Photo 1009/2(1405)

Genre: Architectural Photography

General view of the colonnade of the Chaunsath Yogini Temple, with sculptural fragments in the right foreground: 'After the Christmas holidays, work was resumed at Bheraghat, 12 miles west of Jabalpur, whither camp had been shifted...The temple on the top of the hill, the surrounding corridor of which with its images are the only remains of any age, is described by General Cunningham [A. Cunningham, 'Report of a tour in the Central Provinces in 1873-74 and 1874-75' (A.S.I. vol. IX, Calcutta, 1879), pp. 62-71]...He has, however, made several mistakes in his list of the sculptures in describing them...They have been terribly mutilated, many have been thrown down, and a few have disappeared altogether. They should be better cared for...' (Henry Cousens, 'Progress Report of the Archaeological Survey of Western India, for the months May 1893 to April 1894', p. 5). Bloch's list describes the subject as the Gauri Samkara Temple, but but this more correctly refers to the central shrine within the colonnade. A note in Bloch's list, referring to Photo 1002 (1228-1237) generally, reads: 'These statues represent various çaktis or matrs, and are of interest on account of their bearing ancient labels telling us of the exact meaning of each figure. The plates, however, do not enable me to identify all of them with the description given by Cunningham, whose readings of the inscriptions, moreover, are incorrect in almost every case.' Another copy of this print at Photo 1002 (1228).