| Temples & Legends of Himachal Pradesh |
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| Temples & Legends Of India |
CHAMBA |
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entrance to the inner sanctuaryrepeats the decoration of the exterior entrance in a
much-simplified form. There are no figures except the lions in the upper corners of the
here much broader, round moulding. This moulding is covered with a scale pattern, at a few
points interrupted by square panels decorated with rosettes. The rather narrow second and
the very broad last, innermost frieze have a rich, but very uniform decoration of leaf
scrolls, which in this case is not divided into medallions by the spirals of a connecting
stalk.The object of worship is a fine brass statue; three feet four inches high, on a
pedestal of nine inches in height. Lakshana Devi (Bhagvati) is an aspect of Durga, also
called Bhadra- khali in the Bansauli. Today this name is interpreted as referring to Bhadrakali of Basohli. This seems to be a comparatively modern association, as Basohli was founded only in the early seventeenth century. Its predecessor Balaur, ancient Vallapura, is not known before the high middle ages, and even the temple of Malla Devi (an aspect of the Sarada Devi of Kashmir) at Sukral, the great centre of pilgrimage in the former Basohli State, is of the Muslim period. The only old Kali temple there is not at Balaur, but at Babor (ancient Babba-pura) between Jammu and Ramnagar- Bandh- ralta, which, however, is not earlier than the late ninth or early tenth century. Moreover, Bhadrakali is venerated in more places in the Punjab Himalaya, and is, in her turn, identified with Jvalamukhi or Jalpadevi, the great goddess of theKangra Valley. But of the cult ofJvalamukhi we have no historical evidence earlier than the age of Mahmud of Ghazni (early eleventh century), though, of course, the local priestly tradition claims for it a hoary antiquity. Although the latter is highly probable, the cult seems long to have been of no more than local importance. Thus Lakshana Devi of Brahmaur surely cannot be a derivative of the cults either of Basohli-Vallapura or of Babor or of Jvalamukhi, but must in reality have its oldest known centre in the Punjab Himalaya. |
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