tarkash: Abhanagri, or Abhaneri, the medieval capital of the Gujar Pratihara Kings

its the year 1120,and you are a resident of theThe village of Abhaneri established by the Gurjar Pratihar king Samrat Bhoj.the legendry Mihir Raja Bhoj, the fabled King Raja Chand, is now no more, he has been dead for a century, and the city,once the very epitome of civilization and culture has seen its glory fade.
the year has been good, that is to say that the harvest has been good, the Gods have been kind, the baoli fills up with rain water every year and the Gods are placated at the annual festival in spring,held in honour of Harshat mata, the goddess of wealth and happiness whose temple is where the village gathers every eve. the temple and its forecourt, as well as the the two adjacent temples are the hub of the city, everything happens here,worship, commerce, love and festivity, the goddess, in her happiness ensures that the village stays happy too.the baoli with its five story deep well, is where everyone meets and all sorts of stories transpire. There are three ways to reach the water using the steps, which are divided into stories. This colossal, delicately carved well is located in front of the Harshat Mata Temple. It was a ritual to wash the hands and feet at the well before visiting the adjoining temple. ...life is good and happy and peace reigns.. indeed the city is called Abhanagri, the city of glory...

dark clouds however are gathering in the distance. the wealth of the city has attracted scavengers, the hordes gather to loot and pillage.the might of the Gujar Pratihars has kept the invading, looting, molesting, armies of the Sultan of Ghazni at bay. but this year is different, one can sense that the city's defenses are gone and the horde threatens to attack again. the Sultan, Mohammad Ghazni, is particularly rapacious they say, and the wealth of the city is too big a temptation to ignore. you've served in the army before , have tasted blood and felt the weight of the sword, you know the strengths of the invading forces and are fearful of what awaits. what is to be done?

the king sends out a call to join the forces and some amongst the village do. honour is at stake, as is wealth and the lives of families, women and children. you weigh your options and with a heavy heart flee, your gold and your family with you, heading west and south ,as far away as you can...desperate...

you stay away three moons, you know that your city was attacked, you know all is lost, you mourn you despair...you come back to find the city in ruins, you've returned to devastation.the temples all three, razed to the ground, the Gods disfigured, the city empty of living souls, the stench of death everywhere. you hear that the women and the children were enslaved, carted off to far away Ghazni to be sold in the bazaars there, the men all dead..

you go back to your ruined hamlet..and begin picking up the pieces of your life...the city will never be what it was again..its time is past. you hear stories of the fate that your neighbors met, that there is now a stone installed in the bazars of Ghor indicating the place where 'dukhtar e hinds' (daughters of India) can be bought, to enslave, and you offer a daily prayer to the gods who saved you and your family from such a fate...life does go on, but it is never quite the same again

Chand Baoli...

the restored Harshat Mata temple, restored by the king of Jaipur, the dome is from recent times. ( Abhaneri is about 90 kilometers from Jaipur, in Rajasthan, in the District of Dausa.)

the richly carved stones, tell a story of prosperity..

this curious phallic figure, obviously associated with some sort of fertility rite, it depicts a dominant man, pllaus extended, and three women, one kneeling face down on the ground, the man bears down upon her...