Tuman – The Forgotten Kalachuri Capital

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Tuman (also Tumman, Tummana) is a village in the Korba district of Chhattisgarh. The town was the capital of the Kalachuri kings for three generations. The Ratanpur inscription of Jajalla-deva I (1090-1120 CE) says Kalingaraja was the first in the line of the Ratanpur branch of the Kalachuris. He left his ancestral country and conquered Dakshina Kosala with his prowess. He settled at Tummana, which was previously the capital of his ancestors. His successor, Kamala-raja (1020-1045 CE), ruled from Tummana. His successor, Ratna-raja I (1045-1065 CE), ruled from Tummana but established another town named Ratnapura. He adorned both the places with many temples. Ratna-raja moved its capital from Tummana to Ratnapura (present Ratanpur).1 Therefore, Tuman served as the capital town for the Kalachuris for three generations. One reason for its selection was its geographical location. It is between two hill ranges, the Amarkantak hill range in the east and Hasdeo-Bango Valley in the west. River Jatashankari flows through the Amarkantak hills in the east of the town.

Though Tuman did not remain the capital town of the Kalachuris, it continued to be a place of importance, as evidenced by later Kalachuri inscriptions. Rai Bahadur Hiralal was the first scholar to identify Tuman with Tummana, as mentioned in the Kalachuri inscriptions. He visited the village in 1903. He revisited the place in 1908 and wrote an account in 1924. He says sixteen villages were enclosed within the above two mountain ranges, and the whole tract was known as Tumana Khol. There were two entrances, one from the Uprora Zamindari and another from Matin. And if these two entrances are garrisoned and guarded, the khol becomes a natural fort. The ruins in the village consist of about thirty temples, a palace, and several tanks.2 The first detailed description of its temples is from S N Manwani.3 Mangalanand Jha also describes the temple in his study of the Kalachuri temples; however, it is mainly drawn from Manwani’s previous account.4

Temple Complex

Shiv Temple

Temple Complex: This complex contains the remains of a few temples, most of which have survived with their plinths except one. The Ratanpur inscription of Jajalla-deva I informs that Ratna-raja (also Ratna-deva I) (1045-1065 CE) and his successor Prthvi-deva I (1065-1090 CE), built many temples at Tuman, including Vankeshvara, Ratenshvara, and Prthvishvara. These temples are no longer traceable; however, the surviving temple in the complex may be one of them. This article focuses on the one surviving temple in detail. The temple faces east and is built on a high-rising platform approached through a flight of steps. Two cells flank on either side of the staircase. The temple consists of a square mandapa with side transepts, anatarala, and a garbhagrha. The garbhagrha is below the level of the mandapa and approached by a flight of descending steps.

The vimana is composed of jagati, adhishthana, jangha, and shikhara. It follows a sapta-ratha plan. The jagati has five moldings: khura, kumbha, kumuda, padma, and pattikaadhishthana also has five moldings. The jangha is divided into three tiers, each separated by bandhana moldings. Pillared niches are provided on the bhadra projection. The niches are vacant at present. The rest of the projections have geometric mesh design motifs. The shikhara has not survived.

Garbhagrha doorway
River goddesses, Ganga and Yamuna, with Shaiva dvarapalas
Shiva-Natesha on the lalata-bimba
Brahma with grhas
Vishnu with grhas
Vishnu avataras – from bottom Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, and Vamana
Vishnu avataras – from bottom, Rama, Parashurama, Krishna, Buddha, and Kalki

The garbhagrha doorway consists of three shakhas (jambs). The innermost shakha has river goddesses, Ganga and Yamuna, at the bottom. Above these goddesses are sculptural panels, five on each side. These panels have Vishnu-dashavataras. On either side of these panels runs a foliage motif with human figures within curving lines. The following two shakhas have Shaiva dvarapalas at the bottom. Above them are two bands, one with nagas and another with a foliage motif. Shiva, as Natesha is on the lalata-bimba. At the terminals are Brahma and Vishnu. Navagrhas occupy the recessed space on the lintel. Gaja-Lakshmi is in the center of the udumbara (door sil). The temple dates back to the middle of the 11th century CE.


1 Inscription no 77 of the Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum vol. IV, Inscriptions of the Kalachuri-Chedi Era, part II. pp. 409-417
2 Hiralal, Rai Bahadur (1924). A Visit to Tumana published in the Indian Antiquary, vol. LIII. pp. 267-270
3 Manwani, S N (1984). The Temple Art of the Kalachuris of Ratanpur, the Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Harisingh Gour University, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh. pp . 89-92
4 झा, मंगलानन्द (2008). दक्षिण कोसल के कलचुरी कालीन मंदिर. संचालनालय संस्कृति एवं पुरातत्त्व विभाग.  रायपुर. pp. 103-105

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.