Chausath Yogini Temple, Mitaoli

01A circle open to the sky

Yogini temples are round and roofless, because the Yoginis, the attendant powers of the Devi, are worshipped under the open sky. At Mitaoli the ring holds 64 small chambers facing inward, each now holding a Shiva linga where a Yogini image once stood, and a pillared verandah running round. An inscription of 1323 CE on the site records that the temple was built by the Kachchhapaghata king Devapala. It has stood through centuries of earthquakes in a seismic zone.

02Morena’s hill

A long flight of steps leads up the hill from the village. From the top you see the flat Chambal country, Padavali’s fortified temple and the Bateshwar ravine a few kilometres off. The site is protected by the ASI; the central Shiva shrine is still worshipped by villagers on Mondays and at Shivaratri. At Padavali, a short drive away, a 10th-century temple mandapa survives inside a later fort, its pillars and ceiling crowded with carving.

The life of this place