KULU-MANALI

Thairis (open-air shrines) are also quite common. There could be no doubt that occasionally the images of deities are removed to other temples or, it may be that the deities were subjected to vandalism like surreptitious removal to another temple or theft. In a recent publication ‘'Kulu, the End of the Habitable World", Penelope Chetwode" reiterated but gave an accurate presentation regarding the classification of the temples in this complex based on Col. A. F. P. Harcourt's observations who had been an Assistant Commissioner in Kulu from 1869 to 1871.

The first type comprises the carved stone temples with typical curvilinear tower known as shikhara. As mentioned earlier shikharas are quite common in most of the Hindu temples in Northern India. The famous temple of Vishveshvara Mahadeva at Bajaura in Kulu is the best example of this type of temple. The shikhara (stone tower) is always richly carved and crowned with the typical amalaka (imitating a segmented gourd).

It has been conjectured that this classical style of temple so common in the Northern India plains was introduced in the hills of Himachal Pradesh near about seven or eight century AD.  A later ruler in the 17th century Raja Jagat Singh is credited with reintroducing the style into Kulu.

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