Temples of Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India.

Here are some pictures of the hindu temples of the temple city (Bhubaneswar).  In regards to age, the temples are from about 6th century A.D to 12th century A.D.  One can see the progression of hindu temple architecture over many centuries.  The earliest temples were relatively simple in their outward structure with very few surface decorations.  The surface of the the temples was relatively smooth all along.  With time, the temples were adorned on the outside more profusely and the size of the temple also increased with the addition of rooms.  The first two images are of temples from 6th to 8th century A.D.  Compare them to the temples of 9-10th century A.D and 11-12th century A.D period (photos shown below) to see the progression of temple architecture in the Kalinga region i.e., Orissa region.

Below are hindu temples from 8th-9th century A.D:

Below are hindu temples from 10th-11th century A.D:

Hindu temples representing Kalinga architecture from 11th-12th century A.D:

Identification of Broken Sculpture Part from Tosham, Haryana.

This is a photograph of a broken part of some stone structure obtained from Tosham Hill (Bhiwani, Haryana).  What could this be?  Few possibilities are listed:

1.  It could have been part of the pinnacle part of a toy temple, perhaps the temple being part of some larger scene.  Points in favor of this assumption:  presence of amalka like structure and presence of a 'kalash' (holy pot/vessel) like structure on top of it.  This arrangement is typically seen in the structures of ancient temples of India.  Point in contradiction of this assumption:  Usually and almost certainly, only one amalka is present on temple tops.  Here there are two amalka like structures.

2.  The peak portion of 'mukut' (i.e., crown) seen in the sculptures of deities/kings etc.  However
a crown is quite elaborately decorated and this stone structure is quite simple in appearance.  As an example of the top portion of a crown is that of goddess saraswati shown in this photo (marble, 12th A.D, Rajasthan) where it shows a crown structure similar to the Tosham stone structure but with extensive decorations.

3.  Another possibility (and the most serious one) is that the stone sculpture is the top part of a deitie's sceptre, possibly that of lord Vishnu.  Below is a photograph of the top portion of Vishnu's sceptre, shown in stone.  The similarity to the Tosham sculpture is uncanny.