BHIMA DEVI Temple
The temple is situated in the Pinjore city of district Panchkula, HARYANA
The temple, located in Pinjore, is dated from archaeological excavations as an ancient historical and religious place. Archaeological excavations have revealed that this region, extending from Pinjore to Nalagarh, establishes the earliest habitation by man to 1.5 million years ago. This is based on tools of the Paleolithic period found in quartzite formations in the region.
Also, from the rock edicts found from the temple ruins in the area during excavations, it has been conjectured that they were constructed during the reign of Raja Ram Dev.
HISTORY
The Bhima Devi Temple Complex, nicknamed Khajuraho of North India for its erotic sculptures, comprises the restored ruins of an ancient Hindu temple dating from between 8th and 11th century AD
But Muslim invasions from the 13th century onwards resulted in repeated destruction of the temple complex. The first act of depredation was carried out by Nasir-u-Din Mahmood, son of Iltutmish of the Slave Dynasty rule (1206-1290 AD) in the year 1254 A.D. Timurlane who invaded India in 1399 AD destroyed the temples further. This was followed by Changez Khan's destruction in 1507 A.D. The final total destruction of these Hindu temples was effected in 1661 by Muzzaffar Hussain, also known as Fidai Khan Koka, who was the foster brother of the infamous Mughal iconoclast Badshah of Delhi Aurangzeb, Koka means foster brother to the king. Fidai Khan Koka was then Nawab (governor) of Sirhind who razed this temple and built the Pinjore gardens in the Islamic style using the ruins of Hindu temples he destroyed. Later in 1671, Fidai Khan Koka was appointed as governor of Lahore to build the Badshahi Mosque there, which was later conquered by the Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1799 who used that Badshahi Mosque built by Fidai Khan as a stable for the horses.
Panchpura baoli
Pinjore town where the temple complex is located has historic link to the Pandavas, heroes of Mahabharata epic. An inscription in the Pinjore Baoli (‘Baoli’ means "step well") described this place as Panchpura (now known by the shorter name Pinjore). It is said that the Pandavas remained here for about one year on their way to the Himalayas to spend the forced exile period (agyaatvaas or living incognito) of 13 years. It is also said that the Pandavas worshipped goddess Mahakali here and performed yagna. Alexander Cunningham, founding Director-general of ASI, decipher the worn out letters of Pinjore Baoli inscription, which mentions that the old name of the place was Panchpura.
The Bhima Devi temple was sculptured during the reign of Gurjara-Pratiharas. Most of the comprising sculptures and architectural, which were ruined during Mughal period under Aurangzeb, are of the times of the Gurjara-Pratiharas.[7] Archaeological excavations done in 1974 revealed the temple, which was subsequently dated to 8th century to 11th century AD and declared as a protected monument under the ‘Punjab Ancient and Historical Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act-1964’. The unearthed findings cover over 100 antiquarian sculptures, apart from a layout plan indicating a five temples complex, including the main central shrine representing the Panchayatana architectural style, similar to the styles seen in the contemporaneous Khajuraho and Bhubaneshwar temples. The temple complex adjoins the Pinjore Gardens, also known as Mughal gardens built by Aurangzeb’s foster brother using much of the ruins of the Hindu temples destroyed by the Muslim invaders from the 13th century onwards till the 17th century.
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