Bhojeshwar Temple
Bhojeshwar Temple
4.5
6:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Monday
6:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Tuesday
6:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Wednesday
6:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Thursday
6:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday
6:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Saturday
6:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Sunday
6:00 AM - 6:00 PM
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RkRoadie
Pune, India622 contributions
Nov 2021
The temple is located at outskirt of Bhopal City. There are enough boards to show your direction of Bhojpur. The road after Bhopal bypass is terrible till market which later becomes good and wide.
Entry fees for car is Rs.30. There is steep climb where people keeps moving hence need to be very careful while driving ascent. We saw one parking lot on our left where the shopkeeper said that its private and if you want to park here then you need to take flower and offerings from my shop. Anyways, we were about to take that hence parked in that lot and purchased flowers from him.
One need to walk a bit as temple is located on hillock. Due to Diwali the temple was flooded by devotees. We took darshan of Shiva Linga which is said to be tallest. The construction of this temple is left over hence you wont find dome like other temples.
There are few trees and ground place near temple where you can relax for some time.
Entry fees for car is Rs.30. There is steep climb where people keeps moving hence need to be very careful while driving ascent. We saw one parking lot on our left where the shopkeeper said that its private and if you want to park here then you need to take flower and offerings from my shop. Anyways, we were about to take that hence parked in that lot and purchased flowers from him.
One need to walk a bit as temple is located on hillock. Due to Diwali the temple was flooded by devotees. We took darshan of Shiva Linga which is said to be tallest. The construction of this temple is left over hence you wont find dome like other temples.
There are few trees and ground place near temple where you can relax for some time.
Written 15 November 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
bsingh
Gandhinagar, India300 contributions
Aug 2023 • Couples
This is an unfinished but impressive Shiva temple which is about 1000 years old. Of course , some restoration work has been done in recent decades. It has a huge Shiva linga , about 7.5 feet high , which is installed on a 14 feet high pedestal. It is definitely worth a visit while one is in Bhopal. It is about 45 minutes drive from the city centre.
Written 19 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Vikas Singh
Ghaziabad, India4,140 contributions
Nov 2019
The temple was never completed for unknown reasons. However do spend some time in looking at the drawing etched on stone nearby. The drawings have now been protected by iron barricades but if you look carefully you can see the engineering drawing of the temple complex and other subsidiary temples sketched on the stone.
Written 2 April 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Harsh & Leena
Pune, India2,989 contributions
Jan 2024 • Family
1. One of the best carving and big Shivling from 11th century. Height of shivling is 7.5 feet.
2. It is a mammoth structure.
3. There is another temple opposite to the bank of the river. That temple is Bhojeshwar temple and is 10min from Shivling.
4. Entry is free and it is from 6am to 7pm.
2. It is a mammoth structure.
3. There is another temple opposite to the bank of the river. That temple is Bhojeshwar temple and is 10min from Shivling.
4. Entry is free and it is from 6am to 7pm.
Written 25 June 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
MaaGandhi
New Delhi, India460 contributions
Nov 2014 • Family
The fascinating Shivlinga is a great and marvellous attempt by King Bhoja for consecration of Dhyanalinga. The temple is situated on the banks of river Betwa atop a hillock in Bhojpur, 40 kms from Bhopal. The river has not much water when wevisited in November, but the river view from the temple is beautiful. Though it is incomplete attempt, it is serene and has divine vibrations and the visit has given me immense peace of mind and happiness.
To reach the Garbhagragha one has to climb down a few steps and can do parikrama of the Shivalingam. It is a heritage sight and no proper worship is done may be as the consecration was incomplete as the Yoni Patta cracked due to fall of the ceiling while construction. ASI has united this now.
Traditionally, worship is not performed if the statue is broken or incomplete. But the Lingam is bedecked with flowers and Vilva Patra. When we visited the temple, one sanyasi was doing parikrama with dhoop and chanting OM. He seems to be doing this Nitya Pooja in the temple. He is very helpful and willingly narrated the story of the temple. We can offer flowers and Vilva Patra here and this sanyasi cleans them promptly in front of you only - he does not allow the offering to remain there for some time which is a bit disappointing.
This Shiva temple has one tallest Shivalingam of 5.5 meters with Yoni patta of 1.5 meters. The Lingam is carved from single rock and polished very nicely. The Yoni patta has three steps representing Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh the Trimurthy. It is said initially the Garbhagraha had open ceiling through which Sun shined on the Lingam. But it is closed now with fiber glass and lotus carving in it by ASI. The ceiling and the pillars has intricate, beautiful carvings. The whole temple is built with huge stone blocks.
One small Shivalingam in front of the main temple (seems to be later addition) has a pandit there, who allow us to do abhishekam and gives us tilak and prashad.
I had to mention here who marvelled at this magnificent Shiva that, now in Tamil Nadu, India - at the foothills of Vellaingiri mountain (South kailash), Coimbatore Dhyanalingam with seven chakras is successfully consecrated by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev in 1999. So any one who visited this temple and marveled at the huge Shivlingam should visit the Dhyanalingam in Isha Yoga Center, Coimbatore which is the only one of its kind in the whole World.
To reach the Garbhagragha one has to climb down a few steps and can do parikrama of the Shivalingam. It is a heritage sight and no proper worship is done may be as the consecration was incomplete as the Yoni Patta cracked due to fall of the ceiling while construction. ASI has united this now.
Traditionally, worship is not performed if the statue is broken or incomplete. But the Lingam is bedecked with flowers and Vilva Patra. When we visited the temple, one sanyasi was doing parikrama with dhoop and chanting OM. He seems to be doing this Nitya Pooja in the temple. He is very helpful and willingly narrated the story of the temple. We can offer flowers and Vilva Patra here and this sanyasi cleans them promptly in front of you only - he does not allow the offering to remain there for some time which is a bit disappointing.
This Shiva temple has one tallest Shivalingam of 5.5 meters with Yoni patta of 1.5 meters. The Lingam is carved from single rock and polished very nicely. The Yoni patta has three steps representing Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh the Trimurthy. It is said initially the Garbhagraha had open ceiling through which Sun shined on the Lingam. But it is closed now with fiber glass and lotus carving in it by ASI. The ceiling and the pillars has intricate, beautiful carvings. The whole temple is built with huge stone blocks.
One small Shivalingam in front of the main temple (seems to be later addition) has a pandit there, who allow us to do abhishekam and gives us tilak and prashad.
I had to mention here who marvelled at this magnificent Shiva that, now in Tamil Nadu, India - at the foothills of Vellaingiri mountain (South kailash), Coimbatore Dhyanalingam with seven chakras is successfully consecrated by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev in 1999. So any one who visited this temple and marveled at the huge Shivlingam should visit the Dhyanalingam in Isha Yoga Center, Coimbatore which is the only one of its kind in the whole World.
Written 2 February 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dilip S
Vadodara, India1,110 contributions
Nov 2013 • Couples
After taking a Bhopal signature breakfast of pohe and piping hot jalebis we headed to Bhojpur 28 km south east from Bhopal on 9th November , 2013 .
Constructed by Raja Bhoj an engineer, a warrior, a great administrator and a man of formidable vision in the latter part of the 11th century, great stone blocks of the Bhojeshwar Temple stands on an immense platform, 32 metres long, 24 metres across and 5 metres high , its great entrance doorway, of richly carved stone, towers ten meters high and five meters wide . Four titanic pillars, richly carved , rise to support an incomplete dome . During my first visit on 7th June , 2000 the high noon sun lanced through the dome, illuminated a massive pedestal made of three stepped blocks of sandstone, seven meters square. An iron ladder ascended this huge pedestal to reach the uppermost platform, directly beneath the high roof, open to the sky on its top joining point, similar to the Pantheon in Rome . Dominating this platform and the great brooding temple was a magnificent lingam 5.5 m tall and 2.3 m in circumference crafted out a monolith .
This west-facing lofty temple is raised on a 35 m long, 25 m wide and 5.5 m high platform . The incomplete roof of the Garbhagriha (sanctum) is supported on four colossal pillars and twelve pilasters rising to a height of13 m . The sanctum is square on plan and enshrines a polished Siva-Iinga . The door-jambs of the sanctum are carved with figures of the river goddesses Ganga on left and Yamuna on right side. The bracket-capitals of four massive pillars of the sanctum are portrayed with figures of Uma-Maheswar,Lakshmi- Narayana, Brahma-Savitri, and Sita-Rama. Externally the temple is bereft of any ornamentation, except on the front facade . The balconies on the three facades although do not have any functional use, breaks the monotony of the plain walls .
It is exhilarating to know that the Siva Linga with its Yoni Patta rising to height of 7 m is the tallest and grandest in the world. The huge Yoni Patta made of a single block of stone broke into two pieces when a large size stone of the ceiling fell down on it , as the calculations regarding the strength of the four titanic pillars to carry the weight of the dome went wary and thus the temple remained with a broken Yoni Patta and the ceiling open to the sky for centuries. But now the Yoni Patta has been meticulously joined together and the opening of the ceiling has been covered with fiber glass sheet decorated with, the inverted lotus flower which is exactly alike the original architectural remains of the roof. The broken pillar was replaced by ASI . After a nationwide hunt, the ASI managed to locate similar stone in an area near Agra and master masons and sculptors were commissioned to carve them in a style matching the original. A 12-tonne pillar, carved out of a single stone, was put in place a few years ago. It took the ASI more than six months to devise the intricate system of pulleys and levers required to put the pillar in its slot because a crane with a boom long enough to put the pillar in its proper place was simply not available in the country, How fascinating it would be to know how ancient builders erected those pillars when, with all the technology and resources the ASI had at their command nowadays, it took them six months to install a pillar of almost one-third the weight
The temple is survived with a ramp on its back side which was used for the transportation of large size stones to the raising heights during the temple building. Nowhere else in the world the ancient building technology of lifting large size stone architectural members to the top of the structure is intact. The fact that how the builders of the temple raised stone as large as 11 m x 1.6 m x 1.6 m and weighing about 33 tonnes to the temple could have remained a mystery had this ramp was not in existence .
Again nowhere else detail line drawings of the temple such as plan, elevation, pillars and pilasters, sikhara and kalasa have been engraved as a stencil on the rock surface . It speaks that before building, the temple plan and elevation were engraved on the rock .
Divyatwachi Jeth Prachiti Tethe Kar Maze Julati .
Constructed by Raja Bhoj an engineer, a warrior, a great administrator and a man of formidable vision in the latter part of the 11th century, great stone blocks of the Bhojeshwar Temple stands on an immense platform, 32 metres long, 24 metres across and 5 metres high , its great entrance doorway, of richly carved stone, towers ten meters high and five meters wide . Four titanic pillars, richly carved , rise to support an incomplete dome . During my first visit on 7th June , 2000 the high noon sun lanced through the dome, illuminated a massive pedestal made of three stepped blocks of sandstone, seven meters square. An iron ladder ascended this huge pedestal to reach the uppermost platform, directly beneath the high roof, open to the sky on its top joining point, similar to the Pantheon in Rome . Dominating this platform and the great brooding temple was a magnificent lingam 5.5 m tall and 2.3 m in circumference crafted out a monolith .
This west-facing lofty temple is raised on a 35 m long, 25 m wide and 5.5 m high platform . The incomplete roof of the Garbhagriha (sanctum) is supported on four colossal pillars and twelve pilasters rising to a height of13 m . The sanctum is square on plan and enshrines a polished Siva-Iinga . The door-jambs of the sanctum are carved with figures of the river goddesses Ganga on left and Yamuna on right side. The bracket-capitals of four massive pillars of the sanctum are portrayed with figures of Uma-Maheswar,Lakshmi- Narayana, Brahma-Savitri, and Sita-Rama. Externally the temple is bereft of any ornamentation, except on the front facade . The balconies on the three facades although do not have any functional use, breaks the monotony of the plain walls .
It is exhilarating to know that the Siva Linga with its Yoni Patta rising to height of 7 m is the tallest and grandest in the world. The huge Yoni Patta made of a single block of stone broke into two pieces when a large size stone of the ceiling fell down on it , as the calculations regarding the strength of the four titanic pillars to carry the weight of the dome went wary and thus the temple remained with a broken Yoni Patta and the ceiling open to the sky for centuries. But now the Yoni Patta has been meticulously joined together and the opening of the ceiling has been covered with fiber glass sheet decorated with, the inverted lotus flower which is exactly alike the original architectural remains of the roof. The broken pillar was replaced by ASI . After a nationwide hunt, the ASI managed to locate similar stone in an area near Agra and master masons and sculptors were commissioned to carve them in a style matching the original. A 12-tonne pillar, carved out of a single stone, was put in place a few years ago. It took the ASI more than six months to devise the intricate system of pulleys and levers required to put the pillar in its slot because a crane with a boom long enough to put the pillar in its proper place was simply not available in the country, How fascinating it would be to know how ancient builders erected those pillars when, with all the technology and resources the ASI had at their command nowadays, it took them six months to install a pillar of almost one-third the weight
The temple is survived with a ramp on its back side which was used for the transportation of large size stones to the raising heights during the temple building. Nowhere else in the world the ancient building technology of lifting large size stone architectural members to the top of the structure is intact. The fact that how the builders of the temple raised stone as large as 11 m x 1.6 m x 1.6 m and weighing about 33 tonnes to the temple could have remained a mystery had this ramp was not in existence .
Again nowhere else detail line drawings of the temple such as plan, elevation, pillars and pilasters, sikhara and kalasa have been engraved as a stencil on the rock surface . It speaks that before building, the temple plan and elevation were engraved on the rock .
Divyatwachi Jeth Prachiti Tethe Kar Maze Julati .
Written 11 December 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Pras_MT
Mumbai, India155 contributions
Feb 2015 • Business
I was lucky to get the blessings of Lord Shiva on Mahashivrarti for the second time.
It was the first time, that I visited the temple after sunset.
The arrangements were good.
Only negative was that, all car parking was far away from the temple. So we had to walk long. (and then VIPs drive past us in there SUVs).
On earlier occasions,
It was the first time, that I visited the temple after sunset.
The arrangements were good.
Only negative was that, all car parking was far away from the temple. So we had to walk long. (and then VIPs drive past us in there SUVs).
On earlier occasions,
Written 26 February 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
roddamranganath
Singapore, Singapore540 contributions
Dec 2013 • Family
The Bhojpur Shiva Temple is host to probably the largest Shiva ling in the world built with large single monolithic stones and going up to a height of 22 ft. This half finished temple from the 11th century is one of finest example of Hindu architecture and engineering with an impressive feet of lifting a 70 tonne stone slab to make the platform for the Lingam. Definitely must visit while in Bhopal. The authorities have built a garden next to the temple which would make it an ideal spot for small picnics.
Written 12 January 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Bhopale
Bhopal12 contributions
Sept 2013 • Solo
The Bhojpur temple, planned as one of the biggest temple complexes of India, was abondoned during constuction due to unknown reasons. Hence it remains the only temple where the construction process of ancient Indian Hindu temples can studied in great deatils. Like the building and layout plans etched on rocks and stone slabs close to the temple suggest that many more temples were proposed to be built. Moldings and stone-blocks lie in adjacent quarries and an earthen ramp for raising stones also survives, mistaken often as a hill.
Little known fact about Bhojpur is it's intimate connection with the upper lake of Bhopal,considered to be one of the biggest in Asia. However, this is a diminished form of the water body created by Raja Bhoj. A legend says that Bhoja was stricken with a severe illness, which the court physicians failed to cure. A holy recluse prophesied that the king would die of the disease, unless he was able to construct a lake fed by 365 streams and bath in it. Skilled engineers were sent along the valleys of the Vindhya range to explore the region and report upon the feasibility of such a lake being constructed. A valley was ultimately discovered and subsequently enclosed, which included the headwaters of the river Betwa. The engineers found, much to their disappointment, that only 356 springs and streams fed the waters flowing through the valley. The difficulty was eventually overcome by Kalia, a Gond chief, who pointed out a missing river which, with its tributaries, made up the requisite number and was accordingly named Kaliasot (Kalia’s river), a name it carries to this day. According to historians, this legend preserves two important facts: That the drainage area of the sources of Betwa river was insufficient to fill the lake; and that the lake thus formed was of an unusual size. A study of the local topography and the remains of the civil works, clearly prove that the engineers of those days skillfully turned the waters of another river, which rises 32 km to the west, into the Betwa valley. This was accomplished by creating a magnificent, cyclopean dam in Bhopal. This is what remains today, known in Bhopal as the Bada Taalab or the upper lake. The Lower lake of Bhopal was created much later by one royal, Chotte Khan from the overflowing water of Upper Lake.
This lake, called Bhimtaal, was destroyed sometime in 1434 AD by Hoshang Shah (1405-1435 AD). It is said that it took the army of Hoshang Shah three months to destroy the dam, three years elapsed before the bed was empty and thirty before it became cultivable. One can clearly see the evidence of destruction of the embankment near the Siva temple at Bhojpur. The embankment at Bhopal is still preserved and so is the lake in it’s present constricted size
Little known fact about Bhojpur is it's intimate connection with the upper lake of Bhopal,considered to be one of the biggest in Asia. However, this is a diminished form of the water body created by Raja Bhoj. A legend says that Bhoja was stricken with a severe illness, which the court physicians failed to cure. A holy recluse prophesied that the king would die of the disease, unless he was able to construct a lake fed by 365 streams and bath in it. Skilled engineers were sent along the valleys of the Vindhya range to explore the region and report upon the feasibility of such a lake being constructed. A valley was ultimately discovered and subsequently enclosed, which included the headwaters of the river Betwa. The engineers found, much to their disappointment, that only 356 springs and streams fed the waters flowing through the valley. The difficulty was eventually overcome by Kalia, a Gond chief, who pointed out a missing river which, with its tributaries, made up the requisite number and was accordingly named Kaliasot (Kalia’s river), a name it carries to this day. According to historians, this legend preserves two important facts: That the drainage area of the sources of Betwa river was insufficient to fill the lake; and that the lake thus formed was of an unusual size. A study of the local topography and the remains of the civil works, clearly prove that the engineers of those days skillfully turned the waters of another river, which rises 32 km to the west, into the Betwa valley. This was accomplished by creating a magnificent, cyclopean dam in Bhopal. This is what remains today, known in Bhopal as the Bada Taalab or the upper lake. The Lower lake of Bhopal was created much later by one royal, Chotte Khan from the overflowing water of Upper Lake.
This lake, called Bhimtaal, was destroyed sometime in 1434 AD by Hoshang Shah (1405-1435 AD). It is said that it took the army of Hoshang Shah three months to destroy the dam, three years elapsed before the bed was empty and thirty before it became cultivable. One can clearly see the evidence of destruction of the embankment near the Siva temple at Bhojpur. The embankment at Bhopal is still preserved and so is the lake in it’s present constricted size
Written 3 September 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Arup Gupta
Kolkata (Calcutta), India189 contributions
Feb 2022 • Couples
We visited Bhojpur yesterday..it's close to Bhopal and known for its 11th Century Shiv Temple, made by Raja Bhoj.
I expected it to be just a regular old temple but then i read a few Archeological Survey articles and was intrigued.
When I saw the temple, i was so glad i came. The structure just blew me away. Perched on a rocky outcrop, it's visible as one crosses the Betwa.
The structure is unfinished but somehow that unfinished look adds to the overall effect. It's massive, with the roof being about 13/14 metres high. Each block of stone making this structure weighs about 70 tonnes. The monolithic Shiv Ling itself is more than 2metres tall but along with the pedestal it is even bigger, must be more than 6/7 metres. They say it's the largest Shiv Linga in the World and has a wonderful polished look. Looks like some kind of a Granite or Quartzite. I don't know how they ever got it inside the temple, or perhaps it was made inside only.
I was super impressed with such high end civil engineering structure from a thousand years ago. There is a ramp kind of a structure behind the temple which may have been used to get such heavy stones on top but how did they ever manage to stabilize this massive rocks is beyond me.
A must visit and it's a pity that such a masterpiece is not being projected in its correct splendour by our Tourism Department.
I expected it to be just a regular old temple but then i read a few Archeological Survey articles and was intrigued.
When I saw the temple, i was so glad i came. The structure just blew me away. Perched on a rocky outcrop, it's visible as one crosses the Betwa.
The structure is unfinished but somehow that unfinished look adds to the overall effect. It's massive, with the roof being about 13/14 metres high. Each block of stone making this structure weighs about 70 tonnes. The monolithic Shiv Ling itself is more than 2metres tall but along with the pedestal it is even bigger, must be more than 6/7 metres. They say it's the largest Shiv Linga in the World and has a wonderful polished look. Looks like some kind of a Granite or Quartzite. I don't know how they ever got it inside the temple, or perhaps it was made inside only.
I was super impressed with such high end civil engineering structure from a thousand years ago. There is a ramp kind of a structure behind the temple which may have been used to get such heavy stones on top but how did they ever manage to stabilize this massive rocks is beyond me.
A must visit and it's a pity that such a masterpiece is not being projected in its correct splendour by our Tourism Department.
Written 11 February 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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