The history of the temple itself is given in the two long inscriptions fixed in the walls of the mandapa of the temple. Accordingly we are told that Kiragrama (modern Baijnath) situated on the bank of the river Binduka was a part of Trigarta (the territory lying between the rivers Ravi and Satluj, roughly represented by districts of Kangra and Jalandhar) under the suzerainty of king Jayachandra, the overlord of Jalandhara. Under him a Rajanaka (local chief) Lakshmanachandra, who was matrimonially related to Jayachandra from his mother’s side, was ruling over Kiragrama. Genealogy of Lakshmanachandra (see box) is given in these inscriptions.At Kiragrama resided two brothers, Manyuka and Ahuka, sons of a merchant named Siddha. Their genealogy up to fourth generation is also mentioned in the inscriptions (see box). They out of their devotion to Siva Vaidyanatha constructed the temple under discussion in Saka 1126 (CE 1204). They also donated a machine for extracting oil, a shop and some land in the village called Navagrama (modern Nauri near Baijnath) to the temple. The Rajanaka Lakshmanachandra and his mother also made some donations to the temple in the form of money and land respectively.
The inscriptions tell us that a Sivalinga known as Vaidyanatha already existed on the spot but was without a proper house so the present temple and a porch in its front was constructed. It clearly indicates that a shrine already in existed on the spot before the construction of the present temple.
What happened to the shrine in the centuries that followed is not exactly known but it appears to have continued under worship, as there is clear evidence of repairs and renovations from time to time. In the 18 th century Sansara Chandra II, the Katoch king of Kangra, carried out extensive repairs and renovations of the temple. Alexander Cunningham noticed an inscription of 1786 in the temple referring to its renovations by Sansara Chandra. An inscription on the wooden doors of the sanctum of the temple provides the date as samvat 1840 (AD 1783) that is very near to Cunningham’s date.
The devastating earthquake that shook the entire region of Kangra on 4 th April 1905 also caused damage to the shrine, which has been reported by J. Ph. Vogel and has since been repaired. At present the temple is a protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India but the performance of worship and rituals are under a local board at Baijnath with SDM as its chairman. The hereditary priests continue to get a share of the offerings.
Angkor Thom Temple
Angkor Thom (Khmer Angkor Thom; literally: "Great City") was the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire. It was established in the late twelfth century by king Jayavarman VII. It covers an area of 9 km², within which are located several monuments from earlier eras as well as those established by Jayavarman and his successors. At the centre of the city is Jayavarman's state temple, the Bayon, with the other major sites clustered around the Victory Square immediately to the north.
Bayon temple, Angkor ThomAngkor Thom was established as the capital of Jayavarman VII's empire, and was the centre of his massive building programme. One inscription found in the city refers to Jayavarman as the groom and the city as his bride. (Higham, 121)
Angkor Thom seems not to be the first Khmer capital on the site, however. Yasodharapura, dating from three centuries earlier, was centred slightly further northwest, and Angkor Thom overlapped parts of it. The most notable earlier temples within the city are the former state temple of Baphuon, and Phimeanakas, which was incorporated into the Royal Palace. The Khmers did not draw any clear distinctions between Angkor Thom and Yashodharapura: even in the fourteenth century an inscription used the earlier name. (Higham 138) The name of Angkor Thom — great city — was in use from the 16th century.
The last temple known to have been constructed in Angkor Thom was Mangalartha, which was dedicated in 1295. Thereafter the existing structures continued to be modified from time to time, but any new creations were in perishable materials and have not survived. In the following centuries Angkor Thom remained the capital of a kingdom in decline until it was abandoned some time prior to 1609, when an early western visitor wrote of an uninhabited city, "as fantastic as the Atlantis of Plato" which some thought to have been built by the Roman emperor Trajan. (Higham 140) It is believed to have sustained a population of 80,000-150,000 people.
Angkor Thom: The "Great City". Quadrilatero 9km2 nearly surrounded by a wall and thin laterite 7m high, doubled over its entire length of a rise of average width of 80m at the base, which overcomes a way round practicable. Each of the four sides of the city, the cardinal points are marked by doors of entries whose face turns to announce the architectural treatment of the Bayon and those that are preceded by pavement-Dykes to the crossing of ditches, box large Naga. Four small temples arranged in four corners of the city on the way round just to finish this together. City center is the Bayon temple mountain where four blocks straight escape into the four cardinal directions, unfolding over 1500m by cutting the urban space into four equal quadrants and reach from the wall of pregnant at the door. It is within these quadrants that daily life was organized and that the different communities residing who constituted. If the implementation of Angkor Thom is original, its design is not that of a new town since a series of older monuments: the Phimeanakas, royal palace and its terraces, the Prasat Suor Prat, twelve temples laterites, and especially the mountain temple of Baphuon.
Bayon: A unique Khmer architecture in this temple mountain situated at the heart of Angkor Thom, is circular. The pyramid has three levels. The first is surrounded by a gallery containing a series of bas reliefs relating to the life of Jayavarman VII: Battles of the beginning of his reign, daily life of Khmer people. The second floor also includes a gallery in bas-reliefs relate them to themes that Hindus can be surprised in a Buddhist temple. After a journey in these galleries and narrow passages, to rise up to the third floor, the terrace offers the best performance of a monumental multiplicitée smiling faces of the four directions, looking in all directions and the scruptant visitor. At this level, participates in the open space feeling of peace and eternity that the visitor will be entering this area of the Gods.
Baphuon: Monument with a main body dated XI ° and structures located along the eastern axis of the XIII to XV ° century It is without doubt the greatest reuse of business conducted on a monument angkorien the west side of the pyramid was decorated with an image of Buddha with a height of 6m in exchange for a partial démollition original architectural structures. Invasion of the vegetation, the appearance of disorder in the masonry and heavy rains in 1952 caused landslides that took different due to a large part of the monument. By the late fifties, anastylosis three full floors was decided but will not be truly complete until about 2004.
Royal Terrases: These high platforms whose sandstone walls are fully decorated with bas-reliefs, were once the foundations of a succession of galleries and houses covered with wooden tiles. These terraces bordering the Place Royale where many festivities held monthly: fireworks, dancing, fighting animals, chariot races, shooting the bow and a show "where you throw the ball" of According to the stories of Zhou Daguan. Perhaps it was the game of polo represented on two large reliefs of the porch of the north terrace of the elephants?
Terrace of the Leper King: Platform Phillips, 6m high and whose walls are richly carved 7 superimposed records of deities in high relief, representing the 7 levels of Mount Meru. In fact, this terrace is not one, nor that the king was a leper lepers nor king, the famous statue that was there and who gave his name to this terrace has been identified as that of Yama , the supreme judge. When traces of leprosy, it is reduced at the ends of broken fingers and patches of lichens (Christophe Pottier, restaurant terraces).
