Bateshwar Hindu Temples, Padhawali – History

Bateshwar Hindu Temples, Padhawali – History

Bateshwar Group of Temples were built during the reign of Gurjara-Pratihara Dynasty.  The Bateshwar temples were built between the 8^th and the 10^th Century CE. The Bateshwar complex was built on the architectural principles enunciated in two Sanskrit Hindu temple architecture texts, Manasara Shilpa Shastra composed in the 4^th century CE and Mayamata Vastu Shastra written in the 7th century CE. The temples might be destroyed by an earthquake and Muslim forces. The site is mentioned in historical literature as Dharon or Paravali, later as Padavali.

The site was visited, and its ruins were reported by Alexander Cunningham in 1882. Bateshwar was notified by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) as a protected site in 1920. French archeologist Odette Viennot published a paper in 1968 that included a discussion and photographs of the numbered Batesvar temples. K K Muhammed, acting as the Superintendent Archaeologist of Gwalior division, came to know about the plight of these temples.

The ASI began an ambitious project to collect all the ruins, reassemble them and restore as many temples as possible, under an initiative led by the K.K. Muhammed in 2005. The areas around the temple complex was notorious for its Chambal ravines infested with dacoits. During those days, this area was under the command of the dacoits and their leader was Nirbhay Singh Gujjar who used to run a parallel government. K K Muhammed, determined to restore the old glory of Batesar, was able to convince the famous dacoit that these temples were constructed by his ancestors and therefore he should support the restoration activities.

Gujjar got convinced of his ancestry, however being skeptical, he asked Muhammed to restore first four temples and a gateway. With this arrangement, the dacoits provided protection to the ASI workers and also helped them in their restoration activities. Though his initial task was to restore four temples, he completed six in a row. Meanwhile, as the Indian government was pursuing the Chambal dacoits, Nirbhay Singh Gujjar was shot dead in 2005. This provided much relief to the inhabitants of the region and the restoration workers as well.

ASI continued their restoration work only to face a bigger problem lying ahead. After the fear of the dacoits was vanished, the sand mafia became active in this region. This mafia was more ferocious and stronger than the dacoits. Due to presence of many sand mines in vicinity of the Batesar complex, the mining activities started taking its toll on the restored temples and work. KK Muhammed, after not getting help from the government authorities to stop mining in that area, tuned to the RSS chief, K S Sudarshan.

With involvement of Sudarshan, the government agencies came into action resulting in temporary halt in the mining activities. This provide relief to the restoration work and it could continue on its pace. As per a rough estimate by ASI, this complex has about two hundred temples, eighty of which are still waiting for their restoration. However, after the monumental efforts of ASI and Muhammed in particular, the Batesar temple complex has regained its lost glory.