Bhitargaon temple

Bhitargaon temple, 5th century, Gupta period, Uttar Pradesh 

The Bhitargaon Temple is a terraced brick building built in the mid 5th to 6th century during the Gupta Empire and is fronted with a terracotta panel. Even though the upper chamber experienced some damage in the 18th century, it is still the oldest surviving terracotta, Hindu shrine with a roof and a high rising tower. This building was constructed on a square plan with double-recessed corners and faces east. The walls are decorated with terracotta panels showing aquatic creatures like Shiva, Vishnu and etc. In other Structural Hindu temples of the same time period, most didn't survive because of the choice of brick and other debatable or perishable construction materials. Of course, an exception to this is the brick temple at Bhitargaon in North India. The skill and style of the architects suggests that a highly developed tradition for building temples was present at this point in time. 

Architecture is among the most important sources of studying history, which is why it's often called built heritage. It records progress of civilizations as a whole instead of just seeing glimpses of their lives through artifacts. Rock-cut architecture began to flourish ever since the 3rd century c. The earliest case of this architecture was found in the Mauryan dynasty where caves were cut into rock-cut temples. As civilizations progressed, new techniques were learned and rock-cut temples made way to stone temples, which led to brick temples. Unlike brick temples, many of the rock-cut and stone temples withstood time very well. This is what makes the brick Bhitargaon Temple so special. 

In 1861, Sir Alexander Cunningham was appointed as the Archeological Surveyor of the Government of India. When Cunningham first visited the site, parts of the porch and the ardhamandapa were still able to be seen, which had later collapsed. He was responsible for the excavations in Sarnath and Sanchi and was also made the first Director General of the Archeological Survey of India. After that, documented in reports were a series of field surveys. In the Report of the Gangetic Provinces, Cunningham wrote that his friend gave him details on a brick temple that had superior terracotta work, so between November and February of 1878, he made two visits to Bhitargaon. 

References

Bhitargaon Temple. (n.d.). Retrieved October 08, 2020, from https://kanpurnagar.nic.in/tourist-place/bhitargaon-temple/

Safvi, R. (2018, December 09). The marvel at Bhitargaon. Retrieved October 08, 2020, from https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/the-marvel-at-bhitargaon/article25698771.ece

Dr. Arathi Menon, "A brief history of the art of South Asia: Prehistory – c. 500 C.E.," in Smarthistory, December 1, 2019, accessed October 7, 2020, https://smarthistory.org/south-asia-prehistory-500/.