File:Basheshwar Mahadeva temple, Bajaura Himachal Pradesh.jpg

English: This is a JPEG format plan and architectural drawing of a historic Indian temple or monument. An alternate SVG format (scalable vector graphics) version of this file – for web graphics, design studies, print, dynamic and interactive applications – has also been uploaded to wikimedia commons.

The drawing:

• This is the floor plan of the Basheshwar temple. This Kulu valley, Himachal Pradesh temple is also known as Vishveshvara Mahadev temple, Bisheshwar Mahadeo temple or Basesar mandir (and other phonetic equivalents).

• The temple is notable for several reasons. It is a monolithic stone structure (carved and revealed out of the pre-existing rock at the site, similar to the Masrur temples in the Himalayan foothills). It is Nagara style with Gurjara-Pratihara architecture typically found in Gujarat-Madhya Pradesh-Rajasthan area. The temple features intricately carved beautiful artwork from all three major Hindu traditions: Shaivism, Shaktism and Vaishnavism, as well as Vedic deities such as Surya.

• The Basheshwar temple can be dated to the 7th-century based on its Vishnu and other iconography (see H Goetz's book on Himachal temples, p. 66 footnote 55) and some inscriptions in the region. There were likely some additions through the 11th-century. The temple complex was damaged after the 13th-century, and the broken ruins can be seen stored in this complex nearby. This structure likely survived deliberate destruction and mutilation because it is monolithic.

• The temple's architectural plan follows the square and circle principle found in historic Sanskrit texts.

• The relative scale and relative dimensions in this architectural drawing are close to the actual but neither exact nor complete. The plan illustrates the design and layout, but some intricate details or parts of the temple may not be shown. In cases where exact measurements were not feasible, the drawing uses best approximations and rounds the best measurements feasible.

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