Bojhpur near Bhopal, bojhpur temple


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Founded by the legendary Paramara king of Dhar Raja Bhoja (1010-53 A.D) has

remains of its magnificent Shiva temple and cyclopean dam. Raja (King) Bhoja was, an engineer, a warrior, a great administrator and a man of formidable vision.

The Paramaras were warrior nomads from the Steppes who had ridden intothe reputedly rich lands of India. The Paramara dynasty lasted for 110 years and produced a lineage of warrior-scholars who were as a adroit at waging wars as they were at penning poems. But of all the heroic Paramaras who dominated Malwa, Raja Bhoja was undoubtedly the greatest the Huns and Chalukyas of Kalyani, he also wrote books on astronomy, medicine, grammar, lexiconography, religion and architecture.

Bhojeshwar temple
The temple of Raja Bhoj dominates the hillock.

After being cured from the disease, in thanks giving, Raja Bhoja began the construction of great Bhojeshwar temple. Constructed in the latter part of 11^th century, its great stone blocks encompass a doorframe, which towers ten meters high and five meters wide. Four titanic pillars, richly carved, rise to support an incomplete dome. The high noon sun lances through doom, illuminates a massive pedestal made of three stepped blocks of sandstone, seven meters square.

Dominating this platform and the great brooding temple is a magnificent lingam ( a phallic symbol, a symbol of energy, fertility and potency) more than two meters high and over five meters in circumference. The temple still shows the Renaissance reach of his mind. Here religion and architecture, sculpture, drama and weired vision combine in a compelling assertion of reality.

Bhojpur Lake:- The warrior’s legend

Named after the great king Bhoja, Bhojpur Lake is a rare piece of engineering feat. It was an object of wonder, and helped to maintain in the region an equable climate. A vast sheet of water stretching over 250 square miles was impounded by rising embankments for shutting off the outlet in a circle of hills.Raja Bhoja suffered from a terrible disease, an ascetic advised him to construct a lake larger than any other in India, fed by 365 springs and bath in it at an auspicious hour. About 40 kilometers from Bhopal, near head waters of river Betwa, Bhoja’s engineers found just such a concourse of natural springs. With great ingenuity, they constructed a lake which, spread over 64,750 hectares, changed the climate of Malwa region. The great social benefits of this stupendous work must have soothed the troubled mind of Raja Bhoja because after he bathed in the lake his ailment was cured. The great lake, now drained but still lush and green-bedded with fields, showed Bhoja’s imperial might.

At the glorious end of the Paramara era in 1060, the Chalukyas of Kalyani and Gujrat combined with Lakshmi-karna of the Kalachuri dynasty attacked Raja Bhoja’s capital. In that battle Raja Bhoja died defending his kingdom.

For, as long as the temple stands, and the doorway towers and the sculptures enchant and the great lingam broods with implacable power in the 900 years old Bhojeshwar, so long will the memory or king Bhoja shine a diadem.