Maa Chamunda Temple On Tekri , Dewas

On the tekri of Dewas is situated the temple of chhoti (younger) mata. The Goddess is revered as the Kuldevi of the kings of Dewas. Even now the Marathi devotees from Akola and Amravati visit the temple so that their forthcoming year be fortunate.

Dr. Surendra has written that the statue of the Godess has been carves out of the rock. This statue has been traced the archeological department to the Parmarreign. The eyes have been placed afterwards. He has further written that the priest of the temple has informed him that he has a tamrapatra (copper plate) in which the date of carving of statue is written as 12 century A.D., however thetamrapatra had not been shown to him. A possibility has been stated that there was a huge temple during the reign of the Parmars which was destroyed with the passage of time. Past king of Dewas had a dream and after that the renovation of the temple was done.

In this temple varied forms of Goddess have been beautifully carved but at time the architectural norms are not considered and the sculptures have carved out of their own imaginations.  Among these images is the image carved out on the rock is God of Dewas. It is a unique image in itself. From the traits it is true that it is not the statue of Chamunda Mata. From the image it seems it is the image of Mahish Mardini but no indication of Mahish demon is shown. This 3.60 meter statue is believe to be if Rashtrkuta age i.e. of 8-9 A.D. The Goddess is depicted with four hands carrying Trishul , Khadag, Dhal and human head in the first, second, third and fourth hand respectively. On the left side of the image is carves the swan. It is decorated with the necklace around the neck, earrings in the ear, crown on the head, bracelet in the hand and anklets in the legs. This image of the Goddess is special in itself. The image cannot be identified on the basis of thePuranas and Agam scriptures. This image is from the imagination of the sculptor. The stones of the mountain are of Deccan Drape type. Incomplete attempt have been made to cut rock of the right side of the image to construct a cave which is famous as the Bairav cave.