Kiradu Temples, Barmer

Kiradu was known in the 12th century as Kiratakupa. Wikipedia, drawing on inscriptions, records that several small dynasties ruled it as vassals of the Chaulukya (Solanki) kings of Gujarat. A branch of the Paramaras held it, and its ruler Someshvara rose to prominence in the 1140s; an inscription of Someshvara dated Vikrama year 1218 (about 1161 CE) is published in the Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, volume VII. An inscription of 1152 CE records the Chahamana ruler Alhana as governor of Kiradu.

A further inscription of 1178 CE, from the reign of the Chaulukya king Bhima II, records the repair of a temple damaged by the 'Turushkas', whom historians identify with the Ghurid forces of Muhammad of Ghor, defeated that year at the battle of Kasahrada. Inscriptions at the site span roughly 1153 to 1178 CE.

Scholars disagree on when the temples were built. Wikipedia summarises the views: Ojha, Agrawala and Kramrisch place the Someshvara temple in the 12th century, Dhaky and Percy Brown in the 11th, and George Michell dates it to about 1020, with the Vishnu temple in the early 10th century. Marwar India gives a general range of the 11th-12th centuries.

Architecture and sacred features

The temples belong to what Percy Brown called the 'Solanki mode', now usually termed Maru-Gurjara architecture. The Someshvara temple, the largest and best preserved, has a sanctum, antechamber, hall and porch; its tower has collapsed and most of the hall roof is gone, but the eight richly carved pillars of the hall, arranged as an octagon, still stand. According to eSamskriti, the lowest row of carving shows elephants, and other panels show warriors on horseback and a king on an elephant in battle.

At the other end of the group, the Vishnu temple survives mainly as its octagonal dancing hall (rangamandapa) of eight pillars, decorated with miniature figures and pot-and-foliage motifs; a figure of Vaikuntha Vishnu remains in a wall niche. Marwar India reported in 2013 that the temples were undergoing restoration.