Khajuraho Bijamandal Temple, Madhya Pradesh

Address

Khajuraho Bijamandal Temple, Sevagram, Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh 471606

Diety

Shiva

Introduction

Bijamandal (or Beejamandal) Temple is ruins temple situated just outside Jatkari village, not far from the Chaturbhuj Temple. The site was open to the public in March 1999 to mark the Khajuraho millenium year, and today has only been partially excavated. Excavations conducted at Bijamandal during 2002 and 2003 have revealed the lower remains of a temple structure datatable to the 10th – 11th century A.D. The staggering thought is that these are the remains of what would have been the largest temple at Khajuraho, with a total length of 34.6m it trumps the Kandariya Mahadeva Temple by just over 4m. However, due to the large number of incomplete carvings found at the site, it is thought that the temple was abandoned whilst construction was still in progress. Images of Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu, apsaras and vyalas have been found here, along with an exquisite carving of Sarasvati that can now be seen in the site museum. What remains today is the fragmented plinth with some great carvings around the edge, and a huge amount of excavated carved masonry laid out in front of the mound. Crowning the mound is a linga on top of a pedestal. To one side of the mound is a sheltered area with boards explaining some of the work done here. Bijamandal is one of eighteen unexplored mounds in the vicinity of Khajuraho, I suspect this World Heritage Site has a lot more secrets yet to be uncovered…