Malhar, Chhattisgarh

Dhumnath Temple

The village has grown right into this one: houses lean against the hall and ante-chamber, and the eastern wall of the sanctum now doubles as somebody's courtyard wall. What survives is a Bhumija temple from the Kalachuri period, with a curvilinear Nagara shikhara that has lost its crowning amalaka. The exterior reliefs are the reason to make the detour: Brahma, Chamunda and Mahishasuramardini on the right wall, Shiva-Parvati, Ganesha and Kartikeya on the left, and frankly erotic panels drawn from the Kama Sutra alongside them. The doorway sits about five feet up, three steps to reach it, then six steps down into a shrine below ground level.