Samadhishvara Temple, Chittorgarh

The Samadhishvara Temple stands within Chittor Fort in Rajasthan and is dedicated to Shiva as Samadhishvara, 'Lord of Samadhi'. Locally the deity is also called Adbhut-ji or Adbad-ji, a name that seems to refer to the three-faced form of Shiva enshrined here. Inscriptions suggest the temple was built in the 11th century and restored in the 13th and 15th centuries.

Its origins are argued over. The historian G. H. Ojha identified it with the Tri-bhuvana Narayana temple that records credit to the Paramara king Bhoja, a view the art historian R. Nath supports, while Ram Vallabh Somani placed it in the 10th century. A 1150 inscription records a visit by the Chaulukya king Kumarapala, who worshipped Shiva and Parvati here. Images of Jain tirthankaras on the walls led M. A. Dhaky to suggest it began as a Jain shrine, though Nath reads them as scenes of everyday Chittor life, alongside carvings of battles, hunting and erotic figures. The present three-faced, six-armed idol is relatively modern.