(Photo: Dr. A. P. Singh)
I’ve become accustomed to looking at small sand stone temples in Varanasi: temples that are built on a plinth that raises it above the level of the ground or the gali around. The stone surfaces all over the structure are never blank. They are filled with various kind of lines and shapes, especially leaves and flowers. The stone arches over the stone doors and windows look special by the alchemy of the sun, despite being so common in Kasi. The narrow stone staircase with marks of withering over it can be found in many other temples in the city. The curved parapet and the decorated corbel were good too. This temple, in ruins, appeared to my eyes like any common temple of Kasi. Not at all special. Only I had never seen it or known where it was.
Dr. Singh had sent me his recent lot of valuable photographs after a long gap and many calls, and what he sent was worth the wait. I am from Kasi and feel personally insulted if and when I find out that I have not been to a specific location there or have never seen a specific building of importance. Well, I found what I saw of the degree of importance high enough to make me feel insulted personally. I had never seen it in my life there. I called him up to thank him, and to inform him how I liked the images he had sent, especially the one above. I asked him whose temple it was, and where.
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rajnishmishravns 