Editing The Kachhapaghata Wonders of Morena (section)

==== Temples at Ainti ====
Another 12th century Kachhapaghata temple is located in the village of Ainti, a Surya temple.

Although in the garbha-griha we can see a Shiva Lingam, the defaced statue at the lalat bimba (lintel) of the doorway depicts Surya riding through the sky in his chariot in all glory. He is flanked by the sculptures of Uma Maheshwara. This clarifies the fact that it is a Surya temple and not a Shiva Temple.

In the middle ages, it was destroyed by Islamic invaders in a brutal raid. The artists and artisans were all killed or starved to death, and some fled to safer regions. Therefore, there was no one skilled enough to reinstall a replacement idol of Surya.

A Shiva Lingam on the other hand is relatively easy to sculpt and hence the poor and simple villagers installed a Shiva Lingam to preserve the continuity of worship.

There is also a Vishnu Temple in Ainti. It is built on a pancharatha plan and is exquisitely carved with Hindu deities, animals and flower friezes and erotic sculpture. It has a large-pillared mandapa, which is still extant.

These Kachhapaghata temples of Morena are its greatest heritage. An important point to notice about the location of these temples is that all of them are now either very small villages or completely uninhabited, amidst woods.

This defies a commonly-held belief that the medieval kings must have built huge temples in the middle of forests. As the records suggest too, these places were great towns and cities in their heydays.

The repeated Islamic invasions forced the populations to abandon these cities altogether, accounting for their present isolated and remote locations.