AS YOU ASCEND the spacious, exquisite flight of steps from the Ghats of Puṇyanadi Narmada, you behold the magnificent Ahalyeshvara Mahadeva Mandir in Māhēśvara. As a Bhakta, you step right inside the temple and walk towards the Garbha-Griha. But if you halt for a moment at the entrance of its door, you will spot two smooth black stones measuring 3 ½ by 1 ½ embedded into the doorframe. They narrate the full story of the building of this temple in 37 lines carved in elegant Dēvanāgari calligraphy.
The eponymous Mandir was constructed by Yashwant Rao Holkar as a pious tribute to his sagely grandmother-in-law, Ahalyabai Holkar, the Queen who lived like a Viraktā. She personified her title of Rājamātā. She was a Mother to her citizens, protecting them from invasions, feeding them and lighting their homes, hearths and hearts. But beyond these worldly works of virtue, her hallowed memory has been immortalised in just word: Sādhvi, a word that has no English equivalent. Stories of her piety and her staunch attachment to the ideals of Sanatana Dharma are as abundant as the unfathomable depth of her exalted character; they remind us of Emerson’s memorable words:
Emerson wrote this 46 years after Ahalyabai merged with eternity; it is doubtful if he had even heard her name but in describing a universal philosophical truth, he had captured the very essence of Ahalyabai’s character.
Although Indore was the traditional seat of the Holkar power, she shifted it to her beloved Shiva-Kshetra, Maheshwar and transformed it in unprecedented ways. Under the oppressive thrall of Mughal despotism, Maheshwar had been reduced almost to a wasteland. In less than three decades, she restored its primacy as a Tirtha-Kshetra that Hindu pilgrims could visit without fear.
Maheshwar.
Mahishmati.
One of the preeminent cradles of Hindu civilisation extolled in the Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Puranas as a Punya-Kshetra and a Mukti-Nagari. Mahadeva himself had stood in the sacred Narmada flowing here and signed the death warrant of the demon Bāṇāsura. One of his fire-spitting arrows discharged during the Tripurādahana emanated from Mahishmati. This epochal event signalling his victory over the Asura was celebrated by building the Jvālēśvara Mandir here. Indeed, the Māhiṣmati Māhātmya records the full glory of Maheshwar in vivid, captivating detail.
It was the Western Presidency of the Mauryan Empire, one of whose capitals was Ujjayini.
It was the southern seat of power of the Gupta Empire.
Kavikulaguru Kalidasa goes into raptures describing its beauty in his Raghuvamsha.
The Matsya Purana declares that people who inhabit the northern bank of the Narmada Nadi attain the Rudra-Loka. It’s not coincidental that Maheshwar was built exactly on its northern bank.
It’s also not coincidental that Ahalyabai made it both her Karma-Kshetra and Moksha-Kshetra. With little exaggeration, we can say that all that is good, noble, virtuous, sacred and beautiful in today’s Maheshwar is her Prasada. The historian and scholar, Sri Diskalkar, nicely encapsulates her priceless contribution to Maheshwar:
Maheshvar did not…become a place of importance until 1767 when Ahilyabai because of her religious temparament and the situation of Maheshvar on the banks of the sacred Narmada preferred to stay at Maheshvar…Under Ahilyabai’s auspices Maheshvar rose to great importance…temples exceeding seventy were built. Learned men specially from the South were invited to settle there and open their respective schools and keep the torch of learning burning.
A HEALTHY DOSE of credit also flows to Yashwant Rao I Holkar — her grandson-in-law — who took a profound Sankalpa to honour her venerated memory (Vimala-caritra) by building a temple named after her and consecrating the Ahalyeshwara Linga in it. This temple, housed inside the Ahalyabai Fort complex, is one of the most breathtaking spots in the city.
The inscription mentioned in the beginning of this essay tells us that Yashwant Rao “with his own hands” laid its Mūla-śilā or foundation stone on Kārtika śud'dha saptami śaka varṣa 1727: November 4, 1799, exactly six months after Tipu Sultan the Tyrant of Mysore met his maker at the hands of a petty British soldier. Unfortunately, Yashwant Rao Holkar did not live to witness the fruition of his Sankalpa.
For the next thirteen years, his wife, Krishna personally supervised the temple construction work, which was completed on Vaiśākha śud'dha saptami vikrama samvat 1880: June 24, 1824. It thus took nearly a quarter of a century to build the Ahalyeshwara Mahadeva Mandir. The history scholar Sri M.G. Dikshit fittingly calls it as “one of the proudest possessions of Maheshwar.”
The following is an English summary of the inscription.
It begins with an invocation of Ganesha followed by an obeisance to the Holkar Kula-Devata Sri Rajarajeshvara followed by an obeisance to Narmada Devi.
And then, in a span of eight verses, it traces the Hokar lineage all the way up to Yashwant Rao who conceived the noble thought of building the Ahalyeshwara shrine in memory of Ahalyabai. The shrine is specifically envisioned as a Prāsāda — a palatial temple with an elevated Vimāna or dome. Indeed, verse 13 says that Yashwant Rao’s wife Krishna completed the Vimāna after which the Shiva Linga named Ahalyesvara was consecrated in the Garbha-Griha.
The ironic portion of this story is the fact that the very inscription narrating it was hiding in plain sight until it was made public in 1950!
It is good to honour the ennobling legacy of Ahalyabai but it is better if one grasps the grammar and the spirit informing the honour.
|| ॐ śrī Ahalyeśvarāya Namaḥ ||
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