Chausath (64) Yogini temple at Mitawali

July 01, 2024

Chausath (64) Yogini temple at Mitawali

Chausath Yogini temple (64 Yogini temple) at Mitawali (Mitaoli) is about an hour's dive from Gwalior. This temple is also called as Ekattarso Mahadeva temple

The temple is built on a small isolated hillock in the middle of agricultural fields. From the car park, it’s a short hike to the top on the hillock. It is said that this temple was the inspiration for the old Indian Parliament house at New Delhi.

Enter through the narrow opening into the temple and one sees another circular building at the center of the courtyard. This central building is the main sanctum. The inner courtyard does not have a roof. It was believed that the Yoginis would fly in and out of the temples. Hence, most of the Yogini temples have this design element. There are 64 chambers on the outer wall. However, none of the chambers have Yogini statues!! It’s all Shiva. Even in the central building, Shiva is the deity. I asked the resident priest why it’s called as 64 yogini temple. He had no clue.

They were happy to pose for the camera

I stepped out of the Yogini temple and began taking pictures. A local family was reaching the temple. On seeing my camera, they politely requested me to take their pictures. They whole family happily posed for the pictures. The young man in the group wanted a separate a picture with his wife. The young couple posed separately for the camera. He gave me his WhatsApp number to send him the pictures. It was almost a month before I got back to him with the pics. He wrote back to me. “Thanks elder brother. My wife often used to ask me what happened to our pics from Yogini Temple. She will be very happy today.”