File:Bahusmarna temple, Kanoda Gujarat.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:

• Kanoda is a historic village on the banks of Rupen river, about 14 kilometers east-northeast of Modhera and 7 kilometers southwest of Dhinoj. It has a historic manmade lake, to the southwest of which is the Bahusmarna temple (also called Bahusmarna Devasthan). This was a part of major town or city before the 13th-century as evidenced by the ruins of many exquisitely carved Hindu and Jain temples, steps wells and other monuments between Modhera and Dhinoj.

• When rediscovered by British and Indian archaeologists in the 19th-century, the Bahusmarna was mostly destroyed, except for the remains of its standing mandapa and parts of the foundations of the sanctum. Broken parts of the temple were scattered nearby in a random manner, and parts of the temple structure had been pulled out as if to be taken our and to build something else. Some vegetation was growing over the ruined roof of the mandapa. Inside was the beheaded part of what must have been a giant dvarapala.

• The temple has been reconstructed, though the local community has made efforts to keep the original structure to the extent possible and reuse the ruins at or near the original plan. Thus, the contemporary Bahusmarna temple is a fusion of a modern temple and the original temple.

• This is the floor plan of the historic Bahusmarna temple. Most scholars date it to the 10th-century, with some scholars date it a bit later by a century or so. It is notable for its beautiful carvings at all three entrances into the temple mukha-mandapa, the vedi and the pillars. It has a dome architecture above the mandapa, with lotus carving in the ceiling and brackets with intricately carved dancers and musicians.

• Since the sanctum was destroyed and gone (leaving behind only parts of the foundation), it is unclear to whom this major temple was dedicated. Based on the artwork, it would be either Somesvara (Shiva) or a Devi (Shakti). When the ruins were sorted and reclaimed, a fragment of Devi (Hindu goddess) was found in the ruins, who is now the presiding deity of this living temple – Bahusmarna (Bormarana).

• This temple is best studied in comparison with the somewhat similar and historic Nilakantha temple in Sunak.

• 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. This drawing uses the data published by Jas Burgess and Henry Cousens in Archaeological Survey of Western India Volume IX in 1903, and which is in public domain.

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