Teli ka Mandir

Coordinates: 26°13′15.2″N 78°09′53.6″E / 26.220889°N 78.164889°E / 26.220889; 78.164889
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Teli ka Mandir
Front view of the temple
Religion
AffiliationHinduism
DistrictGwalior
DeityShiva, Vishnu, others
Location
LocationGwalior Fort
StateMadhya Pradesh
CountryIndia
Teli ka Mandir is located in India
Teli ka Mandir
Shown within India
Teli ka Mandir is located in Madhya Pradesh
Teli ka Mandir
Teli ka Mandir (Madhya Pradesh)
Geographic coordinates26°13′15.2″N 78°09′53.6″E / 26.220889°N 78.164889°E / 26.220889; 78.164889
Architecture
StyleNagara
Completed8th or 9th-century[1][2]

Teli ka Mandir, also known as Telika Temple, is a Hindu temple located within the Gwalior Fort in Madhya Pradesh, India. Dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Matrikas, it has been variously dated between the early 8th and early 9th century CE.[1][2]

It is an atypical design for a Hindu temple,[1] as it has a rectangular sanctum instead of the typical square. It integrates the architectural elements of the Nagara style and the Valabhi prasada. The temple is based on a Gurjara Pratihara-Gopagiri style North Indian architecture.[3][4][5]

The temple is a classic example of a design based on "musical harmonics" in architecture,[6] one that Hermann Goetz called as a masterpiece of late Gupta era Indian art.[7]

Location

The temple is located inside the fort of Gwalior, north Madhya Pradesh. The city is connected by major highways NH 44 and 46 (Asian Highway 43 and 47), a railway station and airport (

Bateshwar Temples near Morena with dozens of standing temples and the ruins of over 100 small pancharatha-style temples,[8] the Naresar group with 22 temples,[9] and the Mahua group of temples most of which are dated to between the 6th and 10th century. They exemplify various variations in the Nagara style of Hindu architecture as well as the application of vastu mandala symmetry principles in novel ways.[10][11]

The Telika Mandir is one of the historic temples within the Gwalior old city. It is in the middle of the old town, built on a high point which makes it stand out from different locations within the fort.[12][2][13] The site of the Teli ka Mandir and other historic temples is found in early inscriptions. Some of these refer to the town as Gopagiri.[14]

History

The Telika Mandir is generally dated to between 8th and 9th century based on paleography, art-style, architectural design and small inscriptions found within the temple premises.

Gurjara-Pratihara Mihira Bhoja.[16]

Teli ka Mandir before restoration (1869)
During restoration (1882)
Restored (1885), sculpture garden added.

The temple shows signs of extensive damage and change.[2] It was badly damaged in the plunder raids by Muslim army of Qutb-ud-din Aibak and his successor Iltutmish in 1232 CE along with other temples in the fort following a jauhar, parts of the ruins were then used to apparently build a mosque nearby. The mosque was in turn apparently destroyed by Hindu Maratha army centuries later.[17] The temple was restored by the Hindus after the desecration by Iltutmish forces, which speculated Cunningham, may explain some of the features that appear from a later era.[12] The temple has icons and inscriptions related to all three major traditions of Hinduism: Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism. One of the inscriptions, for example, is a metrical hymn about Durga.[14] The relief work includes a prominent Garuda, the vahana of Vishnu. Inside the temple is a Shiva linga.[12]

The temple was in ruins in the 19th century. Between 1881 and 1883, repairs to the temple were initiated by Major Keith, an officer of the

Royal Scots Regiment stationed in Gwalior.[18][19]

Nomenclature

The origin of the temple's name is unclear. It literally means Oilman's Temple, but neither the inscriptions nor texts attest to such a name. According to Allen, there is no satisfactory explanation for this name.[2] Local folklore states that the temple was built by oil merchant caste rather than kings, the royal class or the priestly class.[20]

Description

Teli ka mandir ground plan (incomplete).[21]

The temple has a rectangular triratha sanctum plan that sits on a jagati platform that is a square of 60 feet (18 m). It has a large kapili projecting portico of about 11 feet (3.4 m) towards the east. The tower rises about the rectangular sanctum to a height of 80 feet (24 m). Above it is a barrel vault shaped cap of 30 feet (9.1 m), its length perpendicular to that of the sanctum, that reminds one of South Indian gopuram.[12] It likely had amalaka, kalasha and other ornaments on top, but these are all lost to history. The walls of temple has numerous niches for statues, but it is all empty now and show signs of damage.[2][7] The niches are topped by tall pediments.[22][23] The outer dimensions of the sanctum are 60x40 feet with an 80 feet tower above.[2]

The doorway into the temple is 35 feet (11 m) high, and it is ornate. Above the doorway is a relief of Garuda, the vahana of Vishnu. Inside, there is another doorway above which is a Ganesha relief.

darshana.[2]

The temple is approached through a flight of stairs leading to a banded doorway containing sculptures of river goddesses Ganga and Yamuna with their waists leaning towards the center, each with a boy and a girl on the lower part. Above them are amorous couples in various stages of courtship and intimacy (

garbha griha.[20] There is a decorative sculpture of Garuda at the entrance to the temple.[25]

The temple's vallabhi shikhara mirrors the gopuram of Dravidian temples and it stands on a Nagara base.[26] The temple's outer walls have been extensively carved.

Analysis and reception

Vardhana-period sculptures near Teli ka Mandir, Gwalior Fort.[27]
One of the four entrances to the temple with defaced sculpture.
Gate of Teli ka Mandir.

The Teli ka mandir is unusual in many ways, and its complex design has led to many contesting proposals for what influenced it or which temples it influenced. Proposals range from it being influenced by Buddhist architecture,[2] or by South Indian temples, or it being an independent masterpiece innovation of the late Gupta era Hindu artists.[7]

The temple sanctum plan seems rectangular rather than the typical square, one that makes it the oldest surviving Hindu temple with a rectangular plan in Central India. According to Michael Meister, a professor specializing on Indian temple architecture, the temple is actually a study in squares nevertheless because its rectangles are formed by combining squares.

Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu.[28] However, the influence could have been the other way around or possibly the result of collaboration between pan-Indian artist guilds. Post-colonial era studies have identified similar ruined barrel-vault capped historic temples in many places in north and east India, including those in Odisha. Closer study of the keel vault details suggest that the ideas are markedly different expressions of an idea, rather than a copy.[28][7]

The Teli ka temple of Gwalior is closest in its plan to a 4x4 square grid, yet different. According to Michael Meister this innovation is carried across the temple deliberately in its Bhadra, Pratibhadra, Karna, Kapota, Kumbha, Bhitta and other elements,[6]

The Teli-ka-mandir enlarges such a grid by increasing the sanctum, not the entire structure, by 50 percent (from 4x4 to 4x6 squares, a ratio of 2: 3), thus enlarging the outer dimensions from 8x8 to 8x10 squares (a ratio of 4:5). The ratio of the thickness of wall to sanctum is 1:2 on the temple's shorter sides, 1:3 on the longer wall. Ratios that emerge from this analysis of the Teli-ka-mandir's plan thus include 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 2:3, and 3:5 as well as 2:5 and 4:5. These simple ratios governing the plan and created by the grid might be compared to harmonic ratios. I know of no evidence to suggest a deep commitment in India to "musical" harmonies in architecture; yet few structures better embody harmonious proportions than the eighth-century Teli-ka-mandir.[6]

Gallery

  • Ruined Jain sculptures at 8th century Teli ka Mandir
    Ruined Jain sculptures at 8th century Teli ka Mandir
  • View of the Teli-ka-mandir
    View of the Teli-ka-mandir
  • Defaced yet decipherable river goddess (eastern entrance)
    Defaced yet decipherable river goddess (eastern entrance)
  • The lion capital in the National Museum, New Delhi, attributed by the museum to the Vardhana-period.[29]
    The lion capital in the
    Vardhana-period.[29]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-226-53230-1
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-87413-399-8
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8122-7840-8
    .
  4. ISBN 978-81-208-0824-9
    .
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4438-6734-4
    .
  6. ^ a b c Michael W. Meister (1983), Geometry and Measure in Indian Temple Plans: Rectangular Temples, Artibus Asiae, Vol. 44, No. 4 (1983), page 269, 278-280
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Herman Goetz (1955), The Last Masterpiece of Gupta Art: The Great Temple of Yasovarman of Kanauj ('Telika Mandir') at Gwalior, Art and Letters, Vol. XXIX, No. 2, pages 47-59
  8. ^ Group of temples at Batesar , ASI Bhopal Circle (2014)
  9. ^ Naresar Temples, ASI Bhopal Circle (2014)
  10. ISBN 978-0-87413-399-8
    .
  11. ISBN 90-04-12902-2
    .
  12. ^ a b c d e Teli Mandir, A Cunningham, pages 356-361
  13. ISBN 978-0-9548480-2-6
    .
  14. ^ a b c Gwalior Fort: Gwalior, ASI Bhopal Circle, Government of India
  15. ^ Michael W. Meister (1983), Geometry and Measure in Indian Temple Plans: Rectangular Temples, Artibus Asiae, Vol. 44, No. 4 (1983), page 267 with footnote 11
  16. ^
    ISBN 978-81-263-1155-2
    .
  17. ^ Hermann Goetz; Hermann Kulke (1974). Studies in the history, religion and art of classical and mediaeval India. Steiner. p. 61.
  18. ^ "Panoramic past". Frontline. 17 May 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  19. ^ India. Curator of Ancient Monuments; Henry Hardy Cole (1882). Report of the Curator of Ancient Monuments in India. Government Central Branch Press. p. 17.
  20. ^
    ISBN 978-93-80262-49-9
    .
  21. ^ Michael W. Meister (1983), Geometry and Measure in Indian Temple Plans: Rectangular Temples, Artibus Asiae, Vol. 44, No. 4 (1983), page 278, context: 266-296
  22. ISBN 978-1-59339-847-7
    .
  23. ISBN 978-1-61530-149-2
    .
  24. ISSN 0970-8901
    .
  25. ISBN 978-81-85151-16-8
    .
  26. ^ "Gwalior Fort". Archaeological Survey of India. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  27. Vardhana attribution by the Indian Museum in New Delhi, see label of the lion capital
  28. ^ a b c d Michael W. Meister (1983), Geometry and Measure in Indian Temple Plans: Rectangular Temples, Artibus Asiae, Vol. 44, No. 4 (1983), pages 266-296
  29. Vardhana attribution by the Indian Museum in New Delhi, see label of the lion capital

Bibliography

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