Bhojpur

Excursion

Bhojeshwar Temple
In plan, this temple is a simple four-sided one with an exterior dimension of 66 feet. The dome though incomplete is a richly carved one; has a magnificent height and is supported by four pillars guarded by two ornamental figures at the entrance. However, in reality, the temple was never completed but the earthen ramp used to raise it to dome-level still exists. Had it been completed, it would have had been the very unique and one of its kind of such an architecture.

The temple remains one of the best examples of the temple architecture of the 11th - 13th centuries. These like the dome have retained their remarkable elegance because of their tapering form. Divided into three sections, the lowest is an octagon with facets of 2.12 feet, from which springs a 24-faced section. The enormous Shiva Lingam in the temple carved out of a single rock over a three tiered square sandstone platform, is the largest in India. The Lingam is 7.5 ft tall with nearly 21.5-ft circumference.

Top    

Jain Temple
Even this temple is an incomplete one and with a similar stone-raising ramp. This is a Jain shrine that stands close to the Bhojeshwar temple containing the figures of the three Tirthankaras; one which is a colossal statue of Mahavira measuring 20 feet high, and the other two of Parswanath. Rectangular in plan, this temple probably belongs to the same period as the Bhojeshwar.

Top    

Cyclopean Dam
In the earlier times, there was the presence of a vast lake, in the westside of Bhojpur but nothing has remained now except the ruins of the magnificent old dams. The site was chosen with great skill, as a natural wall of hills enclosed the whole area except for two gaps, 100 yards and 500 yards in width respectively.

These were closed by gigantic earthen dams, faced on both sides with enormous blocks of sandstone, most of them being 4 feet long, 3 feet broad, and 2.5 feet thick, set without mortar. The smaller dam is 44 feet high and 300 feet thick at the base, the larger dam 24 feet high with a flat top 100 feet broad. These embankments held up an expanse of water of about 250 square miles. This great work is ascribed to Raja Bhoj, but it could also possibly be of an earlier date.

Top