Bhongapal is a small village in the Kondagaon district of Chhattisgarh. The antiquities of the town were first noticed in 1984-85 during the exploration of Bastar district by V D Jha and K K Tripathi of the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology of Dr H S Gour Vishvavidyalaya, Sagar (MP).1 The Madhya Pradesh Archaeological Department excavated these mounds in 1990-91, revealing three separate groups of structures: one brick stupa and two groups of temples. Based on the similarities of temple structures with those of Garh Dhanora and the iconography of Buddha statues, the structures date back to the 5th to 6th century CE.
Buddhist Chaitya: A Buddha statue worshipped by locals as Dokara Baba was kept on top of this mound. The excavations around the mound revealed a brick chaitya structure. The chaitya is built over a high platform. It has an apsidal end, and a pradakshinapath is provided around the apse. The Buddha statue was placed inside the chaitya after excavation.
Shiva Temple Complex 1: This complex is about 200m southeast of the Chaitya. It has two temples: the large temple is dedicated to Shiva, and the small temple’s dedication is unknown. The Shiva temple faces west and consists of a garbhagrha and a mandapa. A small Shivalinga is installed inside the garbhagrha. The small temple also faces west. It has a garbhagrha and a mandapa. A sculptural panel depicting Sapta-matrikas with Virabhadra has been found in this temple. It is presently kept inside the garbhagrha.2
Shiva Temple Complex 2: This complex is about 300m southwest of the Chaitya. It has two temples; the large temple is dedicated to Shiva, and the small temple’s dedication is unknown. The Shiva temple faces east, consisting of a square garbhagrha and a rectangular mandapa. A small Shivalinga is installed inside the garbhagrha. The small temple also faces east. It has a garbhagrha and a mandapa.3
1 Indian Archaeology 1984-85 – A Review. p. 39
2 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. 85-89
3 Minj, Rajeev John (2015). Art and Architecture of the Brick Temples of Chhattisgarh, Ph. D. thesis submitted to Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur. p. pp. 72-77
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.