English: This is a JPEG format plan and architectural drawing of a historic Indian temple or monument. An alternate SVG format (scalable vector graphics) version of this file – for web graphics, design studies, print, dynamic and interactive applications – has also been uploaded to wikimedia commons.

The drawing:

• Kasara is small village in Banaskantha district, north Gujarat. It is east of the seasonal Banas river, about 25 kilometers west-northwest of Patan, and to the north of the historic talav (lake).

• The village is small now, but must have been a much larger prosperous town or city because it has been a source of numerous exquisitely carved, but mutilated Hindu and Jain artwork.

• To the northeast side of the talav is a three-shrine complex whose superstructure (shikara) has been torn off. When it was discovered by British archaeologists, they remarked that it is among the most profusely carved temples in the region, but that it was a "badly battered and injured" structure where pretty much every small and large sculpture has been defaced and mutilated. Vegetation had grown in parts of it. Villagers were using it as a cattle shed, and to store the numerous ruins they had found in their wells and fields. Amongst these were two marble Surya idols, which gave it the early name "Surya temple of Kasara (or Kasra)". However, after some clean up and a careful study it became obvious that the "two Surya statues" belonged to some other lost temple and had nothing to do with this temple.

• This modest size trikuta-temple is a Brahma-Shiva-Vishnu or a trimurti temple. This is established by the dedicatory carving on the lalita-bimba, the iconography on the doorway to the shrine, the outer walls of each cella and the portions of the pillars that remain. All of these are profusely carved with exquisite details and jewelry like finish (but hammered and mutilated in many sections). The central sanctum is all Shaiva-theme, the north sanctum is all Vaishnava-theme, the south sanctum is all Brahma-theme. Yet the artists included Shaktism-theme too in the central adytum with Mahisasuramardini. Goddess Parvati features on the Shiva side, Lakshmi on the Vishnu side, Saraswati on the Brahma side. The parts of the shikhara that have survived has numerous gavaskas (early colonial era surveys call it the 'ass-hoof ornament' since Sanskrit silpa sastra texts and conventional nomenclatures were as yet unknown).

• The details and iconographic features suggest this to be about 10th-century temple.

• The temple continues to be neglected, has vegetation growing inside the mandapa and sanctum, but it is no longer being used as a cattle shed. It is listed as a Gujarat state protected monument.

• This is the floor plan of this Kasara temple.

• The temple's architectural plan follows the square and circle principle found in historic Sanskrit texts.

• For further details and many artwork sketches from this temple's panel, please see Jas Burgess and Henry Cousens (1903), The Architectural Antiquities of Northern Gujarat, Archaeological Survey of Western India, Volume IX, pp. 105–108 with Plates LXXVII-XCII.

• GPS location of the monument:

23° 54′ 41.5″ N, 71° 54′ 48″ E

View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap

23.911528; 71.913333

• The relative scale and relative dimensions in this architectural drawing are close to the actual but neither exact nor complete. The plan illustrates the design and layout, but some intricate details or parts of the temple may not be shown. In cases where exact measurements were not feasible, the drawing uses best approximations and rounds the best measurements feasible. This drawing uses the data and plan published by Jas Burgess and Henry Cousens in 1903 (see the source above). This publication is in public domain.

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