Vidisha Temples

Vidisha, the medieval city of Bhilsa in eastern Malwa, is counted among the ancient Jain pilgrimage lands, for Jains believe it was the birthplace of Shitalanatha, the tenth Tirthankara. The oldest shrines in the district date to the 800s and 900s, when the Pratihara and Paramara schools of temple architecture flourished.

At Gyaraspur the rock-cut Maladevi temple, dedicated to Adinatha, and the Bajramath, a Brahmanical Surya temple later given over to Jain images, preserve Tirthankara sculptures. At Badoh the Pataria complex groups twenty-five temples around a central spired shrine; the Gadarmal temple shelters both Hindu and Jain idols.

Bhilsa stood on northern trade routes and suffered conquest: Iltutmish of Delhi stormed it in 1233, Alauddin Khalji sacked it in 1293, and Bahadur Shah of Gujarat plundered it in 1532. The old Jain temples on its outskirts survived the changing rulers.