The famous temple built by Mathandev at Rajorgarh was dedicated to which of the following deities ?

Correct — option (1), Shiva.

Mathanadeva's temple at Rajorgarh was a Shiva temple. The evidence is his own stone inscription, re-edited by F. Kielhorn in Epigraphia Indica, Volume III.

The record is in Sanskrit, in 23 lines of Nagari script, and is dated Vikrama Samvat 1016. Kielhorn worked the date out as Saturday, 14 January 960 CE.

It says that when the god Lachchhukesvara Mahadeva was installed, Mathanadeva granted the village of Vyaghrapataka to that god. Mahadeva is Siva; the name Lachchhukesvara honours Mathanadeva's mother, Lachchhuka.

Among the expenses the village's income was to meet were bathing the god three times a day, flowers, incense, lamps and oil, and repairs to the temple.

The stone was found near the temple of Nilakantha Mahadeva, among the ruins of Paranagar, south of Rajor or Rajorgadh. Kielhorn judged it highly probable that this Nilakantha temple is the temple the inscription refers to.

The idea to remember: Rajorgarh, Mathanadeva, a Siva temple named after his mother, 960 CE.

Why the others are wrong

• (2)
  Vishnu — The god in Mathanadeva's grant is Lachchhukesvara Mahadeva, and Mahadeva is a name of Siva, not Vishnu.

  Vishnu would be the answer for a Vaishnava shrine such as the Adivaraha temple at Ahar, named after Varaha, the boar avatar of Vishnu. RPSC's 2016 paper listed that temple alongside the Rajorgarh temple in a question on Gurjara-Pratihara-period temples.

• (3)
  Surya — The Rajor grant is made to Lachchhukesvara Mahadeva, a form of Siva. Its extra tolls go to that god jointly with Vinayaka (Ganesa), whose image or shrine was set up in the temple grounds. Neither recipient is the sun god.

  Surya would be the answer for a sun temple. K. K. Ganguli's Cultural History of Rajasthan (1983) illustrates a Temple of Surya at Osian.

• (4)
  Mahishasur Mardini — Mahishasuramardini is Durga as the slayer of the buffalo demon Mahisha, a goddess. The Rajor inscription names a male god, Mahadeva.

  Mahishasuramardini would fit the Jin Mata temple at Revasa. Ganguli describes its image as an eight-handed Durga-Mahishasuramardini, and dates its inscription to V.S. 1162 (c. 1105 CE), in the reign of the Chahamana ruler Prithviraja I.

A land-grant inscription can be direct evidence of who built a temple and for which god. Such a record typically names the donor, his overlord, the date, the deity and the income assigned.

The Rajor record gives all five. Mathanadeva, son of Savata, living at Rajyapura (Rajor), grants the village of Vyaghrapataka to Lachchhukesvara Mahadeva, in the reign of Vijayapaladeva of Kanauj.

It also names the people behind it. Management went to the holy ascetic Omkarasivacharya. The text was composed by Dedda, written by his son Suraprasada and engraved by Hari.

Key facts

• Mathanadeva's Rajor inscription is dated Vikrama Samvat 1016; F. Kielhorn calculated the date as Saturday, 14 January 960 CE.
• It records the grant of the village of Vyaghrapataka to Lachchhukesvara Mahadeva (Siva), named after Mathanadeva's mother, Lachchhuka.
• The stone was found near the Nilakantha Mahadeva temple, among the ruins of Paranagar, south of Rajor or Rajorgadh in the former Alwar State.
• Mathanadeva, son of Savata, was of the Gurjara-Pratihara lineage and dated his grant in the reign of Vijayapaladeva of Kanauj.
• The inscription is in Sanskrit, in 23 lines of Nagari script; Rajendralal Mitra first published it in 1879.

Common traps

• Treating 'Nilkanth' as a separate deity: Nilakantha, the blue-throated one, is a name of Siva, so the temple's popular name already points to option (1).
• Taking Mathanadeva for an imperial Pratihara king because he uses Maharajadhiraja; his grant is dated in the reign of Vijayapaladeva of Kanauj.
• Mixing the two names: the inscription names the god Lachchhukesvara Mahadeva; Nilakantha is the temple's name, and Kielhorn called the identification highly probable, not certain.

UnlockIAS will link similar questions from RAS Pre 2018 and 2016 here once those papers are published on this site.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In his Rajor inscription of Vikrama Samvat 1016, Mathanadeva describes himself as belonging to which lineage?

  • (a)Guhila
  • (b)Gurjara-Pratihara
  • (c)Chahamana
  • (d)Parmara
  Answer(2) — The inscription calls Mathanadeva, son of Savata, Gurjara-pratiharanvaya, of the Gurjara-Pratihara lineage. Options (1), (3) and (4) are other Rajput dynasties of Rajasthan; the Rajor record names none of them as his lineage.
• practice — not a real PYQ

  Mathanadeva's grant to the Rajorgarh Siva temple is dated in the reign of which ruler of Kanauj?

  • (a)Mihira Bhoja
  • (b)Mahendrapala I
  • (c)Vijayapaladeva
  • (d)Jayachandra
  Answer(3) — The inscription refers itself to the reign of Vijayapaladeva, who followed Kshitipaladeva. Options (1) and (2) were earlier Pratihara kings of Kanauj; option (4) was a Gahadavala king of Kanauj in the 12th century.