Garh Dhanora village is situated in the Kondagaon district of Chhattisgarh. It is identified with the ancient capital of Pushkari of the Nalas.1 The first modern account of the village’s antiquity is found in the British period gazetteer published in 1909. The author mentions that Rai Bahadur Panda Baijnath, the then Diwan of the Bastar state, conducted extensive studies and collected material for its archaeological remains and epigraphs. The gazetteer mentions that the town had ruins of about twenty tanks and twenty-five mounds that probably covered temples beneath. One mound was excavated, revealing a large, 6-foot-high Shivalinga. Many images were scattered around and on the nearby hill that contained a ruined fort.2 In the same year, Hira Lal published an inscription from Sihawa dated 1191-92 CE. The inscription mentions King Karna of Kakaira erected a few temples at Devahrada. He opines that King Karna had his residence at Garh Dhanora, stating that the place has ancient remains discovered by his friend, Rai Bahadur Panda Baijnath. Hira Lal also mentions that local traditions at Garh Dhanora mention King Karna, who ruled the place in the past.3 Passing references to the village and its antiquity have appeared in a few studies. However, these only improved a little on the existing information except on the dating of these structures. Jha4 keeps these structures under the medieval period, while L S Nigam5 assigns these to the 5th-6th century CE. Kamta Prasad Verma6 and Vivek Dutt Jha7 did their PhD under L S Nigam and kept dating, according to Nigam. The ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) information board at the Gobrahin site mentions structures from the 12th-13th century CE.
The mounds in the village are divided into three groups: 1) Vishnu Complex, 2) Banjarin Complex, and 3) Gobrahin Complex. The excavations reveal that the temple bases and walls were made of burnt bricks joined by clay mortar. The temples were simple designs consisting of a square garbhagrha and a mandapa. The mandapa was devoid of pillars. Stone was used for sculptures and garbhagrha drains.
Vishnu Complex – It has eleven mounds. It is named after an image of Vishnu that was discovered here. Three Vishnu images and one image of Narasimha have been found so far from here.8 All the mounds have been excavated, revealing temple bases and walls. Most temples consist of a square garbhagrha and a rectangular mandapa. The temples either face east or west. These temples are of simple design with plain walls, and a few showcase triratha (three offsets) patterns. The Narasimha images discovered here resemble the style of the Narasimha statues of Ramtek belonging to the Vakataka period. Hans T Bakker says the image belongs to the early sixth century CE and precisely imitates the Ramtek icon.9
Banjarin Complex: The complex is named after an image of a local deity called Banjarin Mata.10 It has four mounds. Most temples consist of a square garbhagrha and a rectangular mandapa. The temples either face east, west, or north. One temple has double walls around its garbhagrha, a provision for pradakshinapath (circumambulation).
Gobrahin Complex: This complex has eight mounds, five of which have been excavated. The highest mound is the most important one in the complex. It is a temple dedicated to Shiva. The temple faces west and consists of a square garbhagrha and a mandapa. A large Shivalinga is installed in the centre of the garbhagrha.
Dating of the site – L S Nigam, who conducted extensive explorations and excavations, dates the temple structures to the 5th-6th century CE. Subsequent scholars who worked on the site followed Nigam in the dating. However, there are also opinions that the temples belong to after the 10th century CE, and the ASI plaque informs these belong to the 12th-13th century CE. The Discovery of Narasimha images resembling the famous Narasimha icons from Ramtek of the Vakataka period proves the contemporaneity of these two sites. A similar Narasimha image is presently kept in the Manokameshwar Temple in Keshkal. This image was probably brought from Garh Dhanora. This image also has a very close resemblance with the Vakataka image. The Nalas who ruled at Garh Dhanora were also responsible for the fall of the Vakataka kingdom. In the absence of epigraphical evidence, the resemblances of the iconography of the Narasimha images and the contemporaneity of the Nalas and Vakatakas should be evidence enough to assign these temples to the 5th-6th century CE. As the capital of the Nala kings, it is not surprising to find construction of these temples within the capital limits.
1 Bakker, Hans T (2019). Holy Ground: Where Art and Text Meet: Studies in the Cultural History of India. Brill. Leiden. ISBN 9789004412064. p. 347
2 De Brett, A B (1909). Central Province Gazetteers – Chhattisgarh Feudatory States. The Times Press. Bombay (Mumbai). p. 40
3 Epigraphia Indica, vol. IX. pp. 182-187
4 Jha, Vivek Dutta (1980). The Archaeology of Baster Region, Ph. D. thesis submitted to the University of Saugar, Sagar. pp. 196-197
5 Nigam, L S (1994). Antiquity of Garh-Dhanora (Bastar) and debris clearance of Vishnu image mound, published in Puratan, volume 9.
6 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. 50
7 Minj, Rajeev John (2015). Art and Architecture of the Brick Temples of Chhattisgarh, Ph. D. thesis submitted to Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur. pp. 53-71
8 Minj, Rajeev John (2015). Art and Architecture of the Brick Temples of Chhattisgarh, Ph. D. thesis submitted to Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur. p. 55
9 Bakker, Hans T (2019). Holy Ground: Where Art and Text Meet: Studies in the Cultural History of India. Brill. Leiden. ISBN 9789004412064. p. 347
10 Minj, Rajeev John (2015). Art and Architecture of the Brick Temples of Chhattisgarh, Ph. D. thesis submitted to Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur. p.
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.