Shiva Temple, Sakour Village, Hatta Tehsil, Damoh District, Madhya Pradesh

A lesser – known edifice of the late Gupta period is the 6th century Shiva Temple located in the obscure village of Sakour. Archaeological excavations conducted in this village have uncovered coins of Maharajadhiraja Shri Samudragupta, Maharajadhiraja Shri Chandragupta and Maharajadhiraja Shri Skandagupta indicating that this village must have been an important seat of learning, art, literature and architecture during the Gupta reign.

Historical records state that the Muslim barbarian Muhummad Ghori looted and razed several temples of the Guptas in this region to the ground in his unrelenting attack and invasion of Akhanda Bharat. This temple was totally in shambles with only the entrance doorway of the shrine in decent condition.

The temple has undergone renovations recently and now sits majestically on a rebuilt platform. This west – facing temple has only a mandapa and a garbha griha in which a Shiva Linga has been consecrated. The original temple layout is similar to the Gupta temples seen at Bhumara and Nachna and probably had a pradakshina path as well.

The temple was built with dressed stones without mortar and had an imposing shikhara over the sanctum sanctorum and a roof over the mandapa that have totally disappeared.  A severely defaced inscription was found on a roof slab of the mandapa.

The entrance doorway of the garbha griha is noteworthy with three profusely decorated bands. The innermost has a random pattern that starts from above the heads of Ganga and Yamuna comprising of lotus enclosed in semi – circular frames.

The middle band has seven carvings on either side while the outermost band has a twisted garland like pattern emerging from a pot held above the head of a gana at the base of the band. The lintel has an unrecognisable panel on either side of the centrally seated Bhagawan Nataraja.

Written by Lakshmi Subramanian