Where is the Matangeshwar temple located in Madhya Pradesh?
- (a)Mandu
- (b)Chitrakoot
- (c)Tripuri
- (d)Khajuraho
Correct — D, Khajuraho. The Matangeshwar (Matangeshvara) temple stands in the Western Group at Khajuraho, in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh. It is an early-tenth-century Chandela shrine to Shiva and it is the one temple at Khajuraho still in regular daily worship — which is why it sits outside the fenced archaeological enclosure that surrounds the other Western Group temples. Its sanctum holds a massive polished sandstone lingam roughly 2.5 metres (about 8 feet) tall, among the largest in north India, and the temple hosts Khajuraho's biggest Mahashivratri gathering.
- (a)Mandu — Mandu (Mandavgarh) is the hill-fort city of the Malwa plateau in Dhar district, famous for Sultanate-period architecture — Jahaz Mahal, Hindola Mahal, Hoshang Shah's tomb and Rupmati's Pavilion. Different region, different period, different architectural tradition.
- (b)Chitrakoot — Chitrakoot, on the Madhya Pradesh–Uttar Pradesh border near Satna, is a Ramayana pilgrimage centre (Kamadgiri, Ramghat, Sphatik Shila). It is a living tirtha, not a Chandela temple complex.
- (c)Tripuri — Tripuri (modern Tewar, near Jabalpur) was the capital of the Kalachuris of Chedi and is an archaeological site of that dynasty. A different dynasty in a different part of the state from the Chandelas of Bundelkhand.
The Khajuraho Group of Monuments was built by the Chandelas of Jejakabhukti (Bundelkhand) roughly between 950 and 1050 CE, in the Nagara style — a sanctum crowned by a shikhara, with a rising cluster of subsidiary spires and a raised platform (jagati). The temples are grouped as Western, Eastern and Southern; the Western Group holds the best-known ones, including the Kandariya Mahadeva (the largest and tallest) and the Lakshmana temple. Matangeshwar is the outlier of the set: not a museum monument but a functioning temple, which is how the commission frames it as 'the historical Matangeshwar temple'.
All four options are genuine Madhya Pradesh heritage sites, so the elimination runs on dynasty and period. Mandu is Sultanate Malwa, Tripuri is Kalachuri Chedi, Chitrakoot is a pilgrimage landscape — none of them is a Chandela temple town. Only Khajuraho is, and Matangeshwar is a Shiva temple of exactly that Chandela family. If you remember one distinguishing detail, remember 'the only Khajuraho temple where puja never stopped'.
- Matangeshwar is a Shiva temple in the Western Group at Khajuraho, Chhatarpur district, Madhya Pradesh, from the earlier phase of Chandela building (datings range from c. 900-925 to about 1000 CE)
- Among the ASI-protected Khajuraho monuments it is the one still in active daily worship, and so stands outside the fenced enclosure
- Its sanctum holds a polished sandstone lingam about 2.5 m (8 ft) tall — one of the largest in north India; Mahashivratri is the temple's biggest fair.
- The Khajuraho Group of Monuments, built by the Chandelas c. 950–1050 CE, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986; the Kandariya Mahadeva is the largest temple in the group.
- Confusing Matangeshwar (Khajuraho) with Maheshwar, the Narmada-bank town of Ahilyabai Holkar — MPPSC put Maheshwar in the options when it asked this in 2023.
- Assuming every Khajuraho temple is a dead monument; Matangeshwar is a living temple and that is the fact being tested.
Monument-to-place and dynasty-to-site pairings dominate. Store each MP site with its dynasty and period: Khajuraho–Chandela, Mandu–Malwa Sultanate, Tripuri–Kalachuri, Bhojpur–Paramara, Sanchi–Maurya/Satavahana.
Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the code given below the lists: List I I. Gupta II. Chandella III. Chalukya IV. Pallava List II A) Badami B) Panamalai C) Khajuraho D) Deogarh
- (a) I–D, II–C, III–A, IV–B
- (b) I–D, II–B, III–C, IV–A
- (c) I–B, II–C, III–D, IV–A
- (d) I–C, II–D, III–A, IV–B
Answer(a) Gupta–Deogarh, Chandella–Khajuraho, Chalukya–Badami, Pallava–Panamalai
The same Khajuraho fact from the UPSC side — the site has to be tied to the Chandelas, which is exactly the reasoning that puts Matangeshwar at Khajuraho.
Where is the historical Matangeshwar temple situated?
- (a) Ujjain
- (b) Maheshwar
- (c) Khajuraho
- (d) Vidisha
Answer(c) Khajuraho
The same question, two years earlier, with only the decoys changed — proof that MPPSC recycles its MP-monument facts almost verbatim.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The temples of Khajuraho were built by which dynasty?
- (a)Chandela
- (b)Paramara
- (c)Kalachuri
- (d)Rashtrakuta
Answer(a) Chandela — the rulers of Jejakabhukti (Bundelkhand), c. 950–1050 CE.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which is the largest and tallest temple in the Khajuraho group?
- (a)Kandariya Mahadeva temple
- (b)Matangeshwar temple
- (c)Chausath Yogini temple
- (d)Chaturbhuj temple
Answer(a) Kandariya Mahadeva — the largest temple of the Western Group and of Khajuraho as a whole.