Hi everyone😊
This post is my entry for #CCH Photography Contest Round 9, theme of this round is sharing the place in your city that you want to promote. I am going to share about city Gwalior, that is around 30 km away from out location. Gwalior is a historical city and full of many tourist places visited by thousands of visitors everyday.
I have already shared some of the best places that I visited in Gwalior, for now I am going to share Teli La Mandir (Oilman's temple) located in Gwalior fort.
(Front view of the temple)
Teli is a Hindi term for Oil dealer, and this temple is called oilman's temple as it was built with the grant collected by oilman's at the time of King Mihirbhoja of Pratihara dynasty.
It is the loftiest building among all the buildings in the Fort, with a height of around 30m.
(Beautiful carvings on the entrance to the Grabgriha of the temple. Grabgriha is the center place of the temple where idols are kept for worshipping.)
Historians are not confirmed about the exact time when it was built. But according to it's building style it was assigned that it built somewhere in between 7th and 9th century AD.
The temple was badly damaged after being attacked by various Muslim rulers along with the other temples in this place.The temple was restored by the Hindus later. Major repairs to the temple was initiated by Major Keith between 1881 and 1883.
(Main entrance of the temple. Entrance is very beautiful with nice carvings and patterns on the pillars)
This is considered a to be connecting both the North Indian and South Indian cultures as it's roof is designed in Dravidian style which is the style of South India while it's decorative details are similar to the Indo-Aryan type of North India style. Thus it is a beautiful amalgamation of North and South India architectural styles.
The temple has four entrances at the four directions.
(This sculpture outside of the temple,seems to be belonging to Jain tirthankars)
Some of the sculptures outside. The man at the entrance told us weddings used to happen in this temple.
Sunlight falling from this direction make the building shine like Gold.
(In Some of the carvings there are people with musical instruments in their hands.)
(These carvings seems like representing Hindu deities)
That's all about this magnificent building. So I will recommend all of you to visit this place if ever you come to Gwalior. There are many historical places inside Gwalior fort that will enchant you with their beautiful architecture.
Some of the technical information about the temple I have taken from Wikipedia
While all images belongs to me only.
Thank you
and whole #cch team for this opportunity. I would like to invite
and
to take part in the contest