It was the new year and we were in a mood to go for a road trip. Not just any trip but an offbeat road trip from Delhi. Our destination was Gwalior and the Ekattarso Mahadev temple at Mitawali, Madhya Pradesh. We had read that the Indian Parliament House has been designed in line with this temple. It therefore seemed worth the effort to make a detour of about 40-50 km on our way back from Gwalior to visit this place. Google Maps took us through typical villages as well as industrial zones and just when we were starting to doubt the directions, we saw this crown-like structure atop a hill. It took us about an hour from Gwalior to reach this place. Notwithstanding we were coming from a city of mausoleums it seemed as if we have been transported to another world.

This temple deserves a little description. It is a circular structure with embellishments on the outer wall. Inside the temple, there were chambers on the wall as well as a sanctum sanctorum at the center. This is typical of a Yogini Temple and there are only a few of these temples around the world. The temple reminded us of the Colosseum in Rome. We could clearly see the resemblance of the Indian Parliament House with this temple although the later structure is not half as impressive.

Unfortunately, this seems to be one of the sites that are neglected by the authorities. Consequently, the place was swarming with New Year revelers caring two hoots about the sanctity of this place of history. It appeared that ASI has done its bit to maintain the structure. They have also placed cylindrical stones inside the shrines that people worshipped as Shiva Linga. If these stone menhirs are placed elsewhere maybe the temple would be maintained as an archeological site.

We are not upbeat as to how long this temple would be approachable. If you want to taste a definitive slice of Indian history, an instance of exquisite Indian art and architecture, do make a trip to Mitawali and thank us for the tip.