Pindara Temples

The temples at Pindara, in Kalyanpur taluka of Devbhumi Dwarka district, stand near the sea about eleven miles east of Dwarka. Locals connect the site with the sage Durvasa and call it Durvasa Rishi Ashram. The temples date from between the 7th and 10th centuries, the phamsana-roofed ones from the mid-8th century under the Saindhavas, and excavations in 1965 turned up many sculptures and, for the first time, Saindhava coins. The site is a Monument of National Importance cared for by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Five temples and a long pillared mandapa stand inside an enclosure. Temple 1, sometimes called the Sun Temple, has a square cella and plain walls under a stepped superstructure. Temple 2 has an open porch on short pillars and, over its door, a panel of the marriage of Shiva and Parvati. Temples 3, 4 and 5 are smaller square shrines. In 2007 the plinth of a submerged temple was found to the north, possibly sunk by rising sea levels and earthquakes.