Gadarmal Devi Temple

{{Short description|Hindu Yogini temple in India}}

{{Infobox religious building

| name = Gadarmal temple

| native_name =

| religious_affiliation = Hinduism, Jainism

| image = File:Gadarmal Temple Badoh.jpg

| alt = Gadarmal temple

| location = Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh

| coordinates = {{coord|23.9182813|N|78.2224866|E|region:IN|display=inline,title|name=Gadarmal Devi Temple}}

| elevation_m =

| elevation_footnotes =

| deity = Gadarmal devi

| festivals =

| temple_quantity = 1

| established = 8th to 9th century

| completed = 10th century

| creator = Pratihara dynasty

| architecture_style = Pratihara, Māru-Gurjara

}}

Gadarmal Devi temple is a Hindu and Jain temple at Badoh village of Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh. It was built by a person of Gadaria caste. Also called Gadarmal Temple of the Mothers, it is one of India's yogini temples. It has 42 niches for yogini statues, unusually arranged in a rectangle; it must originally have been hypaethral.

Description

Gadarmal Devi temple dates back to the 7th century A.D., which was built by a Gadaria. {{Cite book |last=Ayyar |first=Sulochana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G9eHPXL6UE0C&dq=%22gadarmal%22+++%22gadaria%22&pg=PA10 |title=Costumes and Ornaments as Depicted in the Sculptures of Gwalior Museum |date=1987 |publisher=Mittal Publications |isbn=978-81-7099-002-4 |language=en}}The architecture of this yogini temple is a fusion of Pratihara and Parmara styles. It is built similar to Teli ka Mandir in Gwalior fort. This temple houses both Hindu and Jain idols.{{sfn|ASI|Gadarmal Temple}} The temple is made of sandstone with seven small shrines surrounding the main shrine.{{sfn|Mitra|2012|p=26}}

It is a 42-niche yogini temple. 18 broken images of the goddesses that once fitted into grooves in the temple platform are preserved from the waist down. It is composed of a rectangular shrine and a tall and massive Shikhara. Vidya Dehejia writes that as a yogini temple, it must once have been hypaethral, open to the sky.{{sfn|Dehejia|1986|pp=141–145}}

The archaeologist Joseph David Beglar photographed a colossal bas-relief sculpture of a mother and child inside the temple in 1871–2. He called it a figure of Maya Devi and the infant Buddha.{{cite book |last=Beglar |first=Joseph David |author-link=Joseph David Beglar |title=Report of a tour in Bundelkhand and Malwa, 1871-72 |publisher=Archaeological Survey of India |volume=VII |location=Calcutta |year=1878 |page=70}}

File:Gadarmal-devi-temple5.png|Idol of Vishnu

File:Gadarmal-devi-temple3.png|A ceiling with Idols of Hindu goddesses

File:Gadarmal-devi-temple4.png|Doorway decorated with Hindu deities and human figures

See also

References

{{reflist}}

Sources

  • {{cite book |last=Dehejia |first=Vidya |author-link=Vidya Dehejia |title=Yogini Cult and Temples: A Tantric Tradition |publisher=National Museum, Janpath, New Delhi |year=1986 |url=https://archive.org/details/YoginiCultAndTemplesVidyaDehejia}}
  • {{cite book |last=Mitra |first=Swati |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=THW_OkoTuE4C |title=Temples of Madhya Pradesh |publisher=Goodearth Publications |isbn=978-9-3802-6249-9 |edition=1 |year=2012}}
  • {{cite web |url=http://asibhopal.nic.in/monument/vidisha_badoh_gadarmaltemple.html |title=Gadarmal Temple |publisher=Archaeological Survey of India |ref={{SfnRef|ASI|Gadarmal Temple}} }}