This site could be as old as 500BCE as per recent discoveries and a resting place for people who were travelling from south to the Sarswati civilization .
Dharmrajeshwar (Hindi: धर्मराजेश्वर) is an ancient Buddhist and Hindu cave temple site of 4th-5th (??? ) Century in Mandsaur district in Madhya Pradesh, India. It is an example of Indian rock-cut architecture, situated in Garoth tahsil of Mandsaur district at a distance of 4 km from Chandwasa town and 106 km from Mandsaur city. Nearest railway station is Shamgarh about 22 km. Its original name is Dhamnār (धमनार).
The historians believe that the Dharmrajeshwar temple belongs to 7th – 9th century A. D. It is approximately the same time when the Rashtrakutas commissioned the monolithic temples at Ellora. The architectural similarity is fascinating. The southern and western rock – face has a well planned monastery with more then 70 living quarters , pavilions, meditation halls, stupas and images of Lord Buddha and his disciples. A large relief image of Lord Buddha stands at the entrance of a pavilion. Lord is bestowing blessings on the humanity. Nearby an image of Kuber, the god of wealth and equally important in Buddhist iconography stands guard to the inner quarters. In a passage carved within the hillock, we see a chiseled image of Lord Buddha in reclining pose (Nirvana Buddha) with his disciples standing and watching the Lord attaining Nirvan.
It has the 9th century monolithic temple of Dharmarajeshwara, carving it out of solid natural rock. The temple is carved out of a rock of size 50 metre in length, 20 metre in width and 9 metre deep. It has a sanctum with a Sabhamandapa and porch. The spire of the shrine is in the north Indian style. The architecture of Dharmarajesvara temple can be compared with Kailash Temple of Ellora. There is a big temple in the middle 14.53 metre in length and 10 metre in width. Around the main temple there are seven small temples. There is a big Shivalinga in the main temple along with a statue of Vishnu. Engraved on the entrance gate are figures of Vishnu and Lakshami. There are statues of Bhairava, Kali, Shiva, Garuda and Parvati. The temple seems to be devoted to both Shiva and Vishnu.
There are more than 50 small Buddhist caves and many small stupas on a laterite plateau, 20 km west of Shyamghar. Working from the top, a large rock-cut 8-shrined temple was carved out of the rocky mass. Unfortunately once the plaster peeled off the rough surface, the minute detailing of the sculpture was lost. Ferguson considers these caves to be built
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