The grand Shiva temple of Barolli
[wiki]Baroli[/wiki] is a village in Rawatbhata tahsil in district Chittorgarh of Rajasthan. Baroli is located in south-west of Kota but in Chittorgarh district near the border of both districts.
James Tod ([wiki]James Todd Annals/Personal Narrative [/wiki], Vol.II, p.597-604) visited [wiki]Bhainsrorgarh[/wiki] on 19 February 1820 and has provided us following information:
According to James Tod we were informed of some celebrated temples across the river at a place called Barolli, anciently Dholpoor. The shrine is dedicated to Guteswara Mahadeva, with a lingam revolving in the yoni, the wonder of those who venture amongst its almost impervious and unfrequented woods to worship. As I could not go myself, I despatched the guru to hunt for inscriptions and bring me an account of it.
James Tod ([wiki]James Todd Annals/Personal Narrative [/wiki], Vol.II, pp.643-654) later visited [wiki]Barolli[/wiki] in July 1821 and has provided following information:
The grand temple of Barolli is dedicated to Siva, whose emblems are everywhere visible. It stands in an area of about two hundred and fifty yards square, enclosed by a wall built of unshaped stones without cement. Beyond this wall are groves of majestic trees, with many smaller shrines and sacred fountains. The first object that stuck my notice, just before entering the area, was a pillar, erect in the earth, with a hooded-snake sculptured around it. The door-way, which is destroyed, must have been very curious, and the remains that choke up the interior are highly interesting. One of these specimens was entire, and unrivalled in taste and beauty. The principal figures are of Siva and his consort, Parbutty, with their attendants. He stands upon the lotus, having the serpent twined as a garland. In his right hand he holds the dumroo, or little drum, with which, as the god of war, he inspires the warrior; in his left is the cupra, formed of a human skull, out of which he drinks the blood of the slain. The other two arms have been broken off : a circumstance which proves that even the Islamite, to whom the act may be ascribed, respected this work of art. The "mountain-born" is on the left of her spouse. standing on the coorm, or tortoise, with braided locks, and ear-rings made of the conch-shell. Every limb is in that easy flowing style peculiar to ancient Hindu art, and wanting in modern specimens. Both are covered with beaded ornaments, and have no drapery. The firm, masculine attitude of ' Baba Adam' as I have heard a Rajpoot call Mahadeo, contrasts well with the delicate feminine outline of his consort. The serpent and lotus intertwine gracefully over their heads. Above, there is a series of compartment filled with various figures, the most conspicuous of which is the chimerical animal called the gras, a kind of homed lion; each compartment being separated by a wreath of flowers, tastefully arranged and distributed. The animal is delineated with an ease not unworthy the art in Europe. Of the various other figures many are mutilated ; one is a hermit playing on a guitar, and above him are a couple of deer in a listening posture. Captain Waugh is engaged on one of the figures, which he agrees with me in pronouncing unrivalled as a specimen of art. There are parts of them, especially the heads, which would not disgrace Canova. They are in high relief, being almost detached from the slab. In this fragment (about eight feet by three) the chief figures are about three feet.
The centre piece, forming a kind of frieze, is nearly entire, and about twelve feet by three ; it is covered with sculpture of the same
[p.647]: character, mostly the celestial choristers, with various instruments, celebrating the praises of Siva and Parbutty. Immediately within the door-way, is a small shrine to the ' four-armed ;' but the Islamite having likewise deprived him of the supernumerary pair, the Bhil takes him for Devi, of whom they are desperately afraid, and in consequence the forehead of the statue is liberally smeared with veimiiion.
On the left, in advance of the main temple, is one about thirty feet high, containing an image of Asht-Mata, or the ' eight-armed mother ;' but here the pious Mooslem has robbed the goddess of all her arms, save that with which she grasps her shield, and has also removed her head. She treads firmly on the centaur, Maheswar, whose dissevered head lies at some distance in the area, while the lion of the Hindu Cybele still retains his grasp of his quarters. The Joginis and Apsaras, or ' maids of war' of Rajpoot martial poetry, have been spared.
On the right is the shrine of Tri-murti, the triune divinity. Brimha's face, in the centre, has been totally obliterated, as has that of Vishnu, the Preserver; but the Destroyer is uninjured. The tiara, which covers the head* of this triple divinity, is also entire, and of perfect workmanship. The skill of the sculptor " can no further go." Groupes of snakes adorn the clustering locks on the ample forehead of Siva, which are confined by a bandeau, in the centre of which there is a death's head ornament, hideously exact. Various and singularly elegant devices are wrought in the tiara : in one, two horses couped from the shoulder, passing from a rich centering and surmounted by a death's head : a dissevered arm points to a vulture advancing to seize it, while serpents are wreathed round the neck and hands of the Destroyer, whose half-opened mouth discloses a solitary tooth, and the tongue curled up with a demoniacal expression. The whole is colossal, the figures being six feet and a half high. The relief is very bold, and altogether the groupe is worthy of having casts made from it.
We now come to the grand temple itself, which is fifty-eight feet in height, and in the ancient form peculiar to the temples of Siva. The body of the edifice, in which is the sanctum of me god, and over which rises its pyramidal sikr, is a square of only twenty-one feet ; but the addition of the domed vestibule (munduf) and portico makes it forty-four by twenty-one. An outline of this by Ghassi, a native artist (who labours at Oodipoor for the same daily pay as a tailor, carpenter, or other artizan), will give a tolerably good notion of its appearance, though none of its beauty. The whole is covered with mythological sculpture, without as well as within, emblematic of the 'great god' (Mahadeo), who is the giver, as well as the destroyer, of life. In a niche outside, to the south, he is armed against the Dytes (Titans), the roundmala, or skull-chaplet, reaching
* The Trimurti is represented with three faces (murti) though but one head.
[p.648]: to his knees, and in seven of his arms are offensive weapons, cap is the frustrum of a cone, composed of snakes interlaced, with a fillet of skulls : the cupra is in his hand, and the victims are scattered around.On his right is one of the maids of slaughter (Jogni) drunk with blood, the cup still at her lip, and her countenance expressive of vacuity ; while below, on the left is a female personification of Death, mere skin and bone : a sickle (koorpi) in her right hand,* its knob a death's head, completes this groupe of the attributes of destruction. To the west is Mahadeo under another form, a beautiful and animated statue, the expression mild, as when he went forth to entice the mountain-nymph, Mera, to his embrace. His tiara is a blaze of finely-executed ornaments, and his snake-wreath, which hangs round him as a garland, has a clasp of two heads of Scheshanaga (the serpent-king), while Nanda below is listening with placidity to the sound of the dumroo. His cupra, and karg, or skull-cap, and sword, which he is in the attitude of using, are the only accompaniments denoting the god of blood The northern compartment is a picture, disgustingly faithful, of death and its attributes. Vulgarly known as Bhooka Mata personification of famine, lank and bare ; her necklace, like her lord's, of skulls. Close by are two mortals in the last stage of existence, so correctly represented as to excite an unpleasant surprise.
The outline, I may say, is anatomically correct. The mouth is half open and distorted, and although the eye is closed in death, an expression of mental anguish seems still to linger upon the features. A beast of prey is approaching the dead body ; while, by way of contrast, a male figure, in all the vigour of youth and health, lies prostrate at her feet.
Such is a faint description of the sculptured niches on each of the external faces of the mindra, whence the spire rises, simple and solid. In order, however, to be distinctly understood, I shall give some slight ichnographic details. First, is the mindra or cella, in which is the statue of the god ; then the munduf, or, in architectural nomenclature, the pronaos ; and third, the portico, with which we shall begin, though it transcends all description.
Like all temples dedicated to Bal-Siva, the vivifier, or 'sun-god,' it faces the east. The portico projects several feet beyond the munduf, and has four superb columns in front, of which the outline by Ghaisi conveys but a very imperfect idea. Flat fluted pilasters are placed on either side of the entrance to the munduf, serving as a support to the internal torun, or triumphal arch, and a single column intervenes on each side between the pilasters and the columns in front. The columns are about eighteen feet in height. The proportions are perfect ; and though the difference of diameter
* Nowhere else did I ever see this emblem of Time, the counterpart of scythe with which we furnish him, which is unknown to India.
