Category:Kacheri Group of Temples, Dwarahat

Kacheri Group of Temples, Dwarahat 

11th to 13th century Hindu temples in central Himalayas
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Instance of	Hindu temple
Location	Almora district, Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India
29° 46′ 42.2″ N, 79° 25′ 41″ E
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The Kacheri group consist of twelve Hindu temples from the 11th to 13th century in Dwarahat, Almora district dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Devi. The stone temples of the Kacheri group are arranged in three sets – two rows of five and remaining on a jagati. The style is mixed, they have the architecture of central Indian temples with mandapas, simplicity of Himalayan artwork, include a well, and were likely a part of a monastery or pilgrim rest facilities in pre-17th century India.

Dwarahat is a historic site in Uttarakhand that served as a hub for pilgrims going to Panch Kedars, Panch Badris, Panch Prayags and other Hindu pilgrimage routes. The town has many groups of Hindu temples built and restored between the 8th and the 16th century. These temples are attributed to various Hindu kings and queens from different dynasties, particularly those from the Katyuri dynasty. Totaling about 55 Hindu temples, they are notable as central Himalayan temples with architecture from different parts of India. For example, the Gujjar Deva group of Dwarahat shows the Maru-Gurjara architecture found in and near Gujarat – another testament to the flow of ideas across long distances in medieval India. The Dwarahat temples were reduced to ruins by Delhi Sultanate and later the Mughals. Dwarahat was again subject to pillage and desecration by Hafiz Khan and Bakshi Khan in mid 18th-century. Some were restored after the 15th century, and more recently in the 21st century by regional Hindu community and the ASI. For scholarly sources on Dwarahat temples, see (1) Nachiket Chanchani (2019), Mountain Temples and Temple Mountains: Architecture, Religion, and Nature in the Central Himalayas, University of Washington Press (2) Omacanda Handa and Madhu Jain (2009), Art and Architecture of Uttaranchal, Pentagon Press (3) Nachiket Chanchani (2014), From Asoda to Almora, The Roads Less Taken: Māru-Gurjara Architecture in the Central Himalayas, Arts Asiatiques, Tome 69, pp. 3-16

This is a category about ASI monument number N-UT-4.