Madwa Mahal Temple

Madwa Mahal Temple is a Shiva temple about a kilometre from the Bhoramdeo Temple in Chhattisgarh, and a state protected monument. It was built by Ramchandra Dev, a Phani Nagavanshi Gond king, and an inscription in its hall dates it to 1349 CE. Its original name is lost; the Gond people of the area call it Madwa Mahal, a corruption of mandapa, or Dulha Rao Temple, from dulha, bridegroom, because the pillared hall served for weddings.

Built wholly of stone and facing west, the temple has a mandapa 31 feet square whose roof rests on four rows of square pillars with plain mouldings, and a Nandi sculpture. An antechamber leads to the 14-foot-square sanctum. The granite tower carries two bands of sculpture, nearly all erotic, and an empty niche in the middle of each of its three faces.