हिंदीOn this day
Standing

Bhoramdeo Temple

An 11th-century Shiva temple at the foot of the Maikal hills, its walls crowded with carving in the manner of Khajuraho. It was built under the Phani-Nagavanshi kings of Kawardha.

Built: c. 1089 CE, Phani-Nagavanshi king GopaladevaWhere: ChhattisgarhDeity: Bhagwan Shiva22.12° N, 81.15° E
  1. c. 1089
  2. 1349
Photo: Pankaj Oudhia · CC BY-SA 3.0

01Khajuraho of Chhattisgarh

The temple stands beside a tank ringed by forest, a Nagara shikhara of stone rising over a sanctum where the linga sits below floor level. Its outer walls carry three bands of sculpture: devas, apsaras, musicians, Shiva and Vishnu in their forms, Ganesha dancing, and scenes of village life. An inscription records that it was built around 1089 under the Phani-Nagavanshi king Gopaladeva. The Gonds of the area worship Bhoramdeo as a form of Shiva, and the name comes from that worship.

02Madwa Mahal

About a kilometre away stands the Madwa Mahal, a later Shiva temple whose inscription of 1349 records the marriage of the Nagavanshi king Ramachandradeva with a Haihaya princess, Ambikadevi; the name means wedding pavilion. The Cherki Mahal, a small brick shrine, is close by. The Phani-Nagavanshis held this corner of the Maikal hills for several centuries as feudatories of the Kalachuris of Ratanpur. The Bhoramdeo Mahotsav is held in March, around Mahashivaratri.

The life of this place

  1. c. 1089The temple is built under the Phani-Nagavanshi king Gopaladeva.
  2. 1349The Madwa Mahal inscription records a Nagavanshi–Haihaya royal marriage.
Visiting

About 18 km from Kawardha (Kabirdham) and 125 km from Raipur.

Nearby

Amarkantak, Source of the NarmadaStanding
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Amarkantak, Source of the Narmada

The plateau in the Maikal hills where the Narmada and the Son rise. Every Narmada parikrama, the walk of some 2,600 km along both banks, begins and ends here.

Devrani and Jethani Temples, TalaRuined
The Gupta Age

Devrani and Jethani Temples, Tala

Two ruined Shiva temples on the Maniyari river at Tala, among the oldest in Chhattisgarh. In front of Devrani was dug up a seven-foot image whose body is made of creatures, the Rudra Shiva of Tala.

Mahamaya Temple, RatanpurStanding
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Mahamaya Temple, Ratanpur

The temple of Mahamaya at Ratanpur, old Ratnapura, capital of the Kalachuri kings of Chhattisgarh for some seven centuries. She is the kuldevi of the region, and at Navratri thousands of oil lamps burn in her halls.

Maa Bamleshwari Temple, DongargarhStanding
Independent Bharat

Maa Bamleshwari Temple, Dongargarh

The temple of Bamleshwari on a 1,600-foot hill above Dongargarh, with a second, lower shrine to Chhoti Bamleshwari at its foot. In the two Navratris it is the busiest Devi temple in Chhattisgarh.