Rudra Mahalaya Temple

According to Burgess and Cousens, the founder of the Chaulukya dynasty, Mularaja, began the temple about 944 CE, but the work was interrupted and left unfinished. Jayasimha Siddharaja, who came to the throne in 1094, took it up again and probably rebuilt it on a far larger scale; it was barely finished at his death in 1143. Wikipedia gives 943 CE for the start and 1140 CE for the consecration. Inscriptions recording these dates were seen by James Tod in the 1820s, but Burgess reported that they could no longer be found by 1903.

Burgess and Cousens record that the temple was demolished in two stages: first by the army of Ulugh Khan, Alauddin Khalji's general, in 1297 or 1298, and further by Ahmad Shah I of Gujarat in 1415, when part of the complex was turned into a mosque. Wikipedia similarly attributes the destruction to Alauddin Khalji and Ahmad Shah I.

A traditional ballad recorded by Tod and Burgess describes the temple as having 1,600 columns, thousands of images and hundreds of golden finials. Burgess himself treated these figures as exaggerations; they belong to tradition, not to measured fact.

Architecture and sacred features

From the remains, Burgess and Cousens reconstructed a walled court of about 230 by 300 feet, with the main temple in the centre: two or three storeys high, with a square hall (mandapa) about 50 feet across inside, porches on the east, north and south, and the sanctum on the west. The main entrance was on the east, with steps leading down to the Sarasvati river. Wikipedia describes the style as Maru-Gurjara (Solanki).

What survives are tall, richly carved pillars from the porches and hall, still carrying massive lintels, and a carved ceremonial gateway (torana). Burgess recorded a lintel about 27 feet long, with a second lintel above it rising some 42 feet from the ground. Wikipedia describes the remains as two toranas and four pillars of the central structure, with the western part of the complex used as the mosque.