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PLACES |
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KHIDRAPUR
Khidrapur (Shirol T.; 16° 40' N; 74°
35' E; p. 1,409), lies oh the Krsna about twelve miles south-east of
Shirol and eight miles to the south of Jaisingpur railway station on
the Miraj-Kolhapur meter gauge line. The chief interest of the
village is the temple of Kopesvar which lies in the centre of the
village and is 103½' x 65' x 52' high to the top of the dome. The
walls are made of black stone richly carved and the dome is covered
with stucco. To the main building are attached two richly sculptured
mandaps or vestibules. In the vestibule are two concentric
squares the outer with twenty and the inner with twelve pillars all
richly carved. In front of the temple is a round roofless structure
called the Svarga Mandap (Heavenly Hall), on the plan
of what would be a twenty-rayed star, only that the spaces for four
of the rays are occupied by four entrances. On the outside on a low
screen wall stand thirty-six short pillars, while inside is a circle
of twelve columns. Further from the temple is a nagarkhana
(drum-chamber). The outer walls of the shrine are broken at oblique
angles as in the Nilanga Hemadpanti temple. By the south door of the
temple is a Devgiri Yadav inscription of Sinhadev in Devnagari dated
sak 1135 (A.D. 1213) granting the village of Khandalesvar in
Miraj for, the worship of Kopesvar. Besides this, there is a Jain
temple, which is much smaller, the vestibule being twenty-one feet
square inside with a small antechamber and shrine, the outer wall of
the shrine being in the star-shaped Hemadpanti plan. The building is
of black stone and the pillars of the hall are richly carved. Land
valued at a yearly assessment of Rs. 109-6-0 is granted rent-free to
the priests of Kopesvar. Every year in Magh
(January-February) a fair is held, attended by about 3,000 people.
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