01Kirttiraja’s temple
The Sas-Bahu inscription of 1093 at Gwalior, which gives the line of the Kachchhapaghata kings, says that Kirttiraja built a wonderful temple of the lord of Parvati at Simhapaniya, which is Sihoniya. That is Kakanmath. It was a five-shrine complex, a great central temple with four smaller ones at the corners of its platform, all built without mortar. The local tale names a queen Kakanavati; the name may instead come from kanak, gold, and math, a shrine.
02Standing by its own weight
The subsidiary shrines have gone, the hall has fallen, and the outer skin of the spire has peeled away, probably in earthquakes, leaving a core of loose blocks that look ready to fall and have not for centuries. Villagers say it was raised in one night by spirits. The linga still stands in the sanctum, and some of the finest sculpture from the site is in the Gwalior museum. The ASI now protects it.
The life of this place
- c. 1015–35Kirttiraja builds the temple at Simhapaniya.
- 1093The Sas-Bahu inscription at Gwalior records Kirttiraja’s temple.
Sihoniya is about 30 km north-east of Morena and 70 km from Gwalior; go by car, ideally with Bateshwar and Mitaoli the same day.
