Kanswa Temple, Kota

Kanswa, also spelt Kansua, is a village of archaeological importance in Kota district, Rajasthan. In 1820 James Tod found an inscription here that tells of the 5th-century rule of the Jat king Maharaja Shalinder over the Kota region.

The village's Shiva temple stands in a scenic spot by a spring a few kilometres outside Kota. An inscription on its wall, dated 738 CE, records that a private individual named Shivagana built and endowed it on the site of the Kanvashrama, the hermitage of the sage Kanva, which gives Kansua its name. It also mentions a ruler called Dhavala, probably the Dhavalappadeva of the Dabok inscription, though he seems to have had no hand in the founding. Much rebuilt since, the temple keeps some original elements. Stone walls now enclose a smaller area than the group of shrines, and perhaps a math, that probably once surrounded the linga shrine, and images of Lakulisha in prominent places suggest an old link with the Pashupata Shaiva sect.