Bhavani Shankar Temple

The New Bhavani-Shankar temple was excavated from the compound below the existing Bhavani-Shankar temple. The excavated temple has a distinct architecture. The wall area that has been unearthed is divided into a central niche for the main deity and two side niches. The side niches contain rock friezes of foreparts of lion and elephants. The central niche contains an image of Lord Shiva seated with his wife Goddess Parvati, a feature absent in other temples. Other Siva temples normally contain images of Lord Ganesh, Kartikeya and Parvati in these niches. In this temple, Siva is depicted with four arms. There is a halo behind Siva and the traces of one behind Parvati also. The bull Nandi is portrayed, looking back upwards at Siva in a most disarming manner and below Parvati is the head of her lion. The bands of carving around the niche include floral motifs. Part of one side wall of the main hall is built up of undecorated blocks of stone with a simple grille window in the centre. There is no space between the shrine and the main hall, with the front wall of the shrine acting as the back wall of the hall.