Beautiful and Unique Laxmi Temple in Orchha, Madhya Pradesh || Witness history through the fresco-laden walls of a beautiful temple
The Laxmi Temple (or Laxmi Narayan temple) in Orchha, Madhya Pradesh, is an interesting specimen of Bundela Architecture. Unlike the Raja Ram temple and Chaturbhuj temple, the Laxmi temple isn't close to the Orchha Fort. It is about 2km away from the main Fort complex and is built on a small hillock.
Though you can easily walk to the temple, it is also approachable by car and you can reach right up to the entrance of the temple on your vehicle. So elderly people too can easily visit the temple. And most of the murals and frescos are on the ground level.
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The temple combines two styles of architecture - those of a temple and a fort. It is a rectangular structure with high walls and fort-like bastions on all corners, as if it is ready for canons and guns to be deployed in case of war. The temple is built with lime mortar and bricks.
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The walls in the temple are covered with colorful frescos that still retain their original vibrancy and beauty. One can spend hours admiring these frescos because you can easily see the passage of time in them. While there are frescos dedicated Gods and to Bundela kings and their consorts, you also find a depiction of the Mughal rulers and the East India company.
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It is rare to find such diverse, non-religious paintings in a temple, and this is another aspect that is unique about this temple. There are paintings of wars and of meetings between Bundela kings and Britishers. You find frescos depicting the incidents dating from the time of Ramayan to the seige of Jhansi in 1857.
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Another unique aspect of this temple is that though the temple is dedicated to Goddess Laxmi, there is no idol of the Goddess in the temple. The only idols one can find are those of Lord Ganesh and recently installed ones of Lord Krishna and Rukmini.
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While the ground floor boasts of beautiful paintings, the terrace too is very interesting with towers and domes and various interesting and beautiful structures to explore.
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When you look at such detailed and intricate work, and you see the material used for construction, you cannot help but appreciate the heritage our ancestors left behind for us to appreciate. And then you look at the current architecture, you can see that whatever we are building today is unlikely to last this long.
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To put things in perspective, the temple was originally built by the Bundela King Bir Singh Deo in 1622 for Goddess Laxmi. The altar is constructed in the shape of a Yoni and the temple seems to follow the Tantric style of architecture, though there are no clear evidences of Tantric activities.
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Anyway, soon after the temple was constructed, it started falling into disrepair because of lack of maintenance. Then the temple was reconstructed by Prithvi Singh 170 years later in the year 1793. And since then additions in terms of paintings were made even up to late 19th century.
The fact that the structure is still standing, almost intact, and the paintings still retain their colors, is a testimony to the focus on quality and resilience of these structures and artwork. Seriously, the handiwork in those times was unparalleled.
Though the temple is a little away from the main architectural complex of Orchha, we strongly recommend a trip to this beautiful structure, because it is one of the places where you can see history, through its paintings, and also admire the power of human creativity.
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