Location, How to reach, Best time to visit:
Bhojpur – a small semi-urban town in Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh is named after Paramara dynasty king Bhoj, an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva of early Eleventh century C.E. It is located at 32kms from Bhopal, capital of Madhya Pradesh on the side of Betwa river. The region is on sandstone ridges of central India. A day-trip from Bhopal to Bhojpur is preferred by the tourists. Nearest airport is Raja Bhoj Airport in Bhopal. Pre-paid taxi service to Bhojpur is available at the airport. Habibganj Railway Station is the nearest railway station to Bhojpur which is located at 22kms distance. But people prefer Bhopal Railway Station. There are state-owned bus service to Bhojpur from Pendra Road, Shahdol and Bilaspur. I went there by full-day booking cab on Ola App from Bhopal. October to March is the best time to visit this temple. On Maha Shivratri many devotees and tourists gather here to witness the festival.
Back to the past – Raja Bhoj:
Legendary Parmara dynasty king Raja Bhoj ruled central Malwa region of early to mid eleventh century. He established city of Bhojpal – present day Bhopal, capital of Madhya Pradesh. He promoted art, architecture and literature. He was a great warrior too. Eleven inscription from the period of his rule have been discovered from Ujjain, Debalpur, Dhar, Betma and Bhojpur. Raja Bho’s dynasty stretched upto Chittod, Banswada, Dungarpur, Bhilsa, Khandesh, Konkan and plains of Godavari. Capital of his kingdom was Dhara Nagari – present day Dhar. Raja Bhoj profound interest in Astrology, Politics, Vastu, Poetry, Literature and Medicine. He himself had written atleast 11 books although there are some evidence of him writing 84 books on the topics of his interest. A 32 ft. statue of Raja Bhojdeva has been placed on Upper Lake in 2011 in honor of great king of Parmara dynasty and the lake is also renamed as Bhojtaal on the occasion of Raja Bhojdeva’s one-thousandth’s anniversary.
History of Bhojpur Shiv Temple:
Unfinished Bhojpur Shiv temple attracts thousands of tourists and devotees. Popular as Bhojeshwar Shiv temple is located on right side of the rocky bank of Betwa river (ancient Betrawati river). Eleventh century C.E. king of the region Raja Bhojdeva of Paramara dynasty was a great patron of art, architecture and literature; atleast 11 books were written by the King Bhojdeva among which Samarangana-Sutradhara – a treaty on architecture is considered as the most important one. Why the temple remained incomplete is still a mystery.
The temple is also associated with local mythological folklores: Some people believe that Pandavas of Mahabharat period built this temple during their exile. Some people claim that mother of Pandavas Devi Kunti left Karna somewhere along the bank of Betwa river.
Architecture of Bhojpur Shiv Temple:
Towards the entry of Bhojpur Shiv Temple there is brief description from Archaeological Survey of India who at present looks after the temple. According to them “this lofty west-facing temple is raised on a 106 ft. long, 77 ft. wide and 17 ft. high platform. The incomplete sikhara of the garbhagriha (Sanctum) is supported on four colossal pillars and twelve pilasters rising to a height of 40 ft. The sanctum is square on plan and enshrines a polished Shiva-linga. The door-jambs of the sanctum are carved with figures of the river Goddesses Ganga and Yamuna on either side. The bracket-capitals of four massive pillars are portrayed with figures of Uma-Maheshwar, Laxmi-Narayan, Brahma-Savitri and Sita-Ram. Externally the temple is bereft of any ornamentation except on the front facade. The balconies on the three facades although do not have any functional use breaks the monotony of the plain walls. Probably these balconies once accommodated with deities of the Saiva family which are now scattered around the temple”.
Unique Features of Bhojpur Shiv Temple:
Shivalinga of Bhojpur Shiv temple is one of the tallest and grandest Shivalingas in India. Shivalinga with its Yonipitha is 22ft. tall. According to ASI Yonipitha is made of huge single block of stone broke into two pieces when a large size stone from the ceiling fell down on it and hence the temple had broken Yonipitha and ceiling open to the sky for centuries. In the year 1951, the temple was handed over to ASI for restoration and conservation as it had become structurally too weak to survive. From time to time restoration works were carried out. However, major restoration work started in 2006-07 by ASI team headed by KK Muhammed. A huge monolith pillar which had been missing from the structure was added using a system of pulleys and livers. Uplifting such huge monolith pillars weighing 33 tonnes in eleventh century must have been very challenging. Broken Yonipithas have been joined together and the opening of the ceiling has been covered with a fiber glass sheet decorated with inverted lotus flower which is exactly alike the original architecture remains of the roof.
As per ASI information: “the temple is survived with a ramp on its back side which was used for the transportation of large size stones to raise the height of temple during construction. Nowhere else in the world, ancient building technology of lifting large size stone architecture members to the top of the structure is extant. The fact that how the builders of the temple raised stone as large as 35 x 5 x 5 ft. and weighing about 70 tonnes to the temple top could have remained a mystery had this ramp was not in existence. Again nowhere else, detail line drawings of the temple such as plan, elevation, pillars and pilasters, sikhara and kalasa have been engraved as a stencil on the rock surface. It speaks that before building the temple plan and elevation were engraved on the rock.”
Balcony features:
Northern, southern and eastern walls have three balconies high up on the walls without any opening on interior walls. These are purely ornamental as these are not approachable from inside or outside of the temple. The temple has no window on it’s walls and the temple is made of large sandstone blocks.
Overall, my short trip to Bhojpur raised more questions: 1. What was the intention of building this temple? 2. Why was the temple left incomplete? 3. Was it really built by Raja Bhoj? Being a powerful and ardent devotee of Lord Shiva what happened during the course of building this temple to leave the temple unfinished? Probably a time machine would help me to get answers to these queries!
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