Friday, February 17, 2012

BABOUR OR MANWAL STONE TEMPLES



















Photographs of Devi Bhagwati Temple of Babour ( Manwal ) by Autar Mota


 Babour or Manwal is an important   site of archaeological importance in Udhampur district of J&K State . . There exited several temples of ancient time. These temples were built around 10th and 11th centaury AD. Believed to be five in number , Presently three temples can be seen in Manwal that can be attributed to Babour period . The Nandi Babour Temple , Shiva Temple and Devi Bhagwati Temple. Devi Bhagwati temple, is a treasure house in terms of Architecture and profusely carved images on stones. One can see nandi , Natraja , Standing Ganesha , Saint and soldier images , Human images and geometrical decorations on stones . A mixture of kashmirian and kalinga style of temple architecture , this temple is well maintained and protected by ASI. Babour temples are dedicated to shiva , shakti and vishnu . Characteristics of Kashmirian style of stone temple architecture  are  visible in Devi Bhagwati temple .I personally found stark resemblance of these Temples  to Naraan Naag stone temples of Kashmir both in terms of style and images. 


These temples fall in early medieval route to Kashmir valley and are believed to have been built by Bhabruvahan whose’s kingdom was known as Babbarpur ( presently known as Babour or Manwal ). Manwal is about 60 kms from Jammu and is approachable from three sides . First from Samba on samba Udhampur Road and then from Jammu via Dhansaal and also from Lake surinsar . Manwall also falls on Jammu udhampur rail track and is easily reachable in an hour’s train Journey from Jammu.

( Autar Mota )



Creative Commons LicenseCHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.

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