Śaiva Cult Images in Stone and Stucco in the Gor Khatri Temple (Peshawar)

Abstract

The work in hand discusses Śaiva cult representations executed in stone and stucco at the famous Gor Khatri temple located within the Sarāi Jahānābād (built 1641 CE) inside the walled city of Peshawar. The cult object executed in stone is characterized by the now missing Śivaliṅga once supposedly fixed in yonipīṭha as speculated by the surviving socket in association with channels going northwards out of the western shrine. This group is  complemented by divine imagery done in stucco on the outer walls of the western shrine in addition to those of the eastern shrine in its niches as is evident from the traces left behind. Attempt has also been made here to assess iconographic value of these godly figures, some of which are conjecturally restored to complement decorative scheme of the temple built during 1823 to 1830.