09-25-2010, 02:43 PM
[quote name='Bodhi' date='26 October 2007 - 02:31 AM' timestamp='1193345616' post='74590']
On the banks of Old Gandaki river, on the lands of the earstwhile princely state of darbhangA, and presently in the samastIpur distt. of bihar, is a village called mAlInagar. The village itself is non-descript, except for a 'forgotten' temple of 12/13th century, that it has.
On one side of the river lies samastIpur, while on the other darbhangA. On the samastipur side is this village. During the heavy rains, the river is often flooded, causing enormous desctruction to both sides. Right on the banks lies this temple known by the locals as Sri Har Mandir.
The temple, actually a complex of twin temples - of Sri Ram, and of Bhagwan Siva, was constructed by some "mahathA" (Mehta?) gold-merchants from Gujarat, as the shilA-leka located here proclaims in sanskrit-prAkrit. Then later there was certain dispute between the wealthy merchants and the king of darbhangA - due to which the merchants left mAlInagar, although the descendant mahathA-s still patronize the temple.
<img src='http://inlinethumb52.webshots.com/24627/2407462780100818794S425x425Q85.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
...
would post more images later.
[/quote]
Dear Bodhi,
Do you have the exact dates of the temples according to the shilAlekha? And are there more images of the temple complex? This is yet another very important example of Hindu temples with clear bulbous (!!) domes at such an early date, but certainly way before any Timurid/Mughal structure. I have seen for instance examples of Hindu Shahi temples too. South Indian temples (of Pallavas for instance) also do have bulbous domes much before Timurid Mughals.
India developed an indigenous style of bulbous domes. This type of domes anywhere in Asia is developed from a fusion of Indian pointed horse-shoe shaped Chaitya roofs and Indian semicircular Stupa domes. The last type we can see frequently in the structures usurped by the Delhi Sultans and called "Pathan" by Fergusson's biased thesis. But Hindu temples do also have the Stupa domes, having its clear examples in elevated Stupas = semicircular stupa domes on top of a square hall, which we have since the Gupta period of the 5th century on.
If my reasoning is right, as explained on the previous page) about the demolished Babari structure that it was actually a former temple built by king Nayachandra in the 12th century (on top of a demolished ancient Rama Mandira of at least the 10th century, which must have been destroyed by a Ghaznavid before Nayachandra's time), then it follows that those structures with that type of a single or triple
(semicircular Stupa) dome was very much a Hindu creation.
This would lead to the important conclusion that not only bulbous domes, but also the non-bulbous semicircular ones must have been Indian creations, all going back to Indian semicircular and bulbous Stupa and Stupi domes. No country shows more varieties of domes as India: plain and ribbed circular bulbous domes, octagon ribbed bulbous domes, bell shaped domes, Chhatri domes, Stupa domes, piramidal domes, conical domes, etc., etc.
On the banks of Old Gandaki river, on the lands of the earstwhile princely state of darbhangA, and presently in the samastIpur distt. of bihar, is a village called mAlInagar. The village itself is non-descript, except for a 'forgotten' temple of 12/13th century, that it has.
On one side of the river lies samastIpur, while on the other darbhangA. On the samastipur side is this village. During the heavy rains, the river is often flooded, causing enormous desctruction to both sides. Right on the banks lies this temple known by the locals as Sri Har Mandir.
The temple, actually a complex of twin temples - of Sri Ram, and of Bhagwan Siva, was constructed by some "mahathA" (Mehta?) gold-merchants from Gujarat, as the shilA-leka located here proclaims in sanskrit-prAkrit. Then later there was certain dispute between the wealthy merchants and the king of darbhangA - due to which the merchants left mAlInagar, although the descendant mahathA-s still patronize the temple.
<img src='http://inlinethumb52.webshots.com/24627/2407462780100818794S425x425Q85.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
...
would post more images later.
[/quote]
Dear Bodhi,
Do you have the exact dates of the temples according to the shilAlekha? And are there more images of the temple complex? This is yet another very important example of Hindu temples with clear bulbous (!!) domes at such an early date, but certainly way before any Timurid/Mughal structure. I have seen for instance examples of Hindu Shahi temples too. South Indian temples (of Pallavas for instance) also do have bulbous domes much before Timurid Mughals.
India developed an indigenous style of bulbous domes. This type of domes anywhere in Asia is developed from a fusion of Indian pointed horse-shoe shaped Chaitya roofs and Indian semicircular Stupa domes. The last type we can see frequently in the structures usurped by the Delhi Sultans and called "Pathan" by Fergusson's biased thesis. But Hindu temples do also have the Stupa domes, having its clear examples in elevated Stupas = semicircular stupa domes on top of a square hall, which we have since the Gupta period of the 5th century on.
If my reasoning is right, as explained on the previous page) about the demolished Babari structure that it was actually a former temple built by king Nayachandra in the 12th century (on top of a demolished ancient Rama Mandira of at least the 10th century, which must have been destroyed by a Ghaznavid before Nayachandra's time), then it follows that those structures with that type of a single or triple
(semicircular Stupa) dome was very much a Hindu creation.
This would lead to the important conclusion that not only bulbous domes, but also the non-bulbous semicircular ones must have been Indian creations, all going back to Indian semicircular and bulbous Stupa and Stupi domes. No country shows more varieties of domes as India: plain and ribbed circular bulbous domes, octagon ribbed bulbous domes, bell shaped domes, Chhatri domes, Stupa domes, piramidal domes, conical domes, etc., etc.