File:Mahua Nagara mandir, Shiva temple number 2, Madhya Pradesh 004.jpg

English: The Mahua Nagara temple, sometimes called the Mahua Shiva temple number 2, is the an exemplary early example of a 64-square plan implementation of Vastupurushamandala as documented in ancient Brihat Samhita text. The temple stands is in ruins and supported by scaffolding.

The surviving sections of the temple show the design elements described in the architecture section of the early Sanskrit encyclopedia. The 2.29 meter square-plan sanctum occupies 16 squares of the 64-square plan. The space for mandapa, the bhadra niches, pratiratha and karna all follow the Brihat Samhita specifications. The doorway is flanked by Yamuna and Ganga, and has a Garuda at the lalatabimba. This means that the temple was originally a Vishnu temple. It was likely abandoned after its desecration after the 12th century, claimed centuries later when a Shiva linga was re-inserted into the sanctum.

For a scholarly discussion of this temple and 64-grid plan, see: Michael Meister (1979), Maṇḍala and Practice in Nāgara Architecture in North India, pp. 205–210 with Figs 2–5