Nair temple

Pillared temple in Nair between Patna and Gaya, with pillar capital arrangement.

Side of the temple portico, with mound of the crumbled structure.

The Nair temple is a ruined pillared temple at the location of Nair, on the road between Patna and Gaya, west of Dharawat. It is about 20 miles from Gaya.^[1]

The temple consists of three rows of monolithic pillars, ten pillars in each row. In the front of the temple there is a further row of four pillars.^[2]

According to Thomas Fraser Peppé, who photographed it in 1870: "The temple behind consists of brick and mud cement, but very little of it is now standing; the superstructure is entirely gone, and none of the temples of this form are sufficiently complete to allow a conjecture as to their original form. The roof of the portico and the shrine is composed of large granite slabs, a linga now occupies the shrine, and there is a mutilated figure of Ganesh lying outside. Judging by the size of the mound, and the part of the shrine remaining, the temple must have been a lofty one...".^[3]

The pillars are made of granit in one block. They form a portico which is still standing in front of the temple.^[4]

This temple is said to be similar to the temple of Poonawa, 14 miles east of Gaya.^[5]

References