Bhojpur is a small village popular for the 11 century AD Bhojeshwar temple. The temple houses one of largest Shivalings in India. The Shivalinga is 5.5m tall carved out of a single rock. The temple is functioning but is an incomplete building. The local legend says that Raja Bhoja wanted to build this temple in 24 hours (info from my guide)And that is the reason it is incomplete. They could build only this in 24 hours. But, the history says something else. The interiors of the temple have rich carvings. The high dome is supported by four massive pillars. The ceiling has beautiful carvings. The outer walls and the spire were never built.
Around the temple are scattered unfinished stone carvings that sculptors left when Raja Bhoja died in the battlefield. The ancient rock carvings are protected by fence. These carvings show plans of the temple. Take a walk and you will find many unfinished architectural parts of the temple.
The Betwa river has created a deep gorge here. Across the gorge is Parvati cave which has more architectural fragments. Around here one can see the remnants, basically a basement, of the Raja's palace. I walked down the gorge and took a boat across the river to reach the cave and back.
The Bhojeshwar temple site is open and very exposed. Summer days might get very hot. Even in early February I felt severe heat while walking to the cave. I heard there are rock paintings some where around which I skipped because I had to hire another guide for that trek and the heat was unbearable.
Bhojpur is 28KM from Bhopal city, on the highway to Hoshangabad, same road to popular Bhimbetka Caves. I took a bus to Gyara-mile, then a weird-van-with-motor-cycle-engine to the temple and same way back. Up to Gyara-mile, that is on highway, there is plenty of public transport available. From there reaching Bhojpur is a bit difficult. Only one weird-van-with-motor-cycle-engine runs between the highway and Bhojpur. He will start only when the van gets full. He overloads it and the van may break-down on the way! Taking your own vehicle/taxi is highly recommended. Street-side vendors sell mineral water and deep fried snacks. No other restaurants available.
The imposing shrine gets its uniqueness by being incomplete! It reminds the legacy of Raja Bhoja who died defending his Kingdom when Kalyani Chalukyas, Gujarat rulers and Kalachuri king combined attacked!!
An half-a-day excursion from Bhopal city is worth the time and money. My next destination was Sanchi 46KM from Bhopal.
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Scrapbook- A Travel Blog by Kusum Sanu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Never knew Bhojpur was not all that accesssible.
ReplyDeleteThe sculptors really look different, when half complete. Great photos.
Sanchi is an exciting place, with the stupa and all. Looking forward to it.
Thanks Jenny! Yes, incomplete structure doesn't quite look like a temple!
Deletewhen is a good time of the year to visit bhojpur? i have seen plenty of the place on internet forums but never got down to scripting a real trip.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely Nov-Jan in my opinion. BTW, thanks for visiting my blog and leaving kind words.
DeleteOh Bhojpur looks really fascinating. You know, it's really strange - as a child I used to read about Bhojpur a lot, in stories about Raja Bhoja. But I never bothered to find out if it was a real town and how it is today! Your post was illuminating. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Gowri. Glad you find my article interesting and useful :)
DeleteThe carvings are so intricate! Much of the architecture in your world is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much EG!
DeleteNice article Kusum. Interesting temple. That is a good find.
ReplyDeletewww.rajniranjandas.blogspot.com
Thanks Niranjan!
Deletethanks for sharing...impressive place!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ashok.
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