Located in the historic town of Gujarat, Patan Sahastralinga pond is one of the marvelous architecture of India constructed by the Chalukyan king Sidharaj Jai Singh in the late eleventh century. The pond acquired the name of Sahastralinga because there were about one thousand Shiva temples on the shore of this pond, inside which so many small Shiva Linga were being worshiped.
The tank gets water supply by a channel from river Saraswati. Back then the tank would be brimming with water; the architectural design of the tank is praised for being the perfect amalgamation of design for water conservation and also reflection of the Hindu spirituality
It is believed that Patan is the same place where Bhima had killed the monster. After that, Bhima married Hidimba and settled there for some time. By 1935, people of the area did not know about this pond because this region was fully surrounded by forests. This magnificent and wonderful pond came in front of the country, when Archaeologists of Gujarat have found this place.
Another story is also related to this marvellous architecture constructed in the medieval period.
The Another Story
It is said that when Chalukyan king Sidharaj took the initiative to construct this tank, the work of construction was offered to the people who belonged to the Odh tribe. When the people were constructing the pond, the king got attracted by Jasma, who was a wife of one of the employee
Jasma was amazingly beautiful and the king lured by her beauty offered to marry her and promised to make her the queen of Gujarat. But Jasma turned down king’s marriage proposal. The angry king killed Jasma’s husband. For self-esteem, Jasma jumped into the fire abandoned her soul and becomes sati and cursed king for his deeds
It is said that due a curse by Jasma the king died without an heir and the tank remains devoid of water ever since. To repeal the curse, a human sacrifice was needed. Mayo or Mahya, from lower caste Dhed community, committed self-sacrifice which resulted in water filling the tank. Jaysingh, out of gratitude, allowed his caste to stay with higher castes in town.
It is also said that Bairam Khan, Akbar’s tutor, while passing through Patan on his way to Mecca, was said to have been murdered after he returned from boating in this tank in 1561. The experts say that not one, not two, not three but the temples of this pond were attacked by insurgents many times who had destroyed all the idols here. Even today, we can see remains of these idols.
The architecture of this tank integrated the great sense of water management and sanctity of water in Hindu religion. The tank used to receive water from a canal of the Saraswati River and had spread of about 5 km with good stone masonry embankments. Not only is this architecture of the pond amazing, but very scientifically, river water was collected in this tank. Today the pond is in empty and in a ruined state, but by looking at its architecture; we can estimate how grand pond has been in ancient times. It has also been declared as a Monument of National Importance by Archaeological Survey of India
Source: PostcardHindi
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