Belsar is a village in the Balrampur district of Chhattisgarh. The temple site is located in the Harratoli locality of the town. An ancient temple dedicated to Shiv stood in the locality over a huge mound. The excavation at the mound was carried out in 1990-91 by the Madhya Pradesh State Archaeology Department under the guidance of G L Raikwar and Rahul Kumar Singh. The excavation revealed ruins of nineteen temples, with two main temples and three groups of lesser temples.1
Shiv Temple – This is the main temple in the complex, which has survived with its garbhagrha and shikhara. There was a mandapa once in the front. The central doorway follows a trishakha (three bands) pattern. The base of the jambs has kneeling devotees with a standing female attendant. The innermost shakha has a rosette design. The middle shakha has kirtimukhas and dwarfish figures alternating throughout the shakha. The outermost shakha has floral designs emerging from makara’s tail. Shiva and Parvati seated over Nandi adorn the lalata-bimba of the lintel. Ganesha and Kartikeya accompany them on either end.
The jangha follows the triratha (three offsets) pattern. Pillared niches are provided on all offsets. The cornice above the niches has kapota with chaitya designs. Chaitya gavaksha has kirtimukha or human heads inside. The temple is dated to the 7th-8th century CE.2
Brick-built Shiv Temple — This temple is situated south of the above temple. It consists of a garbhagrha, antarala, and a mandapa. Its mandapa was attached to the mandapa of the above main temple.
1 Minj, Rajeev John (2015). Art and Architecture of the Brick Temples of Chhattisgarh, Ph. D. thesis submitted to Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur. pp. 179-189
2 Das, Pratap Kumar (2018). Purva-Madhyakaleen Surguja Anchal ki Murti Shilpakala: Ek Addhyayan (पूर्व-मध्यकाल सरगुजा अंचल की मूर्ति शिल्पकला: एक अध्ययन), Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur. pp. 67-70
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.