Editing The Mandapika Shrines of Morena (section)

==== Nature of an Islamic Invasion ====
Morena also witnessed this Islamic wave of destruction, desecration and defacing of its murtis and statues. Hence, most of these temples were abandoned by the Hindus over time.

The second reason for abandoning these temples was that they were the primary focus for any Islamic invader. When Muslim invaders attacked, they not only defaced the temples but also destroyed the villages nearby, massacred the Brahmins in the temples, and slaughtered cows inside the garbha-griha. Living near a great temple was as risky as living near a radioactive area would be now. People fled the temples in order to save themselves.

There was another reason for abandoning these temples. Hindus valued art greatly. Religious architecture in the form of the Hindu temple was an idea which not just the rulers of the country, but the populations cherished too.

Even while there was great risk in living near a great temple, many people, communities and entire villages chose to risk their lives in order to serve and save the temple. Many of these temples took decades to build. They were so alive in the memory of the local people that they could not imagine their lives without it. They looked at them not just with reverence, but with love. They cherished them as one would their child as they built it with great effort and resources.

One reason that they abandoned these temples was to save them from utter destruction. Many great temple sites were abandoned and hidden in jungles, under forest cover.

Some were covered by limestone like many Jain temples in Madhya Pradesh, including Muktagiri and the Great Kailash temple at Ellora, which used to be the original Ghrishneshwar.

In short, Hindus intentionally abandoned these sites in order to save them from total destruction. They intentionally forgot the very location of many of these sites, so that they became absolutely unapproachable for anyone, except some stray traveller.