Article by Ashok Mathur

Nestling among the beautiful hills of Girwa, near village Kurabad, at a distance of about 50km from Udaipur at Jagat, is the famous Ambika Temple.

Flaunting a treasure of unique idols and unmatched sculptures of Mahishasurmardini, Navdurga, Veenadharini, Saraswati, Ganpati in dancing posture, Yama, Kuber, Vayu, Indra, couple in love making posture, naikayas looking into mirrors, playing children, dancing and singing figures, ladies with pujan samagri, the Jagat temple is a shining pearl in the garland of temples in Rajasthan.

The beauty of the idols, their postures and feelings, ornaments and hair styles, dresses and the attraction of the Nagar style architecture bring it in the category of the temples such as the ones at Khajuraho. The architectural beauty of the pillars, ceilings etc is too good to be described in words.

Entering the temple from the east, on the outer walls of the two storey entry mandap, one sees the idols of men and women in love making postures. Extremely charming are the astha matrika idols on the pillars of the gate and the scene of samudra manthan on the ceiling.

The ceiling is built in traditional style with flat corners and padamkesar in the center. As in the Osian Temples, there are ornamental trellis on both the sides of the mandap for air and light to come in.

There is an open courtyard between the main temple and the ‘pravesh mandap’ from where about 50 ft away is the main structure which is in fairly good condition. The outer part of the ‘sabha mandap’ is decorated with ‘dikpal’, ‘sur-sundari’, women in different bhavas, veenadharini Saraswari and hundreds of idols of various Gods and goddesses.

On the left, near the trellis is a rare white stone idol of Ganpati in a dancing posture. In a shelf, in back part of the temple is the idol of Mahishasurmardini which deserves special mention. In the shelves in the north and south can be seen idols of Devi in her different incarnation.

Above and below the idols on the walls outside the temple an excellent work ‘kichak mukhi’ and series of elephants is highly appreciable. The idols have been carved on the local parera light green stone.

For the circumbulating of the main structure, small entry gates have been built on both the sides. The sculptors have done a wonderful job in carving Ganga-Yamuna, Sur-Sundari, Vidhyadhar, Dancers and Idols of Gods. The idol of Ambika Mata is set up in the main temple.

Built meticulously in the glorious tradition of medi temples, the Ambika Mata temple of Jagat is an excellent sample of Mewar’s unique sculpture. The liveliness and joyous moments of life have been beautifully portrayed. On the basis of the idols here, historians believe that this place must have been an important center of the Shiv-Shakti sect in the 5^th and 6^th century.

It is believed that this temple was built in about 960 AD, the period when Laxman Mandir at Khajuraho was being constructed.

From the inscription on the pillars of the temple it can be concluded that it was renovated in the 11^th century by Allat, earstwhile ruler of Mewar. Here Devi has been named Ambika. It is an ancient shakti peeth from religious point of view.

The temple has been declared protected monument under Archeology department. Thousands of tourists visit it. It holds a special attraction for those interested in archeology, idols and sculpture.

Source: Rajasthan Sujas