Lakshmana Temple, Sirpur

Despite its name, the Lakshmana Temple at Sirpur is dedicated to Vishnu, not to Rama’s brother; an inscription discovered at the site records that it was built by Queen Vasata in memory of her husband, King Harshagupta, a ruler of the Panduvamshi dynasty of Dakshina Kosala, whose capital Shripura is the modern Sirpur on the Mahanadi river in Chhattisgarh’s Mahasamund district. Dated to around 595-605 CE, it is among the earliest datable monuments at Sirpur and one of India’s earliest surviving brick temples, its sanctum built up in brick on a stone platform (jagati) roughly 40 by 80 feet, with a finely carved stone door frame and reliefs of Anantasayana Vishnu (Vishnu reclining on the serpent Shesha) and the ten avatars alongside scenes of everyday life. The temple’s Panduvamshi inscription also preserves genealogical history beyond its own dedication, tracing Harshagupta’s lineage and recording that his and Vasata’s son, Balarjuna, went on to rule Dakshina Kosala for roughly six decades from around 730 CE.

The temple came to wider historical attention only in 1872, when the British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham surveyed Sirpur and reported on it, though excavation and conservation of the wider Sirpur site continued long after. Much of the structure survives only in ruined form today, with the sanctum and tower base the best-preserved elements; it is maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India as part of the protected Sirpur Group of Monuments, with an on-site museum, rather than as a site of ongoing worship.