Curtains for old Parliament building: The Madhya Pradesh temple believed to have inspired it

Subject: History

Section: Art and Culture

Context:

The existing Parliament will be turned into a museum after the inauguration of the new parliament building. A similar, round and pillared structure in India pre-dates the Parliament by several centuries, and many believe it inspired the 20th century building. This structure is the Chausath Yogini temple in Mitaoli, Madhya Pradesh.

The old Parliament and its inspirations:

Designed by British architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker.
The 164-pillared building first housed the Imperial Legislative Council from January 18, 1927 to August 15, 1947.
After Independence, it served as the Constituent Assembly of India, and once the Constitution was adopted and India became a republic, as the Parliament of India, housing the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
There is no evidence Lutyens or Baker ever visited the Chausath yogini temples, but the locals believe that the old parliament building was inspired by this temple.

The Chausath Yogini temple and its mysteries:

Located in: Mitaoli, about 40 kilometers from Gwalior, in the Morena district of Madhya Pradesh.
Built around 1323 by King Devapala of the Kachchhapaghata dynasty.
Dedicated to the 64yoginis, its architecture is different from the temples dedicated to one deity.
- The 64 yoginis are believed to be powerful warriors and sorceresses. According to mythology, a demon, Raktabija, had a boon that made him almost impossible to kill — everytime a drop of his blood fell on the floor, hundreds of offspring would be born off it. However, when Goddess Durga went to battle him, she unleashed an army of 64 yoginis who drank off his blood before it could touch the floor, and Raktabija was finally killed.
The Mitaoli temple is circular, with 64 chambers dedicated to the 64 yoginis, and a central shrine dedicated to Shiva.
The Mitaoli temple, like other Chausath Yogini temples, is hypaethral, which means it has no roof and no shikharas.
The Parliament-like pillars are on the inside of the stone temple complex. The central shrine has a slab with perforations, for excess rainwater to drain off. The temple has a diameter of 125 feet.
The idols and carvings that would have once adorned the 64 chambers are all gone, and so not much is known about the temple.

Yogini temple in India:

The Yogini temples of India are 9th to 12th century roofless hypaethral shrines to the yoginis, female masters of yoga in Hindu tantra, broadly equated with goddesses especially Parvati, incarnating the sacred feminine force.
The extant temples are either circular or rectangular in plan; they are scattered over central and northern India in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha.
Lost temples, their locations identified from surviving yogini images, are still more widely distributed across the subcontinent, from Delhi in the north and the border of Rajasthan in the west to Greater Bengal in the east and Tamil Nadu in the south.
Hirapur, Odisha: The 64 Yogini Temple in Hirapur, also known as the Chausath Yogini Temple, is located in a small village about 20 km southeast of Bhubaneswar.
Ranipur-Jharial,Odisha: The Ranipur-Jharial temple complex is located in Balangir district of Odisha.
Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh: The Khajuraho temple complex in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh is home to a 64 Yogini Temple.
Mitaoli, Madhya Pradesh: Here, the temple complex is located in Morena district. The temple is also called Ekattarso Mahadeva Temple. If you visit this temple, you will find an open circular courtyard with 65 niches filled with statues of Shiva. These niches once held statues of one deity and 64 yoginis.