Chhattisgarh Chapter
30 Aug - 4 Sep 2025
CompletedOverview
Chhattisgarh - a land where ancient heritage, stunning temple architecture, vibrant tribal culture, and pristine natural beauty converge into an unforgettable spiritual and cultural journey.
A state which is the hidden gem of Hindu temple architecture; where you find the earliest brick temples, along with some of the most beautiful stone temples in sandstone; but where you also find some of the most fascinating innovations in contemporary architecture; where you find great nagara temples, but also examples of pure Dravida style temples. Imagine a state where one of the most beautiful Shree Rama temples ever built is still in continuous worship, and where great Kumbhs are held around a Shiva temple, apart from all other Kumbs and Ardha Kumbhs that we know of.
A state where Margiya and Desiya culture come together so beautifully, that a tribal goddess of some of the densest jungles of India is also worshipped as the form of the great goddess Shakti. Imagine a state where nature and culture come together so seamlessly that every large temple still has a functioning lake and a sacred grove around it. A state where the longest civilizational continuities exist, along with the greatest of contemporary innovations.
Imagine all of this together!
Imagine Chhattisgarh!
Yes, come this time with Brhat Anvesi to a state which is barely talked about, and rarely known as a great temple destination, but which will surprise you with its amazing temples, immense natural beauty, great food, and homely hospitality.
Come, with us, to Chhattisgarh. On a journey which we are sure you will never be able to forget!
Highlights
India’s Earliest Surviving Brick Temples
Magnificent Sandstone Shrines with Intricate Carvings and Timeless Grace
Lesser-Known but Thriving Vaishnava and Shaiva Pilgrimage Traditions
Living Architectural Synthesis of Nagara and Dravida Temple Styles
Stunning Innovations in Contemporary Temple Design and Construction
Sūtradhāra - Your Temple Expert
Pankaj Saxena
Pankaj is an author on Hindu temples, arts, literature, history and culture. His writing explains the beauty of Sanātana Dharma through stories about traditions, communities and culture. He has a deep interest in cultural anthropology, evolutionary biology and ecology, and has visited more than 1600 Hindu temples.
Interested in this chapter?
We do not plan to repeat previously completed chapters in the near future. However, if you have a group of 15–20 interested individuals who'd love to explore this chapter, do write to us. We'd be happy to create a special on-demand Anveṣī experience just for your group.
Temples Covered
Danteshwari Mandir, Dantewada
We know of the famous Dusshehra of Kullu and that of Mysore, but very few of us know that one of the most vibrantly celebrated of all is the Bastar Dusshehra, at the temple of Maa Danteshwari in Dantewada. This temple, one of the 52 Shakti Peethas of India, is dedicated to Maa Danteshwari, the kuladevi of the Kakatiyas of Warangal. This is the spot where the tooth of Maa Sati fell. The great tantric goddess is celebrated in this unique temple, which is built in the local wooden style and is full of regional sculpture and architecture. The temple is built amidst some of the densest forested regions in India, at the small weft of land that is created by the confluence of the rivers Dakini and Shakini, who are the attendant ganinis of the great goddess. The present temple was built in the fourteenth century by one branch of the Telugu Kakatiya dynasty, introducing Dravida idiom to this region in architecture. It is the epicentre of the Hindu resistance of the region against the Christian conversion racket. Overall, this temple shows the unique blend of margiya (Vedic) and desiya (tribal) culture, arts, and architecture; and displays the unique ability of Sanatana dharma to balance extreme ends and to defeat the greatest of challenges.
Barsur Group of Temples, Barsur
The small village of Barsur, located at the banks of the Indravathi river today, was once the glorious capital of the Nagavansha dynasty; and then that of the Kakatiya dynasty, which found refuge and a new home in what is now the Dantewada district. This almost-abandoned town once had around one hundred and fifty temples. They were built in many different architectural idioms, and displayed the influence of many dynasties and cultures that came to rule this place. One still finds the ruins of this ancient majesty here. Many temples like the Battisa temple, Mama Bhanja temple and the Chandraditya temple showcase what it must have been at its prime. Located in dense, forested, tribal region, it displays temples dedicated to Ganpati, Vishnu, Shiva, and Shakti along with many other deities, showing us that the panchayatana worship (of five primary sects in Hindu dharma) was quite prevalent here; and for more than one thousand years this place was the stronghold of Hindu dharma.
Narayanpal Vishnu Mandir, Chitrakote
This temple dedicated to Shree Vishnu is located just four kilometers away from the breathtakingly beautiful Chitrakote falls in Bastar district. This great temple was built in the early twelfth century by a little-known Chindaka dynasty. It is a testimony to the financial abundance, artistic accomplishment, and high culture of Bharatavarsha - that even small and little-known dynasties in India’s history have built magnificent temples like this. The dynasty was Kannadiga in origin, showing how the Kannadiga and Telugu dynasties merged and ruled with ‘northern’ or ‘central India’ regions. Despite their origins in Dravida land, these dynasties built temples in local architectural idiom. The temple is built in an exquisite latina-style shikhara in pancha ratha style. It is attached with a closed mandapa, which is staggered with faux shikharas topping corner pillars. The jangha is dvitala (having two layers), but without great sculpture adorning them. The temple makes for an exquisite site and breathtaking setting.
Bastar Shiv Temple, Bastar
Bastar is now a small town, but used to be the glorious capital of the Bastar estate and has been the center of King Annamraja, the brother of the Kakatiya king PratapRudra II. But, the Shiva Temple is said to be older from around the eighth century. The Mahabharata has infused this place as much as it has many other corners of India. Bastar kings claimed descent from none other than Pandu King Birbhadra. The temple is a standing example of how idioms criscrossed this devabhumi. This temple, due to the influence of its rulers, is built in a Dravida style. Chhattisgarh was once part of Madhya Pradesh and nobody would believe that this central Indian state, even today as a separate state, sports an ancient Dravida temple. The temple is also a testimony to how Hindu dharma was spread to the last nook and corner of Bharatavarsha, and how the infinite compassion of Sanatana dharma resulted in elevating even the most difficult-to-reach areas to the level of the great capitals like Ayodhya and Mathura.
Rajivlochan Temple Complex, Rajim
This exquisite eighth century temple is one of the oldest living temples of India, with worship going on almost uninterruptedly since it was built. It was built by King Vilasatunga of the Nala dynasty, and is one-of-its-kind. The temple is dedicated to four-armed Shree Vishnu, but the legends have considered him as particularly the form of Shree Rama - and hence the name Rajivalochana. The temple is built in early panchayatana style, with the other four temples being dedicated to other avataras of Vishnu: Narasimha, Varaha, Vamana, and Badrinatha - showing the diversity of deities even in the panchayatana worship in India. The temple has some of the most magnificent doorways found anywhere in India, and reminds one of the great doorways of the Eastern Ganga temples in Kalinga and modern-day Odisha. One can see the influence of its neighboring architectural style on it. It is built in one of the oldest idioms of nagara style temples, with pyramidal tiers and large gavaksha kutas of the earliest samvarana style found in Gujarat, and also in Mahabodhi temple of Bodhgaya. What is even more important is that every Shivratri, a great Kumbh is held here where lakhs of devotees come daily, keeping this temple at the center, but also another Shiva temple nearby. It shows how a completely Vaishnava temple in India was capable of becoming a Shaiva center too, showing the sampradayika diversity of this great land. There are various other temples in the temple complex making it a great pilgrimage center.
Champaran Temple, Champaran
In other great civilizations, it was the great cities and towns which were the centers of philosophy - but in India it was different. Great urban places were of course great centers of art, culture, and philosophy; but great natural places and forested regions hosted rishis and sadhakas, and one could learn the greatest of darshanas from the greatest of masters deep inside a forest, near a great temple. The Champaran temple here is also like that. It is the birthplace of none other than the great Vallabhacharya, the founder of the Shuddhadvaita branch of Vedanta. Coming from a Telugu Brahmin family, the great Vallabhacharya went all over India and established centers of the Pushtimarga tradition of the Vaishnava sampradaya. Champaran, being the birthplace of Vallabhacharya, is especially useful. Though the current structure is not very old, it displays how Hindus remember their great centers of devotion, and create and recreate great temples at these sites, never letting go of their sacred centers.
Madkudweep Group of Temples, Madkudweep
While high on bhakti, Chhattisgarh is not low on jnana either. The most sacred island of Madkudweep near Raipur is the place where the great Rishi Mandukya wrote the Mandukya Upanishad. The island itself is naturally a very sacred place. The great river Shivnath divides into two parts here and the island that it creates is the Madkudweep. Also, the river bends in a way in which the Ishana kona is always full of water, making it one of the most sacred places in all of India. Its importance in central India is not less than that of Srirangam. Unfortunately this island and this place was targeted by Christian missionaries for conversions, but in the last few years, the Hindu society has struck back with almost every sampradaya coming and creating temples here. Under the silt on the site, more than fourteen ancient square temples in a row have been discovered, built in a unique style where the very jangha of the temples is in the style of pyramidal tiers.
Vishnu Temple, Janjgir
This brilliant temple, built in marvelous pink and yellow sandstone, is so beautiful that it can rightly be called the Khajuraho of Chhattisgarh. Built in eleventh century by the great Kalachuri kings, this sculptural wonder looks small today - but going by the huge adhishthana and the mouldings on it, we can surmise that the temple used to be huge in a bygone era with a huge mandapa attached to it, all signs of which have vanished today. One is amazed to see sculpture rivalling and even equaling the best of the sculptures at Lakshman temple and Kandariya Mahadeva temple at Khajuraho. The temple is built in the saptaratha style, with mostly latina shikhara that has some signs of shekhari in it. The wall of the jangha of the temple has two tiers of bhadra niches, with some of the most exquisite sculptures of deities found anywhere in India - Brahma, Surya, Shiva, Vishnu, Varaha, Narasimha and other deities. The other niches sport some of the most beautiful Nagas and Apsaras found in the north. Built near a great lake, this temple shows how Chhattisgarh had some of the greatest examples of sandstone temples built in classical nagara idiom.
Sirpur Group of Temples, Sirpur
The famous Lakshman temple at Sirpur is known as one of the oldest structural temples in India, and particularly one of the oldest temples in brick. This brick temple is almost as old as the famous Bhitargaon temple in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh; and the setting of this temple in the great ancient city of Sirpur makes it even more important. Sirpur was the capital of Dakshina Kosala for a long time, and saw the effulgence of Hindu, Bauddha and Jaina temples and monuments ranging from the fifth to the twelfth century. It was such a great imperial city, situated on the banks of the great Mahanadi river, that it was visited even by Hieun Tsang, the Chinese pilgrim. The triratha style shikhara goes in tiers to the top, with its style imitating that of Mahabodhi temple Bodhgaya and the Rajivalochan temple at Rajim, with gavaksha motifs replacing the ardha shikharas and amalakas lurking from every tier of the pyramidal shikhara. This temple was built in panchayatana style, and along with many other temples and monuments at the site, it is a testimony to the diverse tradition of Hindu temple architecture.
Shiva Temple, Deobaloda
This Kalachuri temple of the thirteenth century has no shikhara today, but its walls and its living tradition more than make up for it. Situated not far from the contemporary capital of Raipur, this great temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva; and today sits in a quaint village setting, yet is abuzz with the devotees all day long who take care of the temple too, owing to the traditional model of ownership of all devotees in Hindu temple eco-system. Its walls sport many forms of Shiva and Vishnu, like Tripurantaka Siva, Gajantaka Siva, Narasimha, and other deities like Ganpati Varaha, Lakshmi etc. The temple also has a great kunda and the legend connects it to another great temple town of Chhattisgarh, Arang. The legend showcases how Hindu cosmology sanctified the geography of Bharatavarsha and imbued all the temples with the margiya Vedic soul.
Kalash Temple, Dhamdha
This temple is one of the most unique entries in the itinerary of this chapter of Bṛhat Anveṣī. It is a fairly contemporary structure and built a few decades ago, though the kshetra is known to be much older. But it is its uniqueness which attracts our attention as the entire temple is an example of creativity inside tradition. The temple is built entirely of earthen pots, and is an example of how new and innovative techniques fructify within the tradition, thus balancing creativity with conservation. It shows how the sensibilities of the present generation and aesthetic sensibilities of every age are incorporated in the great Hindu temple tradition. The Hindu Marga of temple tradition does not limit, but encourages inner creativity, yet it also gives direction and framework. It also shows how Hindu tradition does not shy away from revivals in neo-idioms of art, in this case the earthen pot architecture.
Bhoramdeva Temple Complex, Bhoramdeo
Considered by many to be the Khajuraho of Chhattisgarh, this temple is indeed a wonder. Hidden deep in the Maikal Range of the Satpura Hills, this temple must have escaped the wrath or attention of the Islamic invaders; and thus it continues the glorious, Hindu tradition which is uninterrupted in this remote corner of the state. It was built in the fourteenth century by King Ramachandra Deo of the Naga dynasty. Built in sapta-ratha style with a high shikhara in pure bhumija style, it is a testimony to the ubiquity and perseverance of the Sanatana tradition. Its walls display avatars of Vishnu, forms of Shiva and Shakti, and many other deities. The three tiers of the high wall ensure maximum surface for sculptures. The pristine lake and forest around it prove that Chhattisgarh temple tradition followed the sacred trinity of the sacred grove, sacred water body, and the sacred temple. It is one of the crowning glories of the Chhattisgarh temple architecture.