Chachhrauli Fort

Chachhrauli is small town in the state of Haryana near Karnal. it was once the capital of one of the india’s 562 princely states. The states have the forts palaces and samadhis of the ruling family, which talks about the lost glory of this small town of Chachhrauli in Haryana. These forts and palaces now have various government offices in them.

The Raja of Kalsia built a large, sprawling fort for himself, which comprised of a throne room, a khazana (treasury), and reception rooms. The whole of the fort was painted with murals. The artists had painted every part of the wall of the fort with designs of flowers, birds, and court scenes of indian kings and to some great extent incongruous modern views of railway stations, trains, churches and Europeans. The mural painters of Chachhrauli most probably had not actually seen churches and railway bridges, so they based their art on illustrations from books and magazines.

The Kalsia family donated the fort to the town of Chachhrauli for its own use in 1940.T he local authorities established two schools, the law courts and several municipal offices inside the fort. The fort again became alive, this time with children’s voices and office gossip and (almost certainly), legal battles.

The fort and its murals were in a fairly good state of preservation till some time ago. But over the years, the walls are crumbling down. We are also loosing the mural paintings on the walls of the fort. The dilapidation of the Chachhrauli Fort is taking along with it a very small piece of india’s history.

Golconda Fort

The Golconda Fort is a magnificent fortress complex, which lies on the western outskirts around 11km from Hyderabad. Originally a mud fort, it was later reconstructed in stone. Since then it has had a variety of additions by the various rulers of the area. The fortress is built on a 120 metres high granite hill surrounded by massive castled ramparts.

The Golconda Fort is known as the Shepherd’s Hill or Golla Konda in Telugu. There is an interesting story behind the construction of the fort. in 1143 AD, shepherd boy took notice of an idol on the rocky hill called ‘Mangalavaram’. He told about the idol to the Kakatiya king, who was ruling Hyderabad at that time. The king constructed a mud fort around the holy spot. Almost 200 years later, Bahamini rulers in 1364 took possession of the fort.

The mud fort was converted into a massive fort of granite from 1507 AD by the first three Qutub Shahi kings over a period of 62 years. The fort was extended to a circumference of around 5 km. The rule of the Qutub Shahs at Golconda came to an end in 1687 AD with the capture of the fort by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. He nearly annihilated the fort and left it into a mass of undignified ruins.

Golconda Fort is a complex comprising of four distinct forts. There is a 10 km long outer wall with 87 semi-circular bastions. The some of the bastions are still mounted with cannons. The fort has eight gateways, four drawbridges and several royal apartments, halls, temples, mosques, magazines and stables inside. The primary structure of the fort is laid out in a series of enclosures that holds the public and administrative structures as well as the royal residences and halls. The Nagina Bagh also lies within an enclosure but it is in utter ruins.
(more…)

Palitana : India’s Temple

Palitana is located in the state of Gujarat and 51 km south west of Bhavnagar. it constitutes a part of the Saurashtra region known for its spectacular temple sites, cities, beautiful beaches, and wildlife. Palitana has the largest cluster of Jain temples. There are in total 863 temples from base to the peak of the Shatrunjaya hill, where the Palitana temples are located. The path is climbed through 3950 steps spanning 3.5 km up the Shatrunjaya Hills.

As successive worshippers of the Jain community designed their own temples, they cleared the crest of the hill, leveled it into terraces, walled and fortified most of them. The construction of temples of Palitana spanned over a period of 900 years. These temples were built in two phases. The first one being from the 11th to12th centuries AD as a part of the resurgence of temple building all over india.

The second phase was from the 16th century AD onwards. Muslim invaders destroyed some of the earliest temples built in the 11th century AD during the 14th and 15th centuries AD. The existing temples date back to 16th century AD onwards. No one person can be attributed for the construction of these magnificent temples rather it was the effort of the wealthy businessmen who were followers of Jainism.

The temples are raised on a common plinth. Each successive level within the temple is reflected in a higher spire above the ceiling, so that the larger temples grow in scale like waves, resembling mountain peaks. The spires are ornamented and sculpted with geometrical and floral ornamentation and take the majority of the space available. This is probably because both the marble for the temple spires and the carving had to be done on the site. The marble was brought from Rajasthan and then taken block by block uphill. The mastery of the engineers is evident from the fact that the huge slabs of marble had to be moved up the hill and then carved. The architects and artisans had to vacate the sacred hill before sun down every day and were allowed to work during the rains.
(more…)

Palitana : India’s Temple

Palitana is located in the state of Gujarat and 51 km south west of Bhavnagar. it constitutes a part of the Saurashtra region known for its spectacular temple sites, cities, beautiful beaches, and wildlife. Palitana has the largest cluster of Jain temples. There are in total 863 temples from base to the peak of the Shatrunjaya hill, where the Palitana temples are located. The path is climbed through 3950 steps spanning 3.5 km up the Shatrunjaya Hills.

As successive worshippers of the Jain community designed their own temples, they cleared the crest of the hill, leveled it into terraces, walled and fortified most of them. The construction of temples of Palitana spanned over a period of 900 years. These temples were built in two phases. The first one being from the 11th to12th centuries AD as a part of the resurgence of temple building all over india.

The second phase was from the 16th century AD onwards. Muslim invaders destroyed some of the earliest temples built in the 11th century AD during the 14th and 15th centuries AD. The existing temples date back to 16th century AD onwards. No one person can be attributed for the construction of these magnificent temples rather it was the effort of the wealthy businessmen who were followers of Jainism.

The temples are raised on a common plinth. Each successive level within the temple is reflected in a higher spire above the ceiling, so that the larger temples grow in scale like waves, resembling mountain peaks. The spires are ornamented and sculpted with geometrical and floral ornamentation and take the majority of the space available. This is probably because both the marble for the temple spires and the carving had to be done on the site. The marble was brought from Rajasthan and then taken block by block uphill. The mastery of the engineers is evident from the fact that the huge slabs of marble had to be moved up the hill and then carved. The architects and artisans had to vacate the sacred hill before sun down every day and were allowed to work during the rains.
(more…)

Buddhist Caves

The Buddhist Caves numbering 1 to 12 were excavated during the 5th and the 7th centuries AD, when the Mahayana sect flourished in this region. Cave no. 10 is known as the Visvakarma and is a chaitya hall. The facade of the cave is highly ornamental. There is a beautiful image of Buddha set on a stupa. The Brahmanical caves from cave no. 13 to 29 belong to Shaivite sect. The Kailasa temple or the cave no 16 is the most gracious example of the rock-cut temples in india. The Jain caves are from no 30 to 34. They represent the last phase of architectural activity in Ellora.

The Ajanta and the Ellora caves are included in the UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Site.

Hampi was the capital-city of the Vijaynagar Empire. The city was founded by Harihara and Bukka in 1336 AD. it was captured by Muslim ruler after the battle of Talikota in 1565 AD and fell into declination and abandonment. The ruins of the city spread over an area of more than 26 sq. km protected by the river Tungabhadra in the north and by rocky granite on the other three sides. The city was believed to have been on the site of the kingdom of Kishkindha associated with the Hindu epic, the Ramayana.

Hampi, the abode of Lord Virupaksha and his consort Pampadevi, has a hoary past. Local legends speak of the penance of Shiva on the Hemakuta hill and his subsequent marriage with Parvathi. The ancient kingdom of Kishkindha associated with the Ramayana was situated close to present day Hampi. Hampi or Hampe is generally held to be a later Kannada form of the term Pampa, the ancient name of the river Tungabhadra.

(more…)

Sun Temple : India’s Temple

The Sun temple at Konark is situated on the northeastern corner of Puri or the Chakrakshetra. it is also known as Konaditya. The name Konark is derived from the words Kona meaning corner and Arka meaning sun. Konark is also known as Arkakshetra. The temple was built in 1278 AD by the Ganga king Narasimha Deva. it is also referred to as the Black Pagoda. The ruins of this temple were excavated in late 19th century AD.

According to local legends, Samba, the king of Krishna and Jambavati entered the bathing chamber of Krishna’s wives and was cursed by Krishna with leprosy. it was decreed that he would be relieved of the curse if he worshipped the Sun God on the seacoast north east of Puri. King Samba reached Konaditya Kshetra and discovered an image of Surya seated on the lotus. He worshipped him and was relieved of his curse. The magnetic dome of the temple caused ships to crash near the seashore. Thus the dome was removed and destroyed and the image of the Sun God was taken to Puri.

The entire temple has been conceived as a chariot of the sun god with 24 wheels, each about 10 feet in diameter, with a set of spokes and elaborate carvings. The temple is shown as being driven by 7 horses. Two lions guard the entrance, crushing elephants. A flight of steps leads to the main entrance. The Nata Mandir is intricately carved. The Jagmohan is intact while the shikhar of the garbhagriha has fallen. There are sculptures of animals, flowers, warriors on the horses and several interesting motifs. There are three images of the Sun God, positioned to catch the rays of the sun at dawn, noon and sunset.
(more…)

Khajuraho

Khajuraho was the capital city of the Chandelas. Khajuraho is situated in the Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh. There were 85 temples constructed by the Chandelas between AD 950 and 1050 out of which only 25 have survived. The temples at Khajuraho are brilliant examples of temple architecture of the Medieval india. The earliest temples of Khajuraho were built in coarse granite.

However, the temples dating back to later period are mostly built in fine-grained buff, pink and pale yellow sandstone, quarried from neighboring areas. The temples belong to different religious sects like Shaiva, Vaishnava and Jain and mark the culmination of the northern indian or Nagara style of temple architecture.

Temples at Khajuraho are built upon a stone terrace called the adhisthana or jagati, over which rise the jangha or walls of the inner compartments. it also has canopied windows with balconies to admit air and light into the interior. The roof comprises of turrets of varying heights, culminating in the tall and graceful curvilinear shikhara representing mountain Meru. The Khajuraho temples are almost all aligned on the east to west axis with the entrance facing east.

A profusely carved arch leads to the oblong porch or ardhamanadapa, behind which is the large assembly hall or mandapa, which is open on three sides. There is a larger hall mahamandapa or a closed hall with a corridor around it. This hall finally leads into the vestibule or the antarala. Beyond this is the garbhagriha or sanctum, entered through another ornate doorway, which houses the cult deity.

(more…)