Baro (or Barnagar)
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts.Many units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Baro (or Barnagar)
Barnagar
Village and ancient site in the Gwalior State, Central India, lying in 23° 56' N. and 78° 14' E. Baro is now only a small village, with a population (1901) of 533; but the neighbour- hood is covered with the remains of an ancient city of considerable size, the ruins extending to the neighbouring town of Pathari. The principal remains consist of Hindu and Jain temples, chiefly situated close to a large tank, the waters of which are held up by a fine old stone dam. The village stands at the foot of the Gayanath hill, a part of the arm of the Vindhyas which strikes north from Bhilsa, The sandstone and shales of the Vindhya series are well exposed here, and the former has been employed in constructing the temples and houses of Baro.
The finest building is the Gadarmal temple, on the western bank of the tank ; and though the existing structure is a restoration of the original shrine, as the heterogeneous nature of its spire shows, it is still a magnificent example of mediaeval Hindu architecture. The shape of the sanctuary is interesting, being oblong instead of square, and within it is an unusually fine sculptured figure. The temple formerly stood in a spacious courtyard and was surrounded by seven smaller shrines, now mere heaps of bricks. The entrance to the court- yard lay through a lofty gate of which one richly carved pillar is still standing. The temples in this group are all Saivite, there being no Jain sculptures, as Cunningham has erroneously stated. The other large temple is called the Jain Mandir, and has evidently been restored by Jains from the remains of a Hindu building. It is entirely enclosed by a high wall, in the centre of which there is a samadhi or ascetic's tomb. A gallery runs round all four sides, the shrines, which number eighteen in all and are of various sizes, lying behind it. Six spires and several domes surmount the building, and have been made up of the remains of Hindu and Jain temples, carved with images peculiar to each religion. The cells, however, contain only Jain images. Tradition relates that Baro was once a large and wealthy city, but was destroyed at the end of the seventeenth century by Chhatarsal, the chief of Panna, who sacked the town. It is, however, impossible that a Hindu should have injured the temples, which show evident signs of Muhammadan violence.
[A. Cunningham, Archaeological Survey Reports, vol. x, p. 71. ]
