Editing The Mandapika Shrines of Morena (section)

==== Mandapika Shrines at Morena ====
This maybe the reason that the mandapika shrines at Paroli and Indra ki Khiravali survived.

Mandapika shrines are one of the earliest Hindu temples, some predating the Gupta temples, such as the famous one at Deogarh, with the first shikhara.

However, they even existed when the shikhara had been invented. The mandapika shrines are a common feature of Central India and persisted well into the early Kachhapaghata period in the late 10th century.

Michael Meister describes a mandapika shrine as: “a pillared pavilion, the space between pillars filled by decorated slabs of stone.”[1]

A mandapika was the most rudimentary of Hindu temples. It was a simple pillared porch which was covered on three sides by carved stone slabs. As they were the first of the temples, there was no shikhara to top them.<blockquote>“…the initial conception, at least, is that of a simple pavilion with a flat vedi platform superstructure and not a tower. This group is typified, however, not by its superstructure but by its wall structure and mode of construction – and since the type persists in Central India as late as the early Kachhapaghata period (10th century) it is not surprising to see the nagara shikhara at times imposed upon it.” [Michael Meister, Construction and Conception: Mandapika Shrines of Central India]</blockquote>Paroli has four such shrines, two of them purportedly Vishnu temples. All of them are in a very dilapidated condition. Of one temple, only the doorjamb survives. The other three also just barely survive, with only two walls intact.

Like other typical mandapika shrines, the shrines at Paroli are square in plan. The porch, or the small mandapa, is two-pillared. The bhitti, or the base is square in plan. The pillars of the wall stand on a broad stone slab. These pillars support plain lintels which form a simple roof.

The bhadra projections between the pillars have both tall and short niches which have figures of deities carved in them, sometimes in high relief, but mostly in medium and low relief.

Only the doorjamb of Temple No. 4 at Paroli survives, but the doorjamb is monumental. Its pillars have three tiers of figures of deities, and Ganga and Yamuna, along with her companions greet the devotee on left and right door jambs.

Another mandapika shrine is in the small village of Indra ki Khiravali. It is right by the side of the road. Its entrance is now blocked by thick bushes. However, one can see the three sides which have relatively survived intact, though the individual sculptures have been defaced by devout Muslims.

It is also based on a square plan and simple vedi roof with pillared porch and stone slabs in between, projecting with the bhadra niches full of Hindu deities. One can see Uma-Maheshwara in one of the bhadra niches.

There are more such temples in Suhania, Varahavali and Bhensora in the Morena district. However most of them are almost completely dilapidated. Others are so completely renovated that finding out much about their original plan and structure is hard.

The mandapika shrines of Morena prove that Hindu temples were introduced to Morena and the Chambal region from the earliest of times. The temples were small in scale and rudimentary in ground plan and structure. However, even 1400 years ago, the art of sculpture was extremely refined. The statues are creatively imagined and perfectly executed.

This shows that the Hindu temple did not just appear out of nowhere in the 4th or 5th century C.E. as claimed by some art historians. The philosophy behind Hindu architecture and sculpture was well in place even before the actual structural temples were started to be made. The aesthetic quality of the early shrines of Morena appear to support this claim.