(Photos) Unidentified Architectural Detail

Unidentified Architectural Detail

Pencil drawing by Frederick Charles Maisey of an unidentified architectural detail, with notes from the Nilakanth Temple at Kalinjar, dated c. 1848.Kalinjar, one of the oldest hill forts in India, occupies a remote site on the last spur of the Vindhya Mountains above the Gangetic Valley, a plateau 375 metres high. The site was originally a revered hill shrine later fortified and occupied by successive generations of invaders.

From the 9th to the 12th centuries it was a stronghold of the Chandellas. In 1023 Mahmud of Ghazni attempted to seize the fortress but failed. In 1203 Kalinjar fell to the Muslims under Qutub-ud-Din Aybak who defeated the last of the Chandellas rajas, Parmadideva. The fort was sacked and all the temples were destroyed.

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