File:0111821 Pachhali Marghat group of Hindu temples, Kadwaha MP 022.jpg

English: The Pachhali Marghat group in Kadwaha has two surviving temples both facing west. They used to be a part of a much larger collection of monuments, but all except two are lost and these appear separated into two compounds as a modern era road passes between them.

The larger of the two temples is dedicated to Vishnu and the smaller surviving was originally dedicated to Shiva in this hub of 9th-century Shaiva monasteries.

The Vishnu temple has a pancharatha plan. It has a pillared mandapa, an antarala and a garbhagriha. Inside the sanctum is a Shiva lina, but this is a recent addition during restorations. The lalatabimba has a Garudasana-Vishnu, with Shiva and Brahma on the sides of the lintel. The temple has Navagrahas and Saptamatrikas in the recesses. Other artwork in this temple include Dasavataras, Varaha, Narasimha and Vamana.

The Shiva temple is to the north-west of the Vishnu temple, across the road. The dvianga temple sits on a plain bhitta. The temple has a mandapa and garbhagriya, but its sikhara was torn down by someone in its history. The lalatabimba has Uma-Maheshvara, while Brahma-Saraswati and Lakshmi-Narayana are on the sides of the lintel. Rudras and Navagrahas are in the recesses. Other artwork include Varuna, Chamunda, Ganesha and a notable Hariharahiranyagarbha.

Background:

Kadwaya – also referred to as Kadwaha, Kadambaguha and Mattamayurapura – is a historic Hindu site in north Madhya Pradesh. With ancient roots, Kadwaya developed into a monumental Hindu temples town between 8th and 11th century. By the 12th century, it contained over fifteen group of temples, a Shaiva monastery-college site, a range of wells, gardens, and water tanks, according to the scholar Tamara Sears. Kadwaha's rapid growth and fame was partly because of its significance to a Mattamayuras-related Shiva tradition as well as partly because it was on the trade route between the northern kingdoms including those in the Yamuna-Ganga river plains and those in the Deccan and central Indian valleys.

Mattamayuras literally means "drunken Peacocks". This site was not exclusive to the Shaiva tradition; of the fifteen temple groups, five were dedicated to Vishnu, the other ten a blend of Shaiva-Shakta (that is, Shiva and Devi-goddess traditions).

The town was among the earliest targets of conquest by the Delhi Sultanate. The monastery built around itself a fort, in response to attacks and plunder in the 13th century. The town and this fort was conquered by the Tughluq army of the Delhi Sultanate and converted into an Islamic outpost with mosque. It later became a strategic outpost for the Mughals. During this period, many of the temples were reduced to ruins and desecrated. Of these, nine sites of Hindu temples, the Shaiva monastery along with many inscriptions have survived into the modern age. These are important to an objective understanding of the history of central India.

For further scholarly discussions:

• Arvind Singh, Kadwaha temples, in Art, Icon and Architecture in South Asia, pp. 361–382
• Tamara Sears, Following River Routes and Artistic Transmissions in Medieval Central India
• Saurabh Saxena, Kadwaya – The Vestiges of the Mattamayuras