Description of the attraction
The huge Shantadurga temple complex, dedicated to one of the incarnations of Parvati - the wife and constant companion of the god Shiva, is located in the small village of Kavali, which is located in the Ponda region of the famous resort state of India, Goa.
The temple, in its current form, took 8 years to build and was finally completed in 1738 during the reign of Raja Chatrapati Shahu of the Maratha dynasty. Before that, it was a small hut built of mud and clay, where the statue of the goddess was transferred from the sanctuary on the island of Salsette destroyed by the Portuguese in 1564. The statue depicts the goddess Shantadurga, holding a snake in each hand: one personifies Shiva, and the other - Vishnu.
The Shantadurga complex is located at the foot of a mountain range and is surrounded on all sides by lush vegetation. It consists of a main building and three smaller temples built around it. All buildings are painted in a bright terracotta color.
The main temple is an interesting architectural structure with a multi-tiered pyramidal roof topped with a graceful dome. The building is also decorated with massive columns carved from Kashmir stone, balconies with balustrades and many windows.
Not far from the temples there is a huge reservoir, a guest house called "agrashalas", as well as the traditional tower of Dipa Stambha, which is considered to be a kind of connecting link between Heaven (svarga) and Earth (prithvi).
The complex was rebuilt and reconstructed several times - the most serious and large-scale reconstruction was carried out in 1966.
