Category:Mahadeva temple, Nohta

Mahadeva temple, Nohta 

A 10th-century Kalachuri era Shiva temple
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Instance of	Hindu temple
Location	Damoh district, Sagar division, Madhya Pradesh, India
23° 40′ 18.2″ N, 79° 34′ 53.2″ E
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The Mahadeva temple, also known as Shiva temple of Nohta and Nohleshwar mandir, is a 10th-century Hindu temple near Nohta village, northwest of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. It is notable as one of the best preserved Kalachuri-era Hindu temple masterpieces.

Nohta is now a small remote village. It was the capital of Kalachuri of Tripuri dynasty, also known as Kalchuris of Chedi. Nohta served as the capital before the 13th-century, and was a major city. When surveyed by Henry Cousens and other colonial era ASI archaeologists, Nohta had numerous ruins of Hindu and Jain temples, with mutilated artwork scattered over many square miles. Of these, the only standing temple and the most significant discovery was this Mahadeva temple. It is credited to a 10th century Chalukyan princess Nohala Devi who married a Kalchuri king, then likely brought the art influences and propelled a synthesis of Hindu art ideas from the Deccan region to those in Kalchuri-ruled central India.

This Shiva temple stands on a large jagati (platform). It has a mukhamandapa, a sabhamandapa, an antarala and a garbhagriya. The temple has a Nagara style architecture with a pancharatha plan. The outer walls and two door frames are exquisitely decorated with Hindu art from Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakta, Saura and Vedic traditions. Like major temples, the temple includes panels with Hindu legends and fables, secular art, and mithuna scenes. Of particular note are the several panels for Lakshmi, Nataraja (south side), Andhakanatka (east), Vinadhara Shiva (north), and the relative rare and beautiful depiction of Bhadrakali as Vrishchika-dhari (goddess with scorpion on her belly). Vrishchikadhari form of the goddess is found in a few Hindu and a few Jain temples. She looks like Chamundi or Kali, but she isn't. She is uniquely identifiable from the scorpion on her belly. The Nohta Bhadrakali provides a key benchmark to compare her panels also found in temples of Khedbrahma (Gujarat), Un (Madhya Pradesh), Bhedaghat Yoginis (Madhya Pradesh), Belur (Karnataka), Ellora (Maharashtra), and the Bijolia Jain temple (Rajasthan).

This is a national monument of India, protected and managed by the ASI.

This is a category about ASI monument number N-MP-38.