Devi Jagdambika Temple

Devi Jagdambika Mandir or Devi Jagadamba Mandir lies just to the north of Kandariya Mahadev Temple and equally popular as Kandariya Mahadev Temple. Its architecture and sculpture, simpler engravings and carvings suggest that the temple was built after 1025 AD. The height of Jagadamba Temple is 77 feet and width is 49 feet, standing on a high platform, nearly eight feet above the surrounding land. The temple consists of only four chambers, a small entrance hall, open passage around the sanctum like Kandariya Mahadev temple. Its plan however is more beautiful than that of the larger temples, while its ornamentation is equally rich and elaborate. It has the same three rows of sculptures on the outside immediately above the plinth. The temple is dedicated to the Goddess Jagadamba which means the mother of the world. Some local historians say that originally this temple was dedicated to Lord Vishnu, as the entrance of central sanctum has an idol of Vishnu flanked by the idols of Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma to the right and left, but later became the worship place of goddess Parvati, the consort of Lord Shiva, whose representation is preserved in the sanctorum. Inside the sanctum there is a very elaborate standing statue five feet eight inches in height, of a four-armed female deity holding lotus flower in her hand must be intended for Lakshmi, the consort of Lord Vishnu. Probably this idol is the original idol of the goddess Jagadamba and the name of the shrine thus justified.