Bateshwar Temples

Getting there

• By road

  Morena lies on National Highway 3, the Agra-Bombay Road. The temples are about 35 km north of Gwalior and about 30 km east of Morena town.

• By train

  Morena railway station is the main station in Morena district, on the North Central zone.

• By air

  Gwalior Airport is the nearest airport, about 30 km from Morena city.

Why devotees come here

The Bateshwar temples stand near Morena town in Madhya Pradesh, about 35 km north of Gwalior. The Shiva, Vishnu and Shakti temples were built between the 8th and 10th century, and many have been rebuilt from fallen stones since 2005.

The Bateshwar temples are dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Shakti. Art historian Michael Meister says the site shows how the Mandapika shrine concept of central India was conceived and built.

The temples were built between the 8th and the 10th century. They were destroyed after the 13th century, and it is not clear whether an earthquake or Muslim forces caused this. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) began rebuilding many of them from fallen stones in 2005. The work first had to rescue the site from the dacoits of Chambal, and then from the mining mafia.

The temples are in the post-Gupta, early Gurjara-Pratihara style. Most are small, and the site covers about 25 acres. Cunningham described the standing temples as having walls of single upright slabs and flat roofs under a pyramidal top. The sanctum doorway is flanked by the river goddesses Ganga and Yamuna. According to a Madhya Pradesh Tourism interview, the complex has over 200 Shiva and Vishnu temples built by the Gurjara Pratihara dynasty.

Tips for your visit

• Look for the river goddesses Ganga and Yamuna on either side of the sanctum doorway.
• Many lintels show the ten avatars of Vishnu, and the seven mothers, the Saptamatrikas, appear often in the carvings.
• Visitors can drive their own vehicle or a hired one, as the tourist places are well connected by road.

Questions people ask