Madai (मड़ई) is a village in the Satna district of Madhya Pradesh. It lies at the feet of the northern slope of the Kaimur ranges. Judging from the ruins scattered around the village, Madai would have held considerable importance during the tenth and eleventh centuries CE. This is further corroborated by a stepped tank excavated at the village’s eastern extremity. The tank was formed by building a dam across the hillside and allowing rainwater to collect. Many temple ruins were also found around this dam. The first modern reference to the village comes from R. D. Banerji in 1931.1 He described the ruins discovered during that season and a well-preserved temple inside the town. Krishna Deva covers the temple under the Kalachuri period temples.2 Dhirendra Singh made the recent attempt to cover the temple; however, he did not add much to the past accounts.3
Shiva Temple – The temple faces east and stands on a platform approximately 100 feet long and 50 feet wide. Another platform, about 6 feet high, is raised in the center of this larger platform. The contours of the platform follow the temple raised above it. The temple consists of a garbhagrha, antarala, and mandapa. The mandapa has not survived. The temple follows the pancharatha (five projections) style. The vedibandha has multiple moldings, starting with kumbha, followed by kalasa, antarpatti, kumuda, antarpatti, and kapotavali. The kumbha molding is adorned with udgama motifs, and the antarpatti below the kapotavali features diamond motifs. The jangha has two tiers separated by a bandhana molding. The lower tier is larger than the upper. The bhadra niches have major deities on the lower tier, and the upper tier has a crowning udgama (pediment). The lower tier has ashta-dikpalas on the karna and apsaras on the pratiratha. Vyalas occupy the recessed space. The upper tier has ashta-vasus on the karna and apsaras on the partiratha. Secular couples occupy the recessed space. The jangha of the north and south is severely damaged and survives only partially. Above the jangha is a varandika whose lower molding is decorated with a diamond motif. The shikhara above the varandika is lost.
The doorway is composed of five shakhas (jambs). River goddesses, Ganga and Yamuna, are present over the base of the jambs. Banerji mentions that their mounts were visible during his visit; however, they are now lost. Shaiva dvarapalas and a female attendant accompany them on either end. The shaft above has three shakhas. The middle shakha has three niches, housing amorous couples. The outermost shakha is decorated with rampant lions and male figures interspersed between them. The decoration of the innermost shakha has been lost. Shiva, as Lakulisa, occupies the lalata-bimba over the lintel, while Brahma and Vishnu are present over the pilastered niches at its terminals. Lakulisa is shown with his lower hands in dharma-chakra-mudra. The recessed space is filled with distributing Sapta-matrkas accompanied by Shiva and Ganesha on the uppermost row, standing Navagrahas in the middle row, and flying Gandharvas in the lowermost row. The temple is assignable to the 975-1000 CE Kalachuri period.4
1 Banerji, R. D. (1931). The Haihayas of Tripuri and their Monuments. Archaeological Survey of India. New Delhi. pp. 62-64
2 Deva, Krishna (1995). The Temples of India. Aryan Books International. New Delhi. ISBN 8173050546. p. 165
3 Dhirendra, Singh (2018). सतना जनपद का ऐतिहासिक पुरातत्त्व (प्रथम शताब्दी से बारहवीं शताब्दी तक). Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. pp. 218-220
4 Singh, Amrendra Kumar (2002). Temples of the Kalachuri Period. Pratibha Prakashan. Delhi. ISBN 8177020544. pp. 60-61
Acknowledgment: 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.