The Bateshwar temple complex in Madhya Pradesh is a deserted area and is one hour’s drive from Gwalior. The 200 or so temples were primarily in ruins at the start of this century. Even worse, the majority of people had no access to them. Even the Archaeological Society of India (ASI) teams were unwilling to go to the site to perform conservation work, despite the fact that the ASI had designated this as a protected monument as early as 1924.
The notorious Chambal Valley, where dacoits previously reigned supreme, includes Bateshwar. One Nirbhay Singh Gujjar, who had made these ruins his home, was the leader of the most potent of the small number of gangs that controlled this area.
The Gurjara Pratihara dynasty, which dominated a large portion of northern India at the time, constructed the once-grand temples between the eighth and tenth centuries AD. The dynasty’s kings were renowned for supporting sculptors, and several temples, especially those at Khajuraho, were built under their rule. Because dacoits like Gujjar controlled the area, Bateshwar temples, which predate Khajuraho, have remained largely off the tourist map.
Things didn’t start moving until the middle of the 2000s when ASI archaeologist K.K. Muhammed was assigned to Madhya Pradesh. In a speech, Muhammad recalls a time when dacoits plagued Chambal’s ravines, making it impossible for his teams to even approach the location where they knew a sizable temple complex stood.
One account claims that he arranged a meeting with Gujjar, who, in classic movie fashion, was sitting on a pile of debris with a gun to one side of him and smoking a bidi when Muhammad revealed to him that the temples had actually been constructed by his ancestors, the Gurjara-Pratiharas. From that point forward, Gujjar and his gang not only left that area but also gave Muhammed and his group a lot of assistance.
Thus, work on restoring a centuries-old temple complex began with the approval and assistance of a feared dacoit.
What you see today is the culmination of years of labor on the part of ASI members who attempted to figure out the designs of the temples and locate the necessary components as they would for a jigsaw puzzle. The Sanskrit shloka-quoting Muhammad participated in the project and assisted his team in determining the god to whom the original temple may have been devoted.
The ASI lost their most important allies when Gujjar and other dacoits in and around Bateshwar were ultimately apprehended by the law and shot dead by police over time. A more evil group of people—the mining mafia—quickly filled the power void that the dacoits had left behind.
Although the region’s stone-crushing mines are a significant industry, frequent explosions make it difficult for a historic temple complex to be preserved and restored. The mining mafia took over when the dacoits died and started mining near Bateshwar, causing some painstakingly repaired temples to collapse. The dacoits had managed to hold the mine owners away. Muhammed turned to the right-wing Hindu organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh for assistance after his repeated pleas to the state and federal governments were met with indifference. He put his job at risk by doing this because a government employee is typically not allowed to independently seek assistance from a private organization, but he was able to draw the authorities’ attention.
The authorities stepped in, but the conflict between law enforcement and the mining mafia persisted. It culminated when a Superintendent of Police was brutally killed in broad daylight by a tractor.
The Bateshwar Temple Complex’s tranquility today belies its terrible past. Over 80 temples have been restored to their previous splendor and are what you see today. At the center of the complex, an iron scaffolding indicates that work is still being done. It’s almost impossible to imagine that this undiscovered treasure wouldn’t have been discovered without the assistance of a dacoit and the perseverance of an archaeologist.
News Mania Desk
