Lonar Daitya Sudan Temple- Maharashtra

Address

Lonar Daitya Sudan Temple- Roshanpura, Lonar, Maharashtra 443302

Diety

Vishnu

Introduction

Lonar is a town and a municipal council in Buldhana district of the division of Buldhana of the region of Vidarbha in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is a taluka of the district of Buldhana and is located near Mehkar. The Daitya Sudan temple is carved in a style similar to Khajurao temples. It has an idol that is composed of a stone-like ore with a high metal content. The Lonar crater is the world’s only salt water lake in basaltic rock, believed to have been caused by a meteorite hitting Earth around 52, 000 years ago. It is surrounded by forests.

Puranic Significance

Skanda Purana legend states that a demon named Lonasur became insolvent and devastated surrounding countries. He even challenged gods. The people appealed to Lord Vishnu to destroy him. He therefore assumed the form of handsome youth named Daityasudan and could find from demon’s sisters about demon’s hiding place, he removed the lid of den and destroyed the demon. The present Lonar Lake is claimed to be the den of the demon; the water was mixed with his blood and the salts occurred in the water through his flesh. Daitya Sudan Temple is a Vishnu temple dated to the Chalukya Dynasty which ruled Central and Southern India between the 6th and 12th centuries. It belongs to the Hemadpanthi class and is built in the form of an irregular star. It features carvings similar to those seen at Khajuraho temples. The deity of this temple is made of an ore with a high metal content that resembles stone. The ceiling of the temple has carvings. The exterior walls are also covered with carved figures. The plinth of the temple is about 1.5 m in height and the unfinished roof suggests an intended pyramidal form for the tower. The temple of Daitya Sudan at Lonar is the best example of the Hemadpanthi style. From the standing image of Surya in the principal niche on the back of the temple it is conjectured that the temple was originally dedicated to the Sun god. However, in the present form its vaishnav temple of god vishnu in its daityasudan avatar. There is a story that a demon by the name of Lonasur or Lavanasur used to reside in this locality along with his sisters. He was killed by lord Vishnu in his Daityasudan Avatar hence the name. The temple measures 105 ft. long by 84.5 ft. broad. It is a tree chamber temple, the inner most being garbh grub, the sanctum sanctorum, where the idol of lord vishnu standing atop lavanasura (lavana=salt + asura = demon) is there. The present day idol was made by bholse rulers of Nagpur after the original went missing.