Bhitargaon

Bhitargaon is a town in Kanpur district, Uttar Pradesh, India, known for its ancient Hindu temple.

Bhitargaon Temple

The Bhitargaon Temple is a terraced brick building fronted with a terracotta panel. Built in the 5th century during the Gupta Empire,[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] it is the oldest remaining brick/terracotta Hindu shrine with a roof and a high Shikhara, though its upper chamber did sustain some damage in the 18th century.

The temple is built on a square plan with double-recessed corners and faces east. There tall pyramidal spire over the garbhagriha. The walls are decorated with terracotta panels depicting aquatic monsters, Shiva and Vishnu etc. When Cunningham first visited the site, the remains of the porch and of the ardhamandapa were still visible, which later collapsed.

Gallery

The construction material is bricks and terracotta. The brick size is 18"*9"*3" and the other salient features are following:

Other historic brick temples

See also

References

  1. ↑ Schastok, Sara L., The Śāmalājī Sculptures and 6th Century Art in Western India. BRILL, 1985.
  2. ↑ Jayewardene-Pillai, Shanti, Imperial Conversations: Indo-Britons and the Architecture of South India. Yoda Press, 2007.
  3. ↑ Begler, Joseph David, Rear view of the temple at Bhitargaon, Kanpur District. British Library, 2009.
  4. ↑ Brown, Percy, Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods). D B Taraporevala, Mumbai, 1959.
  5. ↑ Harle, J. C., Gupta Sculpture. Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi, 1974. ISBN 8121506417.
  6. ↑ Dalal, Roshen, The Religions of India: A Concise Guide to Nine Major Faiths. Penguin Books India, 2010.
  7. ↑ Kramrisch, Stella and Raymond Burnier, The Hindu Temple, Volume 1. Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1976.
  8. ↑ de Laet, Sigfried J., History of Humanity: From the seventh to the sixteenth century. UNESCO, 1994.
  9. ↑ A Brick Temple of the Ninth Century, Michael D. Willis, Artibus Asiae , Vol. 52, No. 1/2 (1992), pp. 25-46, Artibus Asiae Publishers

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, October 22, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.