Nachna-Kuthara Temple, Madhyapradesh

Address

Nachna temple Nachna KutharKa Chaumukhnath Mandir, Ganj, Panna District, Kachhgawan, Madhya Pradesh- 488333

Diety

Shiva, , Vishnu, Amman: Parvati, Durga

Introduction

The temple site is near the Ganj village. It gets its name from the first publication in 1885 by Cunningham that brought it to the attention of western archaeologists during the British colonial era. Cunningham called it the Nachna-Kuthara temples in Volume 21 report of the Archaeological Survey of India, deriving it from the name of the district and another village in the region. The site is about 60 kilometres southwest of Satna.Nachna Hindu temples, also referred to as Nachana temples or Hindu temples at Nachna-Kuthara,are some of the earliest surviving stone temples in central India along with those at Bhumara and Deogarh. Their dating is uncertain, but comparing their style to structures that can be dated, some of the Nachna temples are variously dated to the 5th- or 6th-century Gupta Empire era. The Chaturmukha temple is dated to the 9th century. These temples illustrate a North Indian style of Hindu temple architecture.Most of the temples in the area are in ruins. The best preserved and most studied monument is the Parvati temple at Nachna. The temples are built on a raised and moulded plinth, a square plan, a square sanctum that is surrounded by circumambulation passage with perforated screen stone windows. The entrance into the sanctum is flanked by goddess Ganga and Yamuna. The Parvati temple has an upper storey with a doorway. The temple includes both religious motifs and secular scenes such as amorous mithuna couples

Puranic Significance

The early history of the site is not known. Cunningham, in his first publication, mentioned that the way to the site was full of ruins and partially bricked monuments, except for the two stone temples with stone reliefs at the site were in remarkably well-preserved condition. According to him, regional people knew about these temples, visited them and thought that Nacchna-Kuthara was an ancient capital city of the Bundelkhand region.Other findings suggest that the site has attracted significant numbers of pilgrims for centuries, and up to the present day. After Cunningham’s visit, the upper cella of the Parvati temple collapsed, and it was later reconstructed. The site originally had not yielded any inscriptions in its immediate vicinity, but later two rock inscriptions were found at Nachna site of Ganj. These have been dated to the 470–490 CE period, attributed to Vyaghradeva who inscribes his allegiance to the Vakataka king Prithvisena. inscribes his allegiance to the Vakataka king Prithvisena. Parvati Temple: The Parvati Temple is a two-storey building with almost perfect square plan thick-walled sanctum of 15 feet side on the outside, and is 8 feetThe sanctum is surrounded by a roofed pradakshinapathathat is 33 feeton the outside and 26 feet on the insideThe outer walls have perforated stone windows (trellises) to allow natural light inThe upper-story is relatively plain. It lacks a roof or tower, but the structure suggests that it was likely a flat roof temple. Chaumukhnath Temple: The Chaumukhnath temple, also referred to as the ChaturmukhMahadeva temple, is named after the colossal linga inside the temple whose surface is carved with four faces on the four cardinal directions.] The five faces are believed to express the five aspects of Shiva, namely, creation (Vamadeva), maintenance (Tatpurusha), destruction (Aghora), beyond space (Isana) and introspection (Saytajota).Comparable in ground plan and dimensions to the Parvati temple is the Chaumukhnath temple. The temple also has a square plan and has a door design similar to the Parvati temple, but otherwise it very different in style. The building is concentric squares, 16.75 feet outside and 11.75 feet inside. It does not have the two-storey structure of the Parvati temple, but presents another style in the form of a spire.