,Sati, who loved him dearly,
could not stay away and journeyed to his father’s place, thinking, “ my father
will not be able to turn me away when he sees me.” Poor Sati did not comprehend
the extent of hardhearted Dakshs’s anger. When the king saw his child, he spat
out a stream of abuses about Shiva. The devoted wife, Sati was unable to
tolerate the insult to her husband. An obedient daughter, she was equally
unable to cross her own father. So, overpowered by grief, she immolated herself
in the yagna fire itself before her father and other gods. Shiva, in his abode
on mount Kailash, heard the sad tidings and flew into a mighty rage, swearing
to take revenge upon an unrepentant Daksha for his injustice. Coming down to
the earth, Shiva and his army of spirits marched to the site of the king’s
yagna and decimated Dakshs’s army. Shiva beheaded the monarch and threw his
head into the sacrificial fire. Then sorrowfully he picked up Sati’s body and
wandered with it across the land for many years, aimless and disconsolate. Lord
Vishnu finally took pity on this mighty go and decided to end his mourning.
Using his powerful weapon, the Sudarshanchakra{discus}, he cut the corpse into
many pieces. As the 51 parts of Sati’s body fell on the ground they turned into
stone and sanctified the soil upon which they landed, creating 51 holy and
potent Pitha-s or places across India. And thus it came to be, the ancient
Vedic texts tell us, that Bharatvarsh{the Indian sub-continent} became a “
sacred land” with the holy mountain in the north and the Nav-kanyakas{nine
maidens} or holy rivers like Ganga and Yamuna flowing through it. A land of
seven Kshetra-s or regions of active power, the Saptpuri or seven ancient
cities of Ayodhya, Mathura, maya(Hardwar), Kashi(Benaras) Knchi, avantika, and
Dvaravati(Dwarka), where Moksha(salvation) can be attained. A country which,
according to the epic, the Mahabharta, has thousands of tirtha-s (places of
pilgrimage) where devotees can ford the river of life and reach the sublime
shore beyond.
From its northernmost regions to the tip of its
southern peninsula in Indian Ocean, India is filled with places of worship. It
would be impossible to walk a mile here without coming upon a shrine, a temple
of some sort or the other, be it a historic monument or simply a piece of stone
symbolizing a village deity. Each is significant in its own way, commemorating
the occasion of a god’s visit or deed of valor in the area or explaining its
existence due to divine creation or patronage. Everyone wanted to be near god.
In the southwest of Rajasthan 220 km from Jodhpur
and at about 35 km from Barmer lies one such place Kiradu, a not very much
known destination. Kiradu, now a desolate and deserted place was once a
prosperous temple township of Chalukya and Parmar dynasties in 10th
to 13th centuries Ad. Here are five of the finest temples of that
era. Parmar rulers as a representative of the Chalukyas ruled Kiradu, which was
earlier known as Kiratkoop. Three stone edicts of that period, which are intact
at the temple of Someshwar, tell us about these rulers. These contain details
of the Parmar kings from Sindhuraj to Someshwar. It seems that Kiradu temples
were built over a long period when these Parmar rulers ruled this place. In the
Jain scriptures, Sakal Teerrth Srot and Nabhinandan Jinoddhar kiradu is also
referred as a Jain center of religious importance. From available sources of
history and scriptures it appears that Kiradu was a place where along with
Shaiv, vaishnav the Jain religion also co-existed.
Though at present there are only five temples, it is
said that at the beginning of this century there were about two dozen Hindu and
Jain temples. This seems plausible from the ruins of other structures and a lot
of raised sand Teelas with the structure of the base of the other temples.
The five dilapidated Hindu temples at Kiradu are
representative of the western Indian style during the late Pratihara period.
This style loosely termed as Nagara or metropolitan style refers to a large
wide range of temples built over a large expanse of time and space across the
trunk of the Indian sub-continent. In the history of northern Hindu
architecture, the regions that stand out as excellent examples of Nagara style,
are Rajasthan-Gujrat, Orissa and central India. The typical Kiradu temple has a
squire sanctuary adjoining a small porch or columned mandapa, also known as
“rang mandap” as it was used for religious and dance performances. The
sanctuary walls raised high on a moulded basement are covered with niches for
sculpture. Above rise the clustered elements of the curved tower or the
Shikhara of the temple, which are covered with arch like motifs. Doorways and
columns are generally richly carved; ceilings are fashioned as corbelled domes.
Many of these features anticipate the Solanki style, which became prevalent in
the region by the 12th century; some of the temples even belong to
this later phase.
The best-preserved temple of the cluster is the
Someshwar temple. The basement reliefs of the sanctuary are of interest,
especially the elephants, horses, courtly episodes and epic scenes; most of the
wall panels are intact. Above rises a cluster of turrets that once formed the
base of the central tower, now fallen. The mandap is an impressive structure
with an octagonal arrangement of the central columns; only the beams and lowest
courses of the corbelled dome are intact. The elaborately decorated columns,
covered with miniature figures and ornamental motifs, resemble those of the
better-preserved monuments of this style at Modhera and Khjuraho. The epic
motifs carved on the walls are from Ramayana and Mahabharata. Also carved are
the episodes of the life of the lord Krishna as Pootnabudh, Gberndhan Dharan
etc. on a panel there is Punch Ganesh, five Ganeshas playing different musical
instruments, also carved on a panel is the episode of Samudramanthan, the
figures and bodyline of the characters are a fine example of the accuracy of
humanform. The upper niches of the temple contain some of the finest female
figures carved in various poses.
The four other temples of the Kiradu complex are of
smaller size. These temples dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Brahmma are also
decorated with carvings but the carvings are not as fine as the Someshwar
temple.
The site definitely is in the need of conservation.
The vagaries of weather and local neglect are fast taking over the health of
this matchless heritage. Though the site is a protected monument yet a lot more
is needed to be done.
