Bastar is a town in the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh. It has now been reduced to a small village, but it was once the capital of the Bastar state. Legends associate the name Bastar with Banstari (bamboo), the founder of the place and spent most of his time in bamboo groves.1 Bastar was a princely state during the British. The royal family traces its descent from the Pandu king Birabhadra of Delhi. He was granted an arrow by the goddess Dilleshwari as his weapon of war. The king subsequently moved to Mathura and got a trishula from the goddess BHuwaneshwari there. With their family goddess, the family moved on to Jeypore during the Madras presidency and settled in Warangal. They installed their family goddess at Warangal as Manikya Devi. The goddess Manikya Devi is known as goddess Danteswari when the family moved to Bastar. The goddess also granted them a sword.2 King Annamaraja, a brother of the Kakatiya king Prataparudra II, established the rule at Bastar in 1324 CE.
Shiv Temple – The temple is built next to the Bhansagar tank. The tank was known as Ban Samund (बाण समुंद) earlier.3 The temple faces east and is built over a high jagati. The temple consists of a square garbhagrha, an antarala, a square mandapa (assembly hall), and a mukha-mandapa (portico). The mukha-mandapa has not survived. The mandapa is approached through a flight of steps. Its doorway is composed of three shakhas (bands). An image of Gaja-Lakshmi is present over lalata-bimba. Krisha Kumar Jha says that the presence of Gaja-Lakshmi was the family crest of the Panduvamsis of Dakshina Kosala. Therefore, he dates the temple to the 7th-8th century CE.4 The claim is unfounded as the Gaja-Lakshmi motif over lalata-bimba does not carry any dynastic affiliations, and it is found in many temples far and wide in India. The innermost shakha is decorated with flowers. The middle shakha has dhatura flower motifs. The outermost shakha has various decorative motifs, including animals, kirtimukhas, flowers, etc. At the base are four-armed dvarapalas with attendants.
The garbhagrha doorway is built with three shakhas. An image of Ganesha is present over the lalata-bimba. The innermost shakha is decorated with flowers enclosed within rectangular blocks. The middle shakha carries dhatura flower motifs. The outermost shakha is left undecorated. A Shaiva dvarapala is present on the bottom of the left door jamb. The corresponding space on the right door jamb has an image of Hanuman, a later addition. A shiva linga is installed inside the garbhagrha.
A statue of Chamunda is placed in the left corner of the mandapa. She has eight arms. The uppermost two arms are carrying a snake by its head and tail. She holds a trishula, damaru, and khadga in her right arm. She has a bowl and khatvanga in her remaining left arm. One of her left arms is near her mouth, and her fingers are inside the mouth. She wears a garland made of human skulls and stands over a preta. Another statue of a goddess is placed in the right corner. She is standing over a human body. Lala Jagdalpuri identifies the goddess as Kali and opines it has a tantric influence.5
The vertical elevation of the temple follows the triratha pattern and consists of an adhisthana, a jangha, and a shikhara. The adhishthana is composed of multiple mouldings. Niches are provided over the rathas; the bhadra has the large niches, while the anuratha and karna have smaller niches. The pyramidal shikhara has three stories; the topmost story has not survived. Based upon the images on the latala-bimba of the mandapa and garbhagrha doorways and dvarapalas, scholars have suggested that the temple was either dedicated to a goddess or Vishnu.6 Jha ascribes the temple to the 11th century CE.7
1 De Brett, A B (1909). Central Province Gazetteers – Chhattisgarh Feudatory States. The Times Press. Bombay (Mumbai). p. 25
2 De Brett, A B (1909). Central Province Gazetteers – Chhattisgarh Feudatory States. The Times Press. Bombay (Mumbai). p. 36
3 Jagdalpuri, Lala (1994). Bastar: Itihass evam Sanskriti (बस्तर: इतिहास एवं संस्कृति). Madhya Pradesh Hindi Granth Academy. pp. 70-71
4 Jagdalpuri, Lala (1994). Bastar: Itihass evam Sanskriti (बस्तर: इतिहास एवं संस्कृति). Madhya Pradesh Hindi Granth Academy. pp. 70-71
5 Jagdalpuri, Lala (1994). Bastar: Itihass evam Sanskriti (बस्तर: इतिहास एवं संस्कृति). Madhya Pradesh Hindi Granth Academy. pp. 70-71
6 Manwani, S N (1984). The Temple Art of the Kalachuris of Ratanpur, a Ph. D. thesis submitted to Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar. pp. 159-160 | Verma, Kamta Prasad (2002). बस्तर क्षेत्र के स्थापत्य का अध्ययन (Bastra Kshetra ke Sthapatya ka Addhyayan), Ph. D. thesis submitted to Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur. pp. 165-171
7 Jha, Vivek Dutta (1980). The Archaeology of Baster Region, Ph. D. thesis submitted to the University of Saugar, Sagar. pp. 190-191
Acknowledgement: Some of the photos above are in CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain from the collection released by the Tapesh Yadav Foundation for Indian Heritage.