The Sahasra Bahu temples or Sasbahu Temples, at

Nagda, Rajasthan Nagda is a village in Udaipur district of Rajasthan state in India. It was once a prominent city in the early Mewar state. Today it is known primarily for the remains of the Sahastra Bahu Temples. Location Nagda is situated approximately 20 kilom ...

, are a pair of late 10th-century Hindu temples dedicated to veerabadra. They share a platform, facing the temple tank, and are similar in style, but one is rather larger than the other. The larger one is surrounded by ten subsidiary shrines, the smaller by four; only the bases remain of some of these. The temples have many of the characteristics of slightly later Māru-Gurjara architecture but lack others, especially in the plan and exterior sculpture. They are locally referred to as Sas Bahu temples (a local corruption of the original Sahasra-Bahu, meaning "One with thousand arms", a form of Vishnu). Nagda was once an important city of Mewar, possibly a capital of one of its rulers. Both temples have a sanctuary,

mandapa A mandapa or mantapa () is a pillared hall or pavilion for public rituals in Indian architecture, especially featured in Hindu temple architecture. Mandapas are described as "open" or "closed" depending on whether they have walls. In temples, ...

with side projections, and an open porch. Their somewhat ruined shikharas are in brick, with many subsidiary turrets. That of the smaller temple has been largely repaired, while the larger one remains truncated. Below the platform there is a torana-style entrance screen, with four columns and a decorative cusped arch in the centre. The interiors and parts of the exteriors, especially around the porches, are lavishly carved, but much of the exteriors are plain. Lotus flower painting is visible on the roof top of temple. Iltutmish (Delhi emperor of that time) destroyed Nagda in 1226. The temples are on the Archaeological Survey of India's list of heritage monuments. Adbhutji Shanthinath Jain Tirth or Nagahyuda Jain Mandir, an ancient Jain centre is located nearby, next to the Bagela Lake.

Location

The site is very easily accessible by road, only about 20km from Udaipur (one of the main lake & palace hotspots of Tourism in Rajasthan), a mere 2.7 km from the well frequented Shaivite shrine of

Eklingji Eklingji (''IAST:'' Ekaliṅga jī) is a Hindu temple complex in Udaipur District of Rajasthan in western India. It is situated in Kailashpuri village (at Girwa Tehsil, Udaipur), near the former capital of Mewar, i.e., Nagda. Eklingji is belie ...

, or 30 km from the hugely popular Vaishnavite shrine town of Nathdwara.

Gallery

File:Aesthetic view of sahastrabhu temple.jpg, Temple 1 File:Sahasra_Bahu_Temple_in_Nagda,_Rajasthan.jpg, Sahasra Bahu Temple2 File:Sahasra_Bahu_Temple_carvings.jpg, Carvings on the walls of the temple Nagda-10-Sas Bahu-2018-gje.jpg, Part of temple 2 Nagda-12-Sas Bahu-2018-gje.jpg, Reliefs on temple 2 Nagda-38-Sas Bahu-2018-gje.jpg, Gate

Spelling confusion

Sahasra is the correct prefix that means "a thousand", not SahasTra. However, it is invariably misspelled as the latter. Notice how the same prefix is spelled when referring to the crown chakra: " Sahasrara Chakra" or when it occurs in family names (example: Sahasrabuddhe) ''without'' a T. Also see Sahasralinga. The confusion arises because the Devanagari letter "sa" (स) merges with "ra" (र) to make "sra" (स्र), which looks like "stra" (स्त्र).

References

*Michell, George (1990), ''The Penguin Guide to the Monuments of India, Volume 1: Buddhist, Jain, Hindu'', p. 287, 1990, Penguin Books,

External links

*
Sahastra Bahu Temple Guide
Temples in Rajasthan Tourist attractions in Udaipur district Buildings and structures in Udaipur district {{india-hindu-temple-stub