ASI to resume restoration work on Bateshwar temples
Six years after the repair work on the 1200-year-old Bateshwar temple complex in the dense forest of Madhya Pradesh’s Chambal region came to a halt because of illegal mining, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has decided to restart the restoration project “very soon”.
The decision has been taken after the Prime Minister’s Office intervened in the matter on the complaints of the Gujjar community that the temple complex was in dire need of restoration.
Spread across 25 acres, it was declared a ‘protected monument’ by the ASI in 1924. But the restoration of the complex, which houses about 200 sandstone temples, could not be started until 2004 due to the fear of the dacoits.
In an unusual turn of events, a former ASI official roped in dreaded dacoit Nirbhay Singh Gujjar in 2004 to start the restoration work for the first time.
“When I saw him for the first time, he was smoking a bidi on the stairs of the temple complex. I didn’t recognise him and admonished him for bringing disrespect to a holy place,” recalls noted archaeologist KK Muhammed, who was in charge of ASI’s Bhopal Circle. Muhammed was soon told by his associates that he had just scolded a dreaded dacoit.
“I somehow handled the situation and requested Gujjar to help us restore the temple. I told him that the complex was constructed by his forefathers of GurjaraPratihara dynasty between 9th
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and 11th century,” said Muhammed, who was transferred from Delhi in 2010. He retired in 2012.
ASI officials say that Nirbhay Gujjar and his gang provided a lot of help in the restoration work until the dacoit was killed in 2005 in an encounter with the police. In next couple of years, others either surrendered to the police or were killed in encounters.
While the area became free of dacoits, the temple complex came under threat from illegal mining and the associated use of dynamite. “When dynamite is used in mines, it creates earthquake like vibrations and damage the temple,” says a senior official of the ASI requesting anonymity.
Out of the 200 temples, 80 were restored by 2012. People familiar with the restoration work alleged that mining lobby put pressure on the local administration to go soft on them, which derailed the restoration project.
Muhammed, in his recently released book ‘Main Hoon Bhartiya’, has alleged that powerful mining lobby did not allow temple restoration work to go on and he himself made several attempts to get the mining work stopped.
A few months ago, some villagers belonging to the Gujjar community started a nationwide signature campaign for the temple complex’s restoration and petitioned the Prime Minister’s office. The PMO forwarded it to the ministry of culture, which asked the ASI to look into it.
In a communication dated May 3, the ASI has informed the petitioners that arrangements have been made to start the restoration work. A senior ASI official, who requested anonymity, said, “We can’t use all our resources on one temple. So we have devised a phase-wise restoration plan under which we will start the restoration work very soon.”