Somanātha and other mediaeval temples in Kāṭhiāwād / by Henry Cousens, M.R.A.S., late superintendent, Archaeological Survey of India, Western circle.

  • Henry Cousens
Date:
1931
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Somanātha and other mediaeval temples in Kāṭhiāwād / by Henry Cousens, M.R.A.S., late superintendent, Archaeological Survey of India, Western circle. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    be found in the early cave-temples of a very much earlier date. Another strange feature in his drawing is that he shows, through the doorway, one of the hall pillars standing upon the centre line of the building, which is impossible and absurd, as a glance at the plan will show. The present abode of Somanatha is a temple in the town, not far from the ruins of the old one, which was built by queen Ahalya Bai of Indor, who erected many shrines about the country. Having learnt by sad experience that Somanatha was incapable of looking after himself, the priests have en¬ deavoured to do it for him by providing a secret underground shrine, immediately below the usual upper one, in which the linga is placed. A hidden stair from behind the door of the latter leads down to it. It was hoped, by this precau¬ tion, to save the real linga should the temple be attacked and the upper, or duplicate, one be destroyed. A similar device, now no longer needed, was used by the Jains, and several of these subterranian shrines, some with passages leading under the roads to other shrines, may be seen in Ahmadabad. They do not now mind visitors knowing of their existence, and even show them round them. The jyotir-linga temple at Aunda, in the Nizam’s dominions, has also a sunk shrine. The temple of the sun at Mudhera in north Gujarat, had one, and it was below the debris, in the lower shrine, as I have already said, that the seat of the Sun-god, with its seven horses, was found. It might be mentioned that in the Bahadur Museum at Junagadh there are two inscribed slabs which are said to have been brought from Prabhasa- Pattan. They are fragments of long prasastis, one comprising more than 46 stanzas containing a reference to the destruction of the city of Dhara in Central India, and apparently recording the construction of a well by a person whose name is lost, and referring, incidentally, to a son of Vijada, and to the god Somanatha. The other contains the names of the Chalukyan kings Mundaraja Yalla[bharaja], Durlabharaja, Ivarnadeva, Jayasiinha and Kumarapala. Men¬ tion is then made of Kakkaka’s son and a certain Gumadeva who defeated the Abhlras, and also contains a reference to Somesvara (Somanatha). The next building at Pattan in point of interest is, perhaps, the Jami£ Masjid in the town, which is a reconstruction of one or more Hindu temples, the materials of which have been entirely rearranged to suit the usual plan of a Muhammadan mosque (Plates X and XI). A temple which stood upon this site is said to have been that of Surya, and, judging by the number of images of the Sun-god lying about, it would seem that there must have been a temple of some importance to that deity in the town ; perhaps, more than one. The Surya- kunda, or small tank, just as we find it at the temple of Surya at Mudhera, was filled up to form the present court-yard of the mosque. This work was probably carried out under the orders of either Muzafar Shah or Ahmad Shah. In most cases the Jami£ Masjid was the first regularly built mosque, and it has remained the principal public mosque all through. In this building the Hindu pillars have not been, as is usually the case, stilted or raised one upon the other to obtain more height, for which the single /pillars are not sufficient. The whole work looks mean and paltry, and has more the appearance of a low rambling shed