Place · yogini temple · India
Chausath Yogini, Mitaoli
The 10th-century circular Chausath Yogini temple at Mitaoli in Morena district, Madhya Pradesh — a single-storey circular shrine with 64 niches on the inner wall, each holding a Yogini goddess image, around a central open circular courtyard with a Shiva sanctum. Mitaoli is one of only thirteen surviving Chausath Yogini temples in India and the best-preserved. The temple's floor plan — a circular colonnade around a central shrine with light openings in the ceiling — is said to have influenced the design of the Indian Parliament House by Herbert Baker in the 1920s (though the attribution is contested). The temple is on the India tentative UNESCO list as part of the Chausath Yogini temples of India serial nomination. The Kachchhapaghata dynasty built the temple.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 26.140, 78.210
Connections (4)
- Architectural modelParliament House / Sansad Bhavan
The Chausath Yogini temple at Mitaoli and India’s old Parliament House are often compared because both have circular architectural forms. Mitaoli’s 11th-century temple has a circular plan with a central shrine and surrounding chambers. Designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, Parliament House likewise adopted a circular form, though there is no established architectural evidence of direct inspiration from Mitaoli.
- Site adjacencyKhajuraho
Mitaoli and Khajuraho are connected through the early medieval religious culture of central India. Khajuraho preserves the remains of a Chausath Yogini temple alongside major Shaiva, Vaishnava and Jain monuments. Mitaoli similarly belongs to a landscape where Shakta, Shaiva and Tantric traditions flourished, linking these sites through shared religious and architectural traditions.
- Site adjacencyGwalior Fort
Mitaoli lies within the broader historical landscape of Gwalior, a major centre of power, architecture and religious patronage in central India. The region contains numerous temples and monuments from successive dynasties. The connection places Mitaoli within a wider network of medieval political centres and sacred sites extending across the Chambal and Gwalior region.
- Site withinGwalior
Chausath Yogini, Mitaoli lies within Gwalior — the two sites sit about 9 km apart, well inside the city's historical boundary and part of the same urban or peri-urban landscape. Chausath Yogini, Mitaoli is one of the specific sites that give Gwalior its layered character, and reads differently when seen as a stop within the larger city rather than as an isolated monument on an open map. The surrounding neighbourhoods, roads and other heritage ensembles belong to the same single urban fabric.
On these journeys
Sources
List of World Heritage Sites in India — Wikipedia
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