Rehli is a town in the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh. It is situated on the western bank of the Sunar River. It is a famous Jain pilgrimage site (अतिशय क्षेत्र).
Surya Mandir — The temple has not survived in its original form. The present structure has been constructed using the surviving architectural fragments and statues. It appears that these fragments belong to multiple temples. The presence of Shiva-Nataraja over a lalata-bimba of a door lintel and Vishnu riding Garuda on another lalala-bimba suggests that there were once temples dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu in the vicinity. The Marathas constructed the present structure in the eighteenth century CE (p. 8).
The temple faces east. The main doorway lintel has three tiers with Shiva-Natesha over its lalata-bimba. The topmost tier is decorated with a floral wave pattern with Gandharva couples on its trough. The middle tier has vidyadhara couples holding lotus stalks. The lowermost tier is divided into two parts. The upper part has dancers placed horizontally. The lower part has floral motifs. The terminals on either side of the lalata-bimba have female dvarapalikas.
The left doorjamb is closely related to the lintel above; both appear to come from the same temple. The bottom portion of the jamb has three significant figures. A river goddess is placed in the middle. She holds a water vessel in her hand and is accompanied by an attendant. On her left is probably Bhairavi with her mouth open. A dvarapala is on the right of the river goddess. Above them are shown two gurus (teachers) and two apsaras. Above it starts the door shakhas. There are three shakhas. The middle shakha has sculptural panels with images of romantic couples.
The right doorjamb does not resemble its left counterpart and appears to have come from a different temple dedicated to Vishnu. The bottom portion has Ganga riding over a Makara. She holds a water vessel in her hand and is accompanied by a few attendants, one holding a parasol above her. On her extreme left is a Vaishnava dvarapala. The shakhas above it have sculptural panels depicting Varaha, Krishna fighting Kamsa, etc.
Various sculptures are placed inside the garbhagrha. The largest sculpture is of Surya and is placed in the middle. A statue of Vishnu is placed on either side of the Surya image. The Surya sculpture is very rich in depiction. Surya stands holding lotuses in his two hands. An oval halo made of lotus is behind his head. Ashvinikumaras are present in the top corner of the leftmost. Next to them is a vidyadhara couple. Next to them, above the head of Surya, is Vishnu, with an unidentified deity on either side. Next to this group is another vidyadhara couple. Below this level, on the left and right of Surya, are Usha and Pratusha in a shooting arrow posture. Next to them are riders over shardula. Above these riders are Lakshmi and Saraswati. Danda and Pingala are present near Surya’s feet. Between them and Surya is a female deity on either side, identified with Nikshubha and Ragyi (p. 14). Between the legs of Surya is a female deity, identified with Mahashweta. In front of her is Aruna, Surya’s charioteer. On either side of Aruna are two seated deities, Kubera on the left and Varuna on the right.
Various sculptures are embedded within the walls of the temples. The arrangement of these sculptures is rather haphazard. Among the sculptures that probably originally belonged to a Shiva temple are depictions of Shiva as Natesha, Harihara, and Parvati as Uma-Maheshwara. A few images of Ganesha are embedded in the west wall.
Among the sculptures belonging to a Vishnu temple, two images inside the garbhagrha are prominent: a few standalone images on the walls and a few Lakshmi-Narayana sculptures. Among the goddesses are found Sarasvati and Chamunda. Images of various ashta-dikpalas are inserted at the corners of each wall. The arrangement is irregular. We find Yama, Nrrtti, Agni, and a few others.
The outer walls of the temples are embedded with windows and doorframes belonging to some other temple. The window frame in the south is a makeshift structure with disjoint sculptures and a horizontal piece acting as a lintel. The doorframe in the west is a proper intact doorframe that probably came from some Vaishnava temple. The lintel has Vishnu riding over Garuda on its lalata-bimba while Brahma and Shiva occupy the terminal niches. The recessed space is filled with Nava-grhas.
1 रायकवार, जी. एल. (1984 ). रहली का सूर्य मंदिर। संचालक, पुरातत्त्व एवं संग्रहालय। भोपाल। p.