Kankaleshwar Temple, Beed

Kankaleshwar Temple stands in the town of Beed, Maharashtra, in the middle of a square tank edged by a paved walk. A causeway leads across the water to a flight of steps and up into the temple. No inscription survives to date it, but its style suggests it went up between the 10th and 12th centuries.

The building has a star-shaped plan, with niches holding elaborate carvings of Hindu gods and goddesses, and its domed roof rests on 24 pillars. The historian Firishta names the area as the scene of a battle between Hindu and Muslim kingdoms. When the temple passed to the Muslim rulers they left the structure alone apart from adding a parapet on the roof, which they used for prayer while Hindus kept the lower part. In that period it was known as the Khanqah Deval.