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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE
tri-bhaṅga pose. He wears a high tiara on the head and various necklaces, hand-and footornaments. His lower garment, though rather short, is ornamented with the tassels of his beautiful girdle. His face shines with a pleasing smile. This sculpture also is a good example of the Silahara art. ..There are some humorous panels also. In one of them[1] a boy is shown dancing with a girl. Their modes of wearing apparel and ornaments are noteworthy. .. Most of the decorative sculptures of this temple are of the Śiva cult, but here and there we notice those of other cults also. The image of Mahā-varāha[2] placed outside the southern entrance of the gūḍha-maṅḍapa is worthy of note. Its upper and lower parts are now broken away and lost, but even the present mutilated portion bespeaks the mighty form of the Boar incarnation and his determination to lift the Earth-goddess out of the ocean at the time of the deluge. It recalls a similar image of that incarnation of Vishṇu carved in a cave near Vidiśā. Owing to differences in the artistic outlook, the Khidrāpur image is more ornamented, but otherwise, it is as spirited as its counterpart of the Gupta age in the Vidisa cave. .. The aforementioned stone inscription of the Yādava king Siṅghaṇa records that king’s grant of the village Kūḍaladāmavāḍa (modern Kurundwāḍ situated at the confluence of the rivers Kudālakṛishṇaveṇī (Kṛishṇā) and Bhēṇasī (Pañchagaṅgā) in the Mirinji (Miraj)-deśa for the worship of the god Kōppēśvara. The grant was made on the occasion of the solar eclipse which occurred on Monday, Chaitra amāvāsyā of the Śaka Saṁvat 1136 (22nd April A.D. 1213), the cyclic year being Śrīmukha. The king also ordered that the income from the previously granted villages Jugula and Siriguppa (now in the Beḷgaon District) should be utilised in the repairs of the temple. An initial verse of that record expresses the hope that Dharma would prosper thereafter since the temple of Kōppēśvara has now, after a long time, secured a suitable environment and illustrious, intelligent, liberal and clever rulers (like the Yādavas).[3] Siṅghaṇa did not, however, make any attempt to complete the construction of this temple. Perhaps, the rude stucco śikhara on the garbha-gṛiha was constructed in his time, but the other parts of the temple were not completed. We have seen above what damage was later done to the structure by the frenzied followers of Islam. .. The temple is now under the protection of the Archaeological Department of the Mahārāshṭra State. The Department has provided two stone buttresses to the eastern wall of the gūḍha-maṇḍapa, but has so far done no other repairs. The ground round the basement of the temple requires to be scraped and the basement disclosed to view. The compound wall round the place requires to be repaired. This Place Situated in beautiful surroundings on the bank of the Kṛishṇā can be developed into an attractive centre of tourism if good approach roads from Kolhāpur and residential facilities at the place are provided. .. Several Jaina temples were erected by the Śilāhāra kings, their Sāmantas and subjects. Two of them still exist in Kolhāpur itself and one more at Khidrāpur near Shiroḷ. ..
The Rūpanārāyaṇa Vasati−This temple erected by Nimbadēvarasa, a Sāmanta of
the Śilāhāra king Gaṇḍarāditya, still exists well maintained near the Śukravāra gate of
Kolhāpur. Nimbadēvarasa named it Rūpanārāyaṇa after a biruda of his liege-lord Gaṇḍarāditya. The Terdāḷ stone inscription,[4] dated Śaka Saṁvat 1109, mentions explicitly
[1] Plate O, Fig. 18.
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