Bhitargaon

File:Bhitargaon back.jpg

The Bhitargaon Temple is a terraced brick building fronted with a terracotta panel. Built in the 5th century during the Gupta period,Schastok, Sara L., [https://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/amit/bicycling/bhitargaon/], [https://books.google.com/books?id=jh1fF8HvJmMC&pg=PA31&lpg=PA31 The Śāmalājī Sculptures and 6th Century Art in Western India]. BRILL, 1985.Jayewardene-Pillai, Shanti, [https://books.google.com/books?id=36IBkEKlEC8C&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92 Imperial Conversations: Indo-Britons and the Architecture of South India]. Yoda Press, 2007.Begler, Joseph David, [http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/r/019pho000001003u00677000.html Rear view of the temple at Bhitargaon, Kanpur District]. British Library, 2009.Brown, Percy, Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods). D B Taraporevala, Mumbai, 1959.Harle, J. C., Gupta Sculpture. Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi, 1974. {{ISBN|8121506417}}.Dalal, Roshen, [https://books.google.com/books?id=pNmfdAKFpkQC&pg=PA60&lpg=PA60 The Religions of India: A Concise Guide to Nine Major Faiths]. Penguin Books India, 2010.Kramrisch, Stella and Raymond Burnier, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NNcXrBlI9S0C&pg=PA101&lpg=PA101 The Hindu Temple, Volume 1]. Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1976.de Laet, Sigfried J., [https://books.google.com/books?id=PvlthkbFU1UC&pg=PA1005&lpg=PA1005 History of Humanity: From the seventh to the sixteenth century]. UNESCO, 1994. it is the oldest remaining brick/terracotta Hindu shrine with a roof and a high shikhara, though its upper chamber did sustain some damage in the 18th century.

The temple is built on a square plan with double-recessed corners and faces east. There is a tall pyramidal spire over the garbhagriha. The walls are decorated with terracotta panels depicting Shiva and Vishnu etc. When Alexander Cunningham first visited the site, the remains of the porch and of the ardhamandapa were still visible, which later collapsed.

The construction material is bricks and terracotta. The brick size is 18" x 9'' x 3" and the other salient features are following:

• The size of platform on which the temple is built is 36 feet x 47 feet.
• The sanctum is 15 feet x 15 feet internally.
• The sanctum is double story.
• The wall thickness is 8 feet.
• The total height from ground to top is 68.25 feet.
• There is no window.
• The terracotta sculpture depicts both secular and religious theme such as deities like Ganesha and Durga Mahishasuramardini. Myths and stories representing abduction of Sita and the penance of Nara-Narayana.
• Shikara is a stepped pyramid and got damaged by thunder in 1894.
• The first story of sanctum fell in 1850.

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File:Behta bujurg temple (ASI inscription).jpg

There is another ancient temple in Behta Bujurg (or Behata Bujurg) village which is only 4.3 km far from Bhitargaon, also protected by the Archaeological Survey of India. The temple is dedicated to Lord Jagannath, and has a highly unusual curving shape, with buddhist stupa(Mound) like resemblance. However a close look reveals nagara style curvilinear shape. There are significant detached ancient sculptures: Lord Jagannath idol, a Surya (sun deity) sculpture and a Lord Vishnu sculpture carved on a large block of stone depicting lord vishnu resting on seshnaga. The temple is known locally as the "Rain Temple" as the ceiling is said to drip water several days before the rain arrive, which is of great interest to local farmers day by day most of tourist and urban peoples came in this temple.

• Po Nagar and Po Klong Garai
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• Sambor Prei Kuk
• Sirpur, Mahasamund Laksman temple
• Rajgir Maniyar Math, Vaibhar giri temples
• Bishnupur, Bankura
• [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3249898] Kherahat templeA Brick Temple of the Ninth Century, Michael D. Willis, Artibus Asiae, Vol. 52, No. 1/2 (1992), pp. 25-46, Artibus Asiae Publishers
• [http://www.arthistory.upenn.edu/saltrange/george/Kalar.html] Kalar, brick temple

File:Lord Jagannath, Jagannath Temple, Behta Bujurg, Uttar Pradesh, 2023.jpg

File:Bhitargaon front.jpg|Front view of the temple at Bhitargaon, 1875

File:Brick temple.jpg|The oldest remaining Hindu shrine Brick Temple

File:Bhitargaon details2.jpg|Close view of façade showing the detail of mouldings and sculpture niches, 1875

File:Bhitargaon details.jpg|Close view of temple façade showing the detail of mouldings and sculpture niches, 1878

File:Behta bujurg temple complex..jpg|Behta Bujurg temple

File:Bhitargaon temple .jpg|Rear view of the Bhitargaon temple.

• Gupta art
• Hindu temple architecture (Historical Chronology)
• Teli Ka Mandir, Gwalior

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{{commons category|Temple of Bhitargaon}}

• [http://www.india9.com/i9show/Bhitargaon-41339.htm Bhitargaon]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110727202446/http://www.rcueslko.org/jnnurm/Kanpur/10%20Chapter%2010%20Heritage%20and%20Tourism.pdf Heritage and Tourism], Kanpur City Development Plan
• Brick temples {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160303223510/http://www.prasada.org.uk/indian_temple/production_flash_gallerys/brick/production_brick_temples.html]}}

{{Kanpur Nagar district}}

{{Kanpur}}

{{Hindu temples in Uttar Pradesh}}

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Category:Neighbourhoods in Kanpur

Category:5th-century Hindu temples

Category:Cities and towns in Kanpur Nagar district

Category:Hindu temples in Uttar Pradesh

Category:Gupta art