Bhojeshwar temple
Also called: Bhojpur Shiva temple · Topic: Early Medieval North India: Harsha to the Rajputs · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 4 "Turning Tides: The 11th and 12th Centuries"
Meaning
The Bhojeshwar temple is a huge Shiva temple at Bhojpur, near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. It was built by Bhoja, the 11th-century Paramara king of Dhara, but was never finished. It holds one of the largest shivalingas in India. It shows the big building plans of Bhoja, who was also a scholar and wrote about architecture.
Example
The unfinished building still has its earthen ramp for raising stones. Plans for the temple are carved on rocks nearby. Together they show how temple builders worked. Bhoja also dammed rivers near Bhopal to make a vast lake, and Bhojtal survives from it today.
Don't confuse with
- Mihira Bhoja: a 9th-century Gurjara-Pratihara king who ruled from Kannauj. Bhojeshwar was built by the 11th-century Paramara Bhoja.
Related concepts
- Agnikula legend
- Paramaras
- Raja Bhoja
- Bhojshala
- Samarangana Sutradhara
- Chandela dynasty
- Khajuraho group of monuments
- Kandariya Mahadeva temple
- Chaulukya dynasty
- Modhera Sun temple