Forlorn temple complex, crumbling toranas
Forgotten story of Rudra Mahalaya
Last year when finance minister referred to Sindhu – Saraswati Civilisation in her budget speech there was uproar against her reference, from the “intellectual” class and some archaeologists were disgusted to the extent of offering to give up their pursuit. I wonder why there is so much of an antipathy towards, say even an effort to study, dig, discover the lost Saraswati. Are they worried that their myth would get busted if Saraswati is established as a living river on whose banks a mighty civilisation flourished?
I have been fortunate enough to at least follow the trail of Saraswati, see for myself the deep local connection the river had even today the people who lived on her banks, thanks to a chance meeting with Dr S Kalyanaraman over two decades ago. His tireless work and generosity in sharing all the information, knowledge has only left us feeling guilty that we aren’t doing much to bring them into focus, establish the facts. It was because of my awareness of Saraswati, and the region from Himachal-Haryana border to the coast of Gujarat where she flowed, I have tried to explore sites connected to the river whenever possible. That is how I was determined to visit Siddhpur in Gujarat couple of years ago, when I decided to make a day trip from Ahmadabad to Modhera and Patan.
When I mentioned Siddhpur to a friend, obviously the reference to Rudra Mahalaya came up. I was told that entry to the site may not be possible as it is a site under dispute. I had very little time to read up before I went on my trip which was primarily a nature camp to the Little Rann of Kutch. I had to do the day trip alone after completing the LRK camp. It was a bit of a stretch to add Siddhpur to Modhera and Patan for a day trip. But, I was determined to do it, because I wanted to try make an attempt to see Rudra Mahalaya – being a journalist there is always a way we find though that is a diminishing quality these days given the respect we command in society.
No one sheds a tear for those long forgotten pagans of Constantinople when their temple goes through transformation from being a Christian Church to a Mosque, a Museum and a Mosque again. We do not use Turkey’s arguments to reclaim any religious structures in India, as long as they are Hindu. Ayodhya for long was just a “disputed site” and fortunately that status would soon be put to rest as a new temple rises. But, there are many sites across the country that are not well known efor what they stand for - destruction, restoration and reuse of the partial structure for another religious purpose, and renewed disputes are not even allowed to be surveyed, studied. Rudra Mahalaya is one such, I can only think of another similar disputed site where occasional claims by both religions lead to skirmishes, the Bhojashala/Saraswati mandir turned into a mosque at Dhar.
The Wikipedia entry on Rudra Mahalaya itself is fairly exhaustive and pictures give a fair idea of what to expect. However, I was clear that I wouldn’t see a picture of the place before I visited. The name Rudra Mahalaya had invoked a sense of a massive structure, ornate as the other Maru-Gurjara edifices in the region. After hitting Modhera by sunrise, doing with just some bajiyas outside for breakfast, and a detailed tour of Patan including the Patola museum and looms, a quick lunch somewhere we dashed to Siddhpur. You wouldn’t find any directions, boards leading to the “structure”. Finding the way is not too difficult though one has to wind through some narrow residential quarters. Somehow landing at Rudra Mahalaya I felt like standing at Jalianwala Bagh. That is the way the area was, narrow streets where you cannot even park the vehicle, and the structure surrounded by dense construction of houses. You can’t imagine a sprawling complex that housed a temple, not just a single Shiva temple, but a complex that housed ekadasha Rudras, 11 shrines.
The importance of the site was evident given the association with the river Saraswati, the Bindu Sarovar site that is still a place of pilgrimage and a place where devotees come to do pitr tarpana like Gaya, pointed out by B.L.Nagarch, author of Encyclopaedia of Indian Architecture. The record of the dispute at the site and the details are documented by Sita Ram Goel in Voice of Dharma, available online. Siddhpur is a site that we cannot forget, and its recorded history and inscriptions, the transformations would be very useful in understanding some of what happened during the medieval period.
But, the disputes at the site after it was handed over the ASI post-independence was mainly over the proposed excavations at the site, including the part that was converted as a mosque where prayers had continued since 15th century. Many compromises, riots later the site remains locked, and very few visit the place, and not much of the remnants of the old temple is available at the site. Nagarch had mentioned that in 944 CE Mulraja, the founder of Solanki or the Gujarat Chalukyan dynasty founded the Rudra Mahalaya. It seems to have suffered delays and finally seen completion during the reign of Siddharaja Jayasimha who built or rebuilt the existing shrine making it many times bigger than what was planned earlier.
“The Rudra-mahalaya was not the first such foundation at the site. The copper-plate inscription recording the Kamboika land grant of 986/7 CE mentions in passing that the first Chaulukya ruler, Mularaja I (r. 941/2-996/7 CE) had "bathed on the day of an eclipse of the sun at Sristhalaka [Siddhpur] in the water of the eastern Sarasvati, [and] worshipped the lord of the gods, the deity of the Rudra-mahalaya." The reference suggests that there had been a shrine at this location. This possibility is supported by some minor but noteworthy archaeological evidence: the floor level of the principal temple was too low for a structure its size, a discrepancy that is consistent with the low height within the sanctum of the main Shaiva cult object, the phallic lingam. Moving the lingam was proscribed by ritual literature even if the enclosing temple was rebuilt,” says Alka Patel in a detailed paper ‘Architectural Histories Entwined - The Rudra-Mahalaya/Congregational Mosque of Siddhpur, Gujarat’.
To quote from Patel’s paper: “In 1414 or early 1415, shortly after the treaty with Ra Malag, Ahmad Shah marched to the northern areas of the territories he was continually trying to control, and besieged the city of Siddhpur. A description of the campaign in the late-sixteenth-century Mir'dt-e Sikandari, the earliest available Persian text, relates that the sultan's forces rallied around the banner of Islamic iconoclasm and desecrated the Rudra-mahalaya. The complex's conversion into the city's congregational mosque is portrayed in the text as a violent, propagandistic act, signaling that Ahmad Shah was defeating his political and military foes not only for the sake of state building, but also for the glory of Islam.
The paper also talks about how during the rule of the Hindu and Jain kings grants were made to all religious structures, including Islamic. But, the Islamic iconoclasm didn’t spare either the Rudra Mahalaya or the Jain religious structures at Shatrunjay Hills. It also quotes how the Hindu and Muslim sculptors worked together in transforming the mandir into masjid and also as artisans working together. Why should one care about Rudra Mahalaya or the history of Siddhpur. Siddhpur was not the capital of the Solankis, but the nearby Anhilwad Patan. But, Siddhpur was important as a religious place for both the Hindus and Jains. The Rudra Mahalaya site and the structure of Jami Masjid with its domes and the two temples standing on the two corners is a telling example of a temple complex reconstructed as a congregational mosque. Today the Hindu religious sites are in a sad state, the remnants of the river bed a garbage dump and the Bindu Sarovar is only a concrete water tank that gets clean and refilled by fat pipes several times a day. Sarawati and all the sites related to Saraswati, the religious structures along need resurrection for the river itself be still mocked at as a “mythical” river.
Quoting Lalla Bhatta’s description of the architecture and
sculptures of the temple from the Voide of Dharma website:
Fourteen storeys rise above the earth and seven thousand
pillars,
In row after row, while eighteen hundred statues studded with emeralds adorn
it.
It is endowed with thirty thousand flagstaffs with stems carved and leaves of
gold.
Seven thousand sculptured elephants and horses stand in attendance on Rudra.
Seeing it all, Gods and men get struck with wonder and are greatly charmed,
JayasiMha has built a temple which excites the envy of emperors. The sculptured
elephants and lions trumpet and roar, all around, again and again,
The golden kalaas glitter on the maNDapa upheld
by numerous pillars.
The statues sing and dance and roll their eyes,
So that even the Gods jump with joy and blow their conches.
The ecstatic dance of Gods is watched by Gods and men who crowd around,
That is why the Bull, O Sidha! O King of Kings! is feeling frightened.
The verse here from Mirat-e-sikandari
He marched under divine inspiration,
For the destruction of temples at Saiyidpur,
Which was a home of the infidels,
And the native place of accursed fire-worshippers.
There they dwelt, day and night,
The thread-wearing idolaters.
It had always remained a place for idols and idol-worshippers,
It had received no injury whatsoever from any quarter.
It was a populous place, well-known in the world,
This native place of the accursed infidels.
Its foundations were laid firmly in stone,
It was decorated with designs as if drawn from high heaven.
It had doors made of sandal and ud.
It was studded with rings of gold,
Its floors were laid with marble,
Which shone like mirrors.
Ud was burnt in it like fuel,
Candles of camphor in large numbers were lighted in it.
It had arches in every corner,
And every arch had golden chandeliers hanging in it.
There were idols of silver set up inside,
Which put to shame the idols of China and Khotan.
Such was this famous ancient temple,
It was famous all over the world.
By the effort of Ahmad, it was freed from the idols,
The hearts of idol-worshippers were shattered with grief.
He got mosques constructed, and mimbars placed in them,
From where the Law of Muhammad came into force.
In place of idols, idol-makers and idol-worshippers,
Imams and callers to prayers and khatibs were appointed.
Ahmad’s good grace rendered such help,
That an idol-house became an abode of Allah.
Let Sidhpur, the Sristhala and Saraswati rise again to shine
like stars as mentioned in this verse picked up from the James Burgess
catalogue.
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