Maihar is the district headquarters town, which bears the same name. The district was recently constituted after separating from the Satna district in 2023. Maihar was part of the Rewa (also Rewah) kingdom, which was traditionally founded in 1140 CE. In the mid-eighteenth century CE, Hirde Shah, the son of Chhatrasal, wrestled Maihar and Vijayraghavgarh from Rewa and annexed them into his territories. After the fall of Bundelkhand to the British, Maihar became part of the Bundelkhand Agency in 1806. It remained a Princely State under British occupation until India’s independence.
Maihar, with its Maihar Gharana, holds an important position in Indian classical music traditions. The Gharana has existed for a long time but was made famous by Allaudin Khan; many take him as the founder of this Gharana. Sitarist Ravi Shankar and sarod player Ali Akbar Khan are among many other noted musicians belonging to this Gharana. Maihar is also famous for its Maa Sharada Temple, which is considered a Shaktipeeth. The first modern reference to the town comes from the reports of Alexander Cunningham who visited in 1871-72.1 He mentions Sharada Temple in brief and some other accounts of forts and temple ruins.
Golamath Temple – The temple faces east and stands over a platform. It follows a pancharatha (five projections) plan, and the elevation is of a panchanga (five parts) pattern. The temple consists of a garbhagrha, antarala and a mukha-mandapa. The elevation consists of pitha, vedibandha, jangha, and shikhara. The pitha has multiple moldings; the top is a grasa-pattika decorated with grasamukhas. The vedibandha has usual moldings consisting of kumbha, kalasa, and kumuda with intervening antar-pattikas. The jangha has two tiers separated by a broad bandhana molding. Both the tiers are decorated with sculptures except for the bhadra-ratha, which has a sculpture only on its lower tier. The lower tier has large sculptures, while the upper tier has small sculptures. The shikhara has ten stories and follows the latina style of the nagara order.
The sculptural pattern follows the usual arrangement with major deities over the bhadra and kapili niches. Ashta-dikpalas are spread over the karna-rathas. The prati-rathas have surasunadaris (apsaras) in standing postures. The kapili niche in the south has Kartikeya (?), and in the north, Parvati. The bhadra in the south has Shiva-Andhakantaka and Durga (Chamunda) in the north. The bhadra in the west originally had an image of Parvati, as quoted by Deva2; however, it currently has a replacement image with unknown characteristics. An image of Surya is present over the kumbha molding below the bhadra in the west and Parvati in the north. The recessed spaced between the rathas has vyala sculptures on each side.
The antarala doorway has five shakhas (bands) that are exquisitely carved. Shiva is present over the lalata-bimba of the lintel, accompanied by Brahma and Vishnu over the terminals. Nava-grhas occupy the space between them on either side. The architrave above the lintel has Sapta-matrkas with Shiva-Vinadhara and Ganesha at either end. Shaiva dvarapalas are at the base of the door jambs accompanied by river goddesses, the latter of which are shown without their vahanas. Inside the garbhagrha is a shivalinga. In the absence of any inscription, the temple is dated based on its architecture and style. Krishna Deva has assigned the temple to 975 CE belonging to the Kalachuri dynasty and Dhirendra Singh3 agrees with.
1 Cunningham, Alexander (1878). Report of a Tour in Bundelkhand and Malwa, 1871-72; and in the Central Provinces, 1873-74, vol. VII. Archaeological Survey of India. New Delhi. pp. 50-53
2 Deva, Krishna (1995). The Temples of India. Aryan Books International. New Delhi. ISBN 8173050546. pp. 163-165
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. 220-222
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.