File:0122321 Mritangeshvara Shiva temple, Nandchand Madhya Pradesh 139.jpg

English: The Mritangeshwar temple in Nand Chand is a large historic site with layers of reconstruction. The contemporary temple was recreated by the post-Mughal renovation and modern restoration efforts. This effort reused the better preserved panels, doorways and ruins from lost Hindu temples.

The Mritangeshwar temple site consists of several shrines. They all employ lost temple elements. The main temple is the largest, has a square plan, a Maratha-style fluted dome on top. It consists of concentric corridors with many entrances from all sides towards the sanctum. These entrances have stone doorways from pre-9th century temples, These doorways are are flanked by river goddesses or dvarapalas. Some have Garuda on their lalatabimba, others Natesa, Ganesha or Lakshmi. Some are plain, of the type found in mandapika-type Hindu temples. The corridor walls are a mishmash of ruins produced from different stone quality and sculpture reflecting different centuries. Floor, ceiling, and roof reflect post-Mughal and modern style.

Mritangeshwar temple features late-Gupta and 8th-century artwork. It is significant for the clean, minimalist style of Hindu iconography that emerged in this region of central India. They show all the essential iconographic elements for a deity or scenes without secondary decorations such as those of musicians, dancers, apsaras, and chauri-bearers. This style of minimalist yet elegant Hindu iconography is found in this and many other historic temples in east Madhya Pradesh and northwestern Chhattisgarh.

Background:

Nand Chand, sometimes written Nandchand, is a historic village and archaeological site in Panna district. It was a flourishing city, pilgrimage site, and arts center between the 5th and 13th-century. Nand Chand, along with other regional Hindu and Jain sites – such as Bilhari, Tigowa, Chhoti Deori, Bargaon, Bahuribund and Bandhogarh – evolved into a distinct central Indian style by the 9th-century. The most impressive of temples and sculptures in this style are found in east Madhya Pradesh, west Chhattisgarh and the region along their border. These flourished and survive as temples, public waterworks and forts of Kalachuri of Tripuri era.

Nand Chand has been an important source of sculpture and temple fragments from the Gupta era through the Kalachuri era. Alexander Cunningham was the first western surveyor to visit it and publish his observations in 1887 (ASI Annual Report XXI). He saw eight temples and temple remains strewn along a historic water tank. Several regional inscriptions, a few as late as 12th century, refer to the temples and the prosperity of Nand Chand. The numerous temples and temple ruins of Nand Chand confirm its historic importance. The historic site was destroyed by Delhi Sultanate invasions and battles after the 12th century.

Nand Chand's current Mritangeshvara temple stands on a hectare-sized archaeological site. This Shiva temple was rebuilt and restored using broken temple pieces and sculpture ruins. During this rebuilding and restoration, a part of the site was excavated and Hindu shrine foundations were unearthed. The temple walls and structures display ruins of several lost temples.

The notable artwork discovered in Nand Chand includes an excellent though damaged and fragmentary Saptamatrika panel, a Gupta-era 5th-century Vaishnavi, a large Shiva linga now in the Mritangeshvara temple's sanctum, and several more Shiva lingas from different centuries. Among the 8th-century sculptures found in Nand Chand are Shiva, Ganesha, Vishnu and his dasavataras, Durga Mahisasuramardini, and Umamaheshvara artwork. A few notable discoveries from Nand Chand are now in museums, such as the Sagar University Museum in Madhya Pradesh.